Anyone care to relate how a benchtop jointer has worked out?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm looking at the Grizly 6" benchtop jointer.
The time has pretty much come to add a jointer to the shop.

CL is useless - a $50.00 jointer with an asking price of $200.00.
That's pretty typical of CL in the 150 mile radius around me.

HD is bound and determined to keep their 6" jointer priced at over $400, so that's out also.

For the near future, I don't see a whole lot of heavy use for a jointer - plus - I do have a deWalt planer, so I can fabricate a sled for it.

I looked at the various offerings, and the benchtop Griz looks to be the best of the bunch - for the most reasonable price.

My first choice, BTW, was a Powermatic 6" stationary since they had a great sale going on - however - Mother nature and a colony of carpenter bees put the nix to that..:mad:

Anyhow - the more I consider the whole jointer idea, the more I'm leaning towards a benchtop model.

I'm curious if that's worked out for anyone?

[Zach England]

I had the palmgren benchtop jointer at one point. It worked ok on any board shorter than about 4 feet for edge jointing. It didn't have enough power for all but the lightest face jointing. I'd say pass and consider alternate methods like table saw sled or a jointer plane. I replaced the dinky benchtop thing with a floorstanding jointer that works well, but most of the time I reach for my Veritas bevel-up jointer instead or my Stanley no. 8.

[glenn bradley]

Usability of that machine will vary based on what you want to do. I had the Delta DJ-160(?) 6" bench top. It seemed likely based on comments on the forums that it may be inadequate for the type of work I wanted to do (face jointing). I was sorry a couple weeks later and eventually sold it. It was OK for shorter stock; jewelry boxes and such. A co-worker got a great deal on a bench top jointer and I learned to pay closer attention ;-)

I built a planer sled and used it till I could save up enough for my current machine which has met all my needs to date with few exceptions. The short beds aside, the 6" was too narrow most of the time. My 8", while not huge, has only been too narrow twice in the last couple years of use. No worries, I just break out the old faithful planer sled for those rare needs. Your experience will definitely vary depending on what you plan to build.

[scott allen]

Don't even consider a benchtop model. 6" jointers are only slightly rarer than Craftsman Radial Arm Saws on CL. I don't know how long you've been searching for a used one, but I can only wish I had even a fraction of the machinery that is available in your area. The trick is persistence and patience - the gloatable deals don't last long.

Looking at listings in your area, I saw more than one Craftsman 6" units listed at $100 - not the greatest jointer in the world, but certainly a significant step up from any benchtop unit out there. I'd also be checking into the Sprunger listed on the Sandusky CL - if it includes a running motor that would be a real solid machine at a good price.

Also keep in mind that prices on CL are generally negotiable - if you see a machine you like, a crisp short stack of $20's in the seller's face will very often drop a price advertised as "firm".

Just my 2 cents.

Scott

[Carl Beckett]

I now have an 8" Grizzly stationary.

But for over a decade I used a 6" Ryobi variable speed.

The punch line: I found the benchtop unit to be very useful and a good choice at the time.

Observations:

I did do boards up to about 48" in length. Make a straight rip cut on the TS first. Was never a big issue.

The variable speed allowed it to turn fast - I left it on the highest setting most of the time. The cuts were very smooth - more so than the grizzly 8" (am thinking they operate on different fundamentals, with the benchtop getting its power from a smaller motor, but higher speed rotation)

'Sometimes' slowing it down helped with control and tearout - not enough to make the VS a decision making factor.

The benchtop had an aluminum fence. This would 'gall' (creating a rough surface to slide the board against, and sometimes scratching the wood). I applied a layer of teflon film which made a huge difference. The cast iron of the Grizzly wont do this.

When I had a benchtop I had a small shop. I kept it (with my benchtop planer) on a shelf under the workbench). I got them out for a project and tried to do everything needed before putting them back (making room to work). It takes time to get them out and put them back all the time, having a stationary is MUCH nicer in this respect, but takes up a lot more shop space.

Prior to the benchtop jointer, I would edge joint with a long piece of channel angle setup on my router table (put a shim on the outfeed so it had to be setup to a fixed depth of cut). This worked pretty well... but again, was sharing duties with the router table (which I use a lot - more than the jointer, so always setting up taking down). So a benchtop was a step up from my regular work method - good enough by me, one step at a time.

The 8" comes in handy from time to time. Not a deal breaker for me, since more often than not I am using 6" and below stock. A planer sled would enable the times when wider, but then again its extra steps to do it all.

The stationary Grizzly was on a clearance for about $450 when I got it. The benchtop was under $300.

If I had to pick ONE reason to go with a stationary, it is the ability to leave it setup/dedicated for the numerous times during a project where you just want to go true up an edge/et al.

AND - if you went with a cheaper benchtop model you would have less strain on the budget, and still be able to keep up with the woodworking (this is a factor for me at least... cannot spend every spare penny on woodworking toys). Or..... upgrade some of your handtool arsenal. My experience has been that in time I rely more on hand tools/skills, and less on plowing through projects with machines.

Good luck! Think of it this way: There is no bad decision - both ways keep you going forward with woodworking

[Rich Engelhardt]

If I had to pick ONE reason to go with a stationary, it is the ability to leave it setup/dedicated for the numerous times during a project where you just want to go true up an edge/et al.

Carl,
Thank you!
That's exactly what I was wanting to hear.
I have the room to setup a benchtop and leave it ready to go, so, that's not an issue.