Gotta love that FWW small Jointer technique..

[Brian Penning]

This month's FWW issue contains a great(IMO) technique of jointing wide boards on a 6 in. jointer via passing the wide board and getting a rabbet on the outside edge.
Then simply put a spacer under the newly jointed edge and pass it through the planer. I've oversimplified it a bit but I tried the method out on a 9 inch wide board and it came out perfect.

[John Thompson]

The technique has been around for a long time... it turns your 6" into a 12" and 8" into a 16".. etc. when needed. I would suggest making a wooden guard to fit over your cutter-head when you do it though. I simply use a thich wooden block with a couple of 3/8" holes drilled. I attach it to the fence with a set of Rockler Universal clamps.

Good luck with your new-found discovery...

Sarge..

[Matt Day]

I've been doing this for a while with my 8" jointer and it's been fine for all of the boards I've tried - up to around 14" wide. Some folks on here will express some safety concerns about the technique, but it's safe as far as I'm concerned as long as you respect the machine.

[Jules Dominguez]

I haven't seen that article, but I can't conjure how that would work unless the board you're jointing is almost perfectly flat to begin with.

[Brent Smith]

Hi Bri,

I've been using that technique for years. One of the things to watch for is that you keep pressure well enough back from the edge of the tables. With a wider board a person can sometimes (well, actually only once if you learn from your mistakes) let the push pads drift while jointing a longer board causing the board to tip just a tad and kickback to happen. DAMHIKT. Sarge's advise on a wooden guard is a good move too. As a matter of fact, you can mark where the edge of the tables are on the wooden guard to give you a fixed reference point.

[Neal Clayton]

I haven't seen that article, but I can't conjure how that would work unless the board you're jointing is almost perfectly flat to begin with.

i agree.

if it did work no one would buy 12" and 16" jointers.

[Brent Leonard]

People buy large jointers because they are convienient, easier and quicker to using the described method.

The described method is much better than a planer sled IMO.

Anyone who wants to flatten boards wider than their jointer (without hand planes, ripping and gluing, or a sled), get this issue of FWW!!

[glenn bradley]

The described method is much better than a planer sled IMO.

As a user of both techniques I have to disagree. I by far preferred the planer sled. Easier (I didn't like putting the guard off and on and was tempted to leave it off :eek:), more predictable and it felt safer . . . to me . . . but, we're all different ;)

+1 on the large jointer convenience factor. The sled got me by for well over a year and I still have it for really wide stuff but, being able to walk up to the jointer and just 'go' for 99.9% of my stuff is very convenient.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I've used this method for years. On another site, one of the moderators (who is supposed? to be a jointer expert) said it wouldn't work. Well it does. FWW left out a couple of very important items though. First, the knives have to line up with the edge of the rabbeting ledge, and the plywood shim must also line up with rabbeting ledge. In addition to the block at the end, I use double stick tape to fasten shim in place.