Advice on a jointer...

[Ted Harris]

There is an Enco jointer on sale for $175.95 that is usually $329.95. Does anyone have any experience with them, or any overall "shopping for a jointer advice?"

[Charlie Plesums]

I don't know Enco brand, but this is general advice...

The real value of a jointer is to flatten the face of a board... if your saw is set up right, the edges don't need jointing. My 6 inch jointer was never wide enough... a lot of wood was 6 1/2 or 7 inches wide, so I regretted buying a 6 inch rather than 8 inch jointer... and finally got a 16 inch.

[Nick Mitchell]

The real value of a jointer is to flatten the face of a board... if your saw is set up right, the edges don't need jointing.

What do you put against the fence with rough lumber on a regular cabinet saw if you don't have a straight 'jointed' edge?

[Chris Padilla]

What do you put against the fence with rough lumber on a regular cabinet saw if you don't have a straight 'jointed' edge?

Lottsa ways to skin that cat, Nick! :) You can use a piece of plywood as a carrier tray and put its edge against the fence or any number of straight-edges or a router table with a flush-cutting bit. :D

[lou sansone]

most of the enco stuff is plain old junk! it is the cheapest of the chiawain garbage. Don't waste you money. Sorry to be so blunt, but them's the facts as I see them

lou

[Charlie Plesums]

What do you put against the fence with rough lumber on a regular cabinet saw if you don't have a straight 'jointed' edge?
(Signed with a Format4 logo)


If you are really a Format4 user, then you probably have a sliding table on your saw, which makes cutting the reference edge extremely easy... I lock one end on the slider to establish the blade entry or exit point, and hand-hold the other end on the slider. Once the optimum first edge is established (not always parallel to the edge of the rough wood), the second side is a traditional cut with the rip fence. Sometimes I use a chalk line to experiment with the optimum location of the straight edge on a funky board.

[Nick Mitchell]

Lottsa ways to skin that cat, Nick! :) You can use a piece of plywood as a carrier tray and put its edge against the fence or any number of straight-edges or a router table with a flush-cutting bit. :D

I never understood the 'jig' thing. Since establishing a straight edge is one of the fundamentals of board preparation, something that is done to every board that comes into the shop, a half-baked jig is simply not a productive option in my opinion. This is what a jointer is for.

I do understand jigs for a one-off set up or for anything that is done rarely. You're right, there are other ways to get a straight edge, just no good ways.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Some Enco stuff is not bad, and usually, their higher end stuff is better than OK. Bear in mind, they mostly peddle metal working tools and machinery. Having said that, I purhcased a used Enco contractor's saw - paid $225 for it at a swap meet, and the guy even delivered it to my house. It stays true, and since I put the Beis on it, is a good and reliable piece of equipment.

Do I long for a Unisaw? You bet, and I'll probably get one in the next year or two. Do I regret buying this thing used? Nope - it was a good investment for what I bought it for. However, to buy one new ($350), add the Beis and a link belt, one would be better served to look at one of the new General hybrids for $850.

All of this is to say, if it satisfies a current need, and the higher priced tool is no where in sight for the next few years, you're only out a couple of hundred bucks. If that's troubling, wait and save your money.

**Disclaimer**
Never buy an unsafe tool that will jeopordize your well being.

[Nick Mitchell]

If you are really a Format4 user, then you probably have a sliding table on your saw, which makes cutting the reference edge extremely easy... I lock one end on the slider to establish the blade entry or exit point, and hand-hold the other end on the slider. Once the optimum first edge is established (not always parallel to the edge of the rough wood), the second side is a traditional cut with the rip fence. Sometimes I use a chalk line to experiment with the optimum location of the straight edge on a funky board.

If you really are a slider user then you know that most, 99%, of the people on this board don't have a slider. Which is why I asked my question specifically to a cabinet saw. Straight lining rough boards is one of the major advantages to a slider, but irrelevant to the point at hand.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Actually, with my cheap Enco CS, commercial grade Beismeyer fence, and Grrippers from Micro Jig, I get wonderfully smooth straight and clean edge joints. Of course I'm limited to the capacity of my saw blade (Forrest WWII), but for really wide things I either hand plane it with my #7, or put it on a sled through my lunch box planer. I've also flattened stuff with a router/sled set up - a trick I learned at Highland Hardware.


Sorry, I'm just a hobbyist, as I suspect the gentleman starting this thread is as well.

[Rick Lizek]

Enco isn't all that bad. Enco is owned by MSCDirect. Good prices on measuring stuff.

[Charlie Plesums]

If you really are a slider user then you know that most, 99%, of the people on this board don't have a slider. Which is why I asked my question specifically to a cabinet saw. Straight lining rough boards is one of the major advantages to a slider, but irrelevant to the point at hand.

My apologies if I offended you by concluding, from your Format4 signature, that you might be a slider owner. I am surprised by the number of people who do have them (including many people who use this forum), and even more amazed by the number of people who have high-end machines but don't take full advantage of the capabilities of their machines.

If a board is severely warped, a jointer is a slow way to create a straight edge, and does nothing to get the second edge parallel to the first. I have a friend who clamps a long piece (20 feet?) of metal angle to his table saw rip fence, so that the contact point doesn't change as the board is ripped to create a straight reference edge. That is a very fast solution if you have a lot to process. My volumes are lower, so with my old radial arm saw or contractor table saw (before I got the slider), I attached the warped work piece to a straight board for the first rip, as others have suggested.

[Charlie Kocourek]

I had an Enco 6X48" edge sander. It looked great! Heavy and very solid looking. However, it was such a POS that I sold it at a garage sale for whatever I could get and I never looked back.