Home Made Joiner guard?

[Dell Moore]

Has anyone made thier own joiner blade guard? Bad Idea? Good Idea? STUPID idea?

Have this old joiner (not even sure of the brand...) that needs some work, but it's functional, and since a new one is cost prohibative right now, I though perhaps I'd take a shot.

A search of the forum found mention of homemade blade guards, but not details. Can anyone help and point me in the right direction?

Off to google....

Dell

[Jim Becker]

Folks have made their own guards to replace units no longer available. A Euro style bridge guard might actually be easier to make than a "porkchop" for face jointing and you can use a second simple clamp on affair for edges.

[glenn bradley]

Grandpa's old Delta (now Dad's) has had a mahogany pork chop painted Delta gray since I was a child.

[Joe Jensen]

My 1975 SCMI has a pork chop guard. It came from the factory with a plywood guard and a nice spring assembly. If you find a place for a pivot point, you could make a pork chop guard with say a 2" diameter cylinder of wood on top over the pivot. Then fasten a screen door spring so it wraps around the cylinder and fastens somewhere towards the outfeed table end. Make sense? I could try to sketch something simple on sketchup if needed.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Current issue of FWW has an article on jointing wide boards on a 6" jointer, that features a "Euro" style bridge guard, that is the same one I use on my jointer when doing wide boards.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I made a wood pork chop guard for an old Atlas jointer several years ago.

[Dave Lehnert]

I always liked this guard on my Shopsmith 4" jointer. It works as a feather guard. Great idea.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/j_featherguardretro.htm
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/images/Featherboard.jpg

[Chip Lindley]

Dell, since you are unsure of your jointer's heritage, and no doubt, have never seen pics of a similar machine, you will have to conjur up your own version according to those on similar machines. A *pork chop* guard should be basically a no brainer! There is a little geometry involved, but nothing serious!

IMO, jointer guards are fine for edge jointing when most of the blade is not being used. But, for face jointing, I swing the guard away to expose the full cutter. I feel the guard distracts from the *feel* needed to face joint accurately! Maybe I am politically incorrect (or just blatantly unsafe), but that's just ME!

[Rod Sheridan]

Dell, since you are unsure of your jointer's heritage, and no doubt, have never seen pics of a similar machine, you will have to conjur up your own version according to those on similar machines. A *pork chop* guard should be basically a no brainer! There is a little geometry involved, but nothing serious!

IMO, jointer guards are fine for edge jointing when most of the blade is not being used. But, for face jointing, I swing the guard away to expose the full cutter. I feel the guard distracts from the *feel* needed to face joint accurately! Maybe I am politically incorrect (or just blatantly unsafe), but that's just ME!

Hi Chip, a bridge guard wouldn't interfere with the "feel" of jointing since it doesn't touch the wood.

You could be accurate and safer at the same time.

Regards, Rod.

[Dell Moore]

If anyone knows where I can get some instructions for making the spring loaded part, I'd appreciate it.

Dell

[Rod Sheridan]

If anyone knows where I can get some instructions for making the spring loaded part, I'd appreciate it.

Dell

Dell, are you asking about the old pork chop style or the bridge (Euro) guard?

I wouldn't go back to the old pork chop style, I find the Euro guard much nicer to use.......Rod.

If you want, PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send you some photo's of the guard on my Hammer A3-31.

Regards, Rod.