This makes me nervous

[Jerry Thompson]

I have an old Delta-Rockwell 8" jointer. We all love putting in new blades, right? I put in the gib then the blade. I pushed down on the blade with a strait block of wood and snugged up three bolts. I zeroed out my dial indicator to the out feed table. I the put it on the blade edge and the blade was .001 too high. That is good in my book. Now I have two more to go and wonder if the Jointer Imps are rolling around under the machine to cause all matter of cussing and what not.

[John Piwaron]

It's probably just fine. When I remove, resharpen and replace the knives in my jointer (Delta DJ-20), precision measuring instruments play no role at all. I use my metal rule to find TDC - a very slight "snick, snick, snick" as I rock the blade back and forth just a bit to find top dead center. I do that at 3 place across it's length. When it feels right I lock down the gib and move to the next knife.

The proof of a job well done is how the work looks when it comes off the jointer. I've always gotten a nice smooth surface. I'd say that my method is working for me. I'd also say that whatever your chosen method is, it's possible to over think it. Just go with it and see what happens.

[Myk Rian]

It's probably just fine. When I remove, resharpen and replace the knives in my jointer (Delta DJ-20), precision measuring instruments play no role at all. I use my metal rule to find TDC - a very slight "snick, snick, snick" as I rock the blade back and forth just a bit to find top dead center. I do that at 3 place across it's length. When it feels right I lock down the gib and move to the next knife..
That's also my method.