Recently, I was able to purchase a 1-year old local t45-54. ?I sold my JP and other personal belongings to generate $ and free up space. ?I would say that getting used local was what allowed it to make sense to me. ?A lower price than new with savings on tax and shipping. ?I have found that if you buy the right recent model Martin, the value holds up very nicely compared to many other manufacturers of other machinery. ? I have known people to recently sell for around what they paid. ?For the past 15 years, I have driven economical cars until they had over 170+k miles, and certainly find machinery to be a better use of $ than upscale cars. ?
For you, if asking about Tersa vs spiral, that suggests you are buying new, and that is where you pay tens of thousands more total, but you get to pick what you want.
For me, the machines came with spiral, which is an option that is associated with a significant price increase for each machine when buying new. ?I was wondering if that was best. ?I looked at forums and talked to people who had one or the other or both. I know 1 who had Tersa on his Martin, and changed to spiral and was happy with it. ?People with Tersa love Terse. ?People with Spiral love spiral. ?Seems like the spiral is more quiet, but on these machines, both are quiet. ?Then there are the obvious differences of how you change knives, longevity, cut seems great with both, chip size etc. ?In your case, if a toss up, you save $ with Tersa so you have to appreciate an advantage to justify the price increase.
My jointer came with an infeed extension that I wish I did not have as for space. ?Now that I have it, I do like it, but be aware, the infeed and outfeed extensions can't be retrofitted, and are not meant to be taken off. ?With the "Space savings" configuration, having the outfeed extension, works for space, but the infeed extension adds overall length. ?If you have the space, you may want both. ?I think the waxilit table that came with mine is of no value as I prefer Renaissance wax, but that is just me. ?Consider the 2nd outfeed roller I wish I had as that allows shorter pieces to come out so you can grab them without reaching under the rubber flaps.
