Small-ish square stock on the jointer

[Matt Day]

I was milling up a few scraps on the jointer for a jig I'm making and was using some left over leg stock (1 3/4 x 1/34 or so). The stock had been previously milled but needed to be trued up. The problem I was having was after jointing the first side, and then rotating that side to the fence. I was having difficulty keeping the stock completely against the fence while keeping downward pressure on the side being cut, and keeping my fingers clear of the cutter. The stock wanted to rotate out of square. I felt like I needed a featherboard to keep it against the fence.

Are there any tricks to this? Should I get a double height mag featherboard to keep it tight to the fence? I eventually gave up on it and used a larger board that was easier to keep flat.

[Harold Burrell]

Yeah...personally, I'd be pretty hesitant to run that small of stock on my jointer. If you can't control it, well...you're asking to get hurt. How long are these pieces? Can you true them with handtools (like with a jointer plane)? How about doing it on your table saw?

[Jeff Bartley]

I hope I can explain my experience with this exact situation......if you consider a piece of stock that is roughly square, you've jointed one face and the next step is to joint another face 90 degrees to the previous. Imagine looking at the stock from the end, the jointed face is against the fence of your jointer and the face to be jointed is down facing the bed of the jointer. If this face is out of square it will have an acute angle and an obtuse angle. If you ensure that the acute angle is adjacent the fence then the piece will be supported on the infeed side of the cutter right next to the fence. It's much easier to manage like this because you can keep finger pressure at the top of the piece.
Sometimes it works out best to run the piece through the planer to get the correct orientation for jointing the second (90 degree) face. I hope this makes sense!

[keith micinski]

Whatever you do dont do that. I was doing something similar knowing it was stupid to do and stuck my finger into the jointer when it ripped the small piece out of my hand.

[Ben Hatcher]

Something that small is pretty sketchy to run on a jointer. If you must, you could cut opposing 45's into a 2x to make a push block but anything that small can be squared close enough on a table saw or with a router and straight edge.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I'll pile on and agree... definitely never run that small of a workpiece through the jointer. That tiny piece of wood is cheap compared to an amputation.

[jim gossage]

Is your measurement in the post correct or is it really 1-3/4 x 1-3/4"? If the latter and it is at least 12" long or so, it might be easier to joint one face and then square the others on the tablesaw.

[Prashun Patel]

Short pieces are dangerous on the jointer. If this piece is longer than six inches though you can do it. Make a notched push block.

[Jeff Bartley]

A notched push block is good insurance! And I'll agree that if it's shorter than 12" don't run it over the jointer! But I also wouldn't put a piece through the table saw that only had one face jointed.....that's an invitation to kick-back. Not sure how you'd straighten a piece like this with a router....seems like a lot of trouble. A hand plane might be the best bet. Do you have a jointer, like a #7? It literally takes just a couple swipes to square up a small piece like that. Then I'd move to the table saw.

[keith micinski]

I guess I didn't understand your size originally. Now that I see it would be at least 12 inches long it would help but I would still be leery. Also a push stick on a small piece like the on the jointer seems like it would be impossible to do accurately. I might get in trouble for saying this but the chances of kickback on a piece that is that small is pretty rare because it will flex. Not underestimating kickback I'm just saying. Also I believe the only real "safe" solution here is to just throw the scrap pieces away and use a larger piece and rip them down to size. Sometimes the best way not to find trouble is to not go looking for it.

[Prashun Patel]

Keith i wouldnt use a push stick. I would use a push block that works much like a grrrripper.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Matt
When I joint leg stock, I have a 3/4" piece of plywood with a 90* kerf cut in the center edge about 3/8" deep and longer then the leg stock and about 6" wide. I use this at 45* to jointer table and fence. With this kerf it safety allow me to keep downward and side pressure on my stock. With stock and plywood push aid together on in feed table you easy see if you need to adjust for more side pressure to mill stock at 90* At other times I have added feather boards to keep side pressure when jointing second side at 90*. Try to keep your hands off any stock you are milling on the jointer. Tom

[Myk Rian]

I eventually gave up on it and used a larger board that was easier to keep flat.
That's what I would do.

[Matt Day]

All, thanks for your replies. Sorry for the typo, but it is 1-3/4" x 1-3/4", and it's about 3' long.

Thomas - that's a great idea to basically use a custom push block that's the length (or longer) than the piece being jointed.

Jeff - I like your idea of keeping the taller side of the face-to-be-jointed against the fence. That would keep the piece from wanting to rotate.

With Jeff and Thomas's ideas, I think I've got this one figured out.

Thanks SMC!

[Lee Schierer]

I felt like I needed a featherboard to keep it against the fence.

Are there any tricks to this? Should I get a double height mag featherboard to keep it tight to the fence? I eventually gave up on it and used a larger board that was easier to keep flat.

Use a feather board to keep the stock tight to the fence. I have some magnetic ones from Grip Tite that work well on my jointer table. I've even used them on my band saw table. On small stock like that you can do it safely with a good shoe style push stick that goes over several inches to a foot of the stock being process.