Ed,edflorence wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2023 8:53 pmThanks everyone who contributed to this thread so far...it s been an interesting read, and I don't have too much to add, except to go back to a question that the OP had about the Grizzly with the spiral cutterhead. A couple of reasons i have been happy with the SS jointer are 1) as with all the SS tools it doesn't take up much space, and this is really important in a small shop and 2) when I bought the jointer I remember that one of its selling points was that a panel made of 3" pieces would ultimately remain more stable than a wide single board. This seemed an important consideration then and still seems important now. So for me and the projects I have made, the width capacity is less of an issue than the footprint. If I do need to plane something wide, I can use my planer with shims or a jig. That said, as others have posted, most of the use my SS jointer gets is for edge jointing.adrianpglover wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 8:36 am Spec wise, it looks like I could get a new Grizzly jointer with a spiral cutterhead delivered cheaper than the SS one, and still have a larger table overall.
Now...if I could get a jointer with a spiral cutterhead for less $$ than an SS would I? Probably yes, based on all I have read and heard about how easy it is to rotate the spiral cutters to get a new edge. It seems like a much less fussy procedure than changing blades.
Thanks. I definitely agree with you on the space savings aspect for the 4" jointer and that shouldn't be discounted. I appreciate you bringing that up as it is a selling point for the Shopsmith jointer. However, on the idea of 3" wide boards being more stable than wider boards in a panel, I'd really like to understand where that idea came from. Sounds to me like something a company selling only 4" jointers would come up with to market said jointer to customers, i.e. a myth. As long as the board is stable after dimensioning and is assembled with a good quality glue, then I don't see why a 6" board would be any less stable than a 3" board for a panel. Every panel I have ever created has had 6" or wider boards and never bowed or had any issues.