Jointer problem

[Dick Holt]

I am having a problem with my Shop Fox jointer (W1741). Anything I run through it comes out tapered. The stock comes out thinner in the front than the back. I am going to check the tables to make sure they are parallel, etc. Is there anything else I should be looking for? Thanks for the help.

Dick

[Mel Fulks]

Sounds like the out feed table is a thousandth or two too high or knives are dull . First thing I would do is test a couple of pieces of wood at sharpest spot on the knives.

[Marty Tippin]

The purpose of a jointer is only to make the face of the board flat and true; differences in thickness at the ends of a board after jointing are a consequence of the amount of cutting needed to flatten the board. Is your stock coming off the jointer perfectly flat? If so, the jointer is doing its job and you need to run the board through a planer if you want both sides to be parallel and of the same thickness.

[Mike Ontko]

I've been having a similar issue with a Grizzly G0593 (8x75" bed, Byrd Shelix head, and dovetailed ways). The beds appear to be coplanar and the cutting head is just high enough to lightly kiss a piece of stock extending off the outfeed table (about 1-2 thousandths higher than the outfeed then, I would guess). My understanding though is that repeatedly feeding a piece through a jointer will eventually create a taper/wedge shape, if the two opposing faces aren't flat and parallel to begin with.

[Steve Wurster]

The purpose of a jointer is only to make the face of the board flat and true; differences in thickness at the ends of a board after jointing are a consequence of the amount of cutting needed to flatten the board. Is your stock coming off the jointer perfectly flat? If so, the jointer is doing its job and you need to run the board through a planer if you want both sides to be parallel and of the same thickness.

Exactly. If the side run against the jointer is flat, you are done with the jointer for that piece and it's time to move to the planer.

[Mike Ontko]

...differences in thickness at the ends of a board after jointing are a consequence of the amount of cutting needed to flatten the board.

This is where, when purchasing rough cut lumber, it might be a misconception to think that every 4/4 board will yield a clean, straight, and square 7/8" blank. Sometimes, a rough board is twisted or warped enough, even though it's hardly noticeable to the eye, that removing up to 1/4" of material overall between the jointer and planer isn't too unusual. Cutting rough stock close to its final length dimension before surfacing can help to minimize the amount of twist or warp from end to end, and reduce the amount material that needs to be removed to make the piece flat and square.

[Mel Fulks]

Joint the edges of two pieces about 30 inches long holding stock firmly down to out feed table. Put the two edges together ,if they fit with no gap anywhere table is probably ok. If there is trouble when facing ,its places in knives that aredull or knicked

[Lee Schierer]

It could be technique. As soon as you can move your down pressure to the out feed table side of the cutter. Pressing down too firmly on the in feed side of the table will cause the tapering. You can also swap the piece end for end after each pass, making the final pass the direction where the grain tear out is the least.