Making wedges on the jointer

[dusty]

There has long been an ongoing debate about the height of the blades with respect to the outfeed table. JPG's recent post indicates that he is on one side of that debate. Having been taught jointer setup at a Shopsmith Traveling Academy session, I am of a different persuasion.

Suffice it to say that the Shopsmith manual instructs us to set the blades from .001" to .003" above the outfeed table (measured when the blades are at their highest point of rotation").

The infeed and outfeed tables must be absolutely coplanar (as JPG has said) when at '0' depth of cut.

[JPG]

Jumping rule makes sense to me. Helps compensate for 'immediate' wear IMHO.

As for h-jacking, you are preaching to the wrong choir!

[masonsailor2]

I would have to agree that proper set up for the SS jointer is everything. But unless you are going to get obsessive about keeping it exactly in alignment it will have its limitations. Not having an adjustable outfield table really increases the amount of time needed to keep it tuned up. All that said it is still a great tool. Even when I had my commercial shop and a large spiral head jointer I always had my SS jointer set up in the corner for jointing small pieces and when the other was being used by other employees. Now that I am back to a small personal shop it’s the only one I have and I still love that thing. I use it only to get a straight enough edge to rip the board on the table saw and then use the inverted technique to get a perfect join. As far as flattening warped boards I don’t use it at all. Four inches is not usually wide enough and there are at least two other methods which give better results. The sled technique with the surface planer or surface sander is my preferred method but occasionally those methods won’t work and I use a router with a sled to get it close and then use the planer or sander. If you don’t have the surfacing equipment the router sled method gives excellent results and is easy to set up.
Paul