Flatten wide boards on a narrow jointer

harveydunn · Post by **harveydunn** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:08 pm

Hello, thinking of buying my first ShopSmith. I'm not overjoyed about the 4" width of the jointer. So I've been researching work arounds. There is an article in the May '12 issue of WOOD magazine called "Flatten Wide Board on a Narrow Jointer". Basically, joint one edge, remove the guard, take a pass or two on the face. Since the board is wider than the cutter, this essentially gives it a great big rabbet - 4" wide in this case. And it is, at least in in theory, nice and flat. So you flip it over onto a known flat board, then run that stack through a thickness planer.

Here is their precaution:
"This technique will work on boards up to about twice the jointer's capacity, but we suggest no more than 1/3 of the board's width be unsupported or overhanging the jointer table - and more and the board may tip as you pass it over the cutterhead."

So they dangle the promise of 8" jointing only to have their lawyer cruelly reduce it to 6.6". Still, that's better than 4".

I'm curious: could anyone tell me what the width of the SS jointer table is? I assume the cutterhead is 4"...by any chance is the table actually wider?

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:57 pm

I had a friend, lets call him Joe cause hey that was his name. He came in to work after the weekend with what looked like a boxing glove with gauze wrapping. He and the jointer had tangled, the jointer won. He mostly recovered but any time I hear about taking the guard off or not using the guard I think of Joe and I get this strange feeling in my gut.

Would the guard have have saved him that experience? I don't know and either does Joe cause he did a dumb thing. OK there might be a few times where the guard might have to come off but then the fence should be covering most of the blade... we can call them special time and never should the whole cutter head be exposed

I had a jointer before I got my shopsmith, it is old 4" long bed so I never got the shopsmith one. The shopsmith jointer looks like a jointer we had back at home that was part of a saw/jointer comb tool. I hated adjusting the blades on that machine and I keep thinking about that when I see the shopsmith jointer(I really don't think I'm being fair but your mind can do things like this).

When I got to the point of wanting a larger jointer I got a 6". The 6" is wider but now I think an 8" or 10" inch would be better.... by the time you get to 8" jointer I'm guess you will be wishing for the 10" or 12"..... So in the long run you might want to get the 4" and work your way up until you reach space/$$ limits.

We don't talk too much about surface planners here but there are ways of getting a board flat using them. I pretty much fall in to that category. Other like hand planes, I too like them but when you age and get some issues with your body parts you might find that planes might not like you anymore.

Ed

harveydunn wrote:Hello, thinking of buying my first ShopSmith. I'm not overjoyed about the 4" width of the jointer. So I've been researching work arounds. There is an article in the May '12 issue of WOOD magazine called "Flatten Wide Board on a Narrow Jointer". Basically, joint one edge, remove the guard, take a pass or two on the face. Since the board is wider than the cutter, this essentially gives it a great big rabbet - 4" wide in this case. And it is, at least in in theory, nice and flat. So you flip it over onto a known flat board, then run that stack through a thickness planer.

Here is their precaution:
"This technique will work on boards up to about twice the jointer's capacity, but we suggest no more than 1/3 of the board's width be unsupported or overhanging the jointer table - and more and the board may tip as you pass it over the cutterhead."

So they dangle the promise of 8" jointing only to have their lawyer cruelly reduce it to 6.6". Still, that's better than 4".

I'm curious: could anyone tell me what the width of the SS jointer table is? I assume the cutterhead is 4"...by any chance is the table actually wider?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:16 pm

harveydunn wrote:Hello, thinking of buying my first ShopSmith. I'm not overjoyed about the 4" width of the jointer. So I've been researching work arounds. There is an article in the May '12 issue of WOOD magazine called "Flatten Wide Board on a Narrow Jointer". Basically, joint one edge, remove the guard, take a pass or two on the face. Since the board is wider than the cutter, this essentially gives it a great big rabbet - 4" wide in this case. And it is, at least in in theory, nice and flat. So you flip it over onto a known flat board, then run that stack through a thickness planer.

Here is their precaution:
"This technique will work on boards up to about twice the jointer's capacity, but we suggest no more than 1/3 of the board's width be unsupported or overhanging the jointer table - and more and the board may tip as you pass it over the cutterhead."

So they dangle the promise of 8" jointing only to have their lawyer cruelly reduce it to 6.6". Still, that's better than 4".

I'm curious: could anyone tell me what the width of the SS jointer table is? I assume the cutterhead is 4"...by any chance is the table actually wider?

The fence and guard when removed create the ability to pass a board over it that extends to infinity in all directions.

A better method is to 'flatten' the first face with a hand plane, then the planer.

harveydunn · Post by **harveydunn** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:48 pm

The fence stays in place - the jointed edge rides against it.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:11 am

harveydunn wrote:The fence stays in place - the jointed edge rides against it.

Not for the 'operation' under discussion(flattening a face).

You need to get the faces right first, then the edges. The edge against the fence is an inadequate reference for face flattening.(JMHO)

harveydunn · Post by **harveydunn** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:33 am

What can I say? I've got the article right in front of me, and in this technique, you joint an edge first, then make a couple passes on the face, with the jointed edge against the fence.

Yes, the normal process with machine tools is faces then edges then ends. But that isn't sacred. If you needed to rip the board to width you'd joint an edge first so you've got something to reference against the bandsaw's fence. Then take the board, roughed to width, back to the jointer and start working on the faces.

jimthej · Post by **jimthej** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:31 am

Last summer I needed to make a sign out of 2x material. Ended up buying 2x12s and ripping them down. This allowed me to get a lot of material that was nearly quarter sawn. Sign was 2 ft. X 4 ft. That's a few 4 inch pieces. No warp after 4 months in the weather. Used biscuits instead of dowels. Don't tell the USFS.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 2:33 am

harveydunn wrote:What can I say? I've got the article right in front of me, and in this technique, you joint an edge first, then make a couple passes on the face, with the jointed edge against the fence.

Yes, the normal process with machine tools is faces then edges then ends. But that isn't sacred. If you needed to rip the board to width you'd joint an edge first so you've got something to reference against the bandsaw's fence. Then take the board, roughed to width, back to the jointer and start working on the faces.

That would not be the first 'article' with which I take exception to. In reality it depends upon the workpiece at hand. There is no way that a non-square face can be jointed at a right angle to the edge by holding the edge against the fence manually, especially if the work piece is wider than the jointer blades.

Sometimes common sense must take precedence over 'remote' advice.

As you said tis not sacred!:)

FWIW I was not even remotely thinking about machine shop practices. Tis irrelevant.

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 2:48 am

Doug Reid just did a long video on this topic.

algale · Post by **algale** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 6:52 am

I have a six inch jointer and of course on occasion I wish it was wider when face jointing boards wider than 6 inches. If you are not a hand plane guy, the solution is to get a 12 or 13 inch planer/thicknesser and then build a "planer sled" (google it).