Rabbeting on the Jointer - Have you ever done 1/4" deep rabbet on the jointer??

[George Bokros]

Has anyone done this? I need to make a 1 1/2" wide rabbet 1/4" deep and am thinking the jointer may be the way to do it.

Thanks in advance.

[Mel Fulks]

Yes. IF you have a jointer with a rabbeted edge outfeed table.
oops ,think that should should be infeed

[John Lanciani]

I have done exactly that, in one pass in hard maple on an 8" JET jointer. I did use a feeder though. Worked perfectly for the 100+ lf that i needed for the job.

[Jerry Wright]

Unless I am misunderstanding the question---Why not two cuts at 90 degrees on a table saw. My standard approach on picture frames.

[Mel Fulks]

Unless I am misunderstanding the question---Why not two cuts at 90 degrees on a table saw. My standard approach on picture frames.
Sure ,no law against it. But...please be careful, if you were to lose a finger the practice would be banned. And that could
make U.S. a third world frame maker.

[Jerry Wright]

Mel - they are called feather boards, push sticks, and splitters. Didn't know they were only used in 3rd world countries. BTW, happy holidays!!

[William Hodge]

I rabbet the bottoms and bevel the tops of door sills on a jointer.

For little rabbets, it's easier to use a shaper or a dado blade on a saw.

On a jointer, run a saw kerf that lines up with the end of the knives. Jointer knives aren't sharpened on the end, and can tear the wood. If the work piece wiggles off the fence a little, the saw kerf will cover it.

The rabbet needs to be run in one pass or the result will be an uneven cut. However, this works great for beveling the top of door sills. Three passes at 5/32" makes a 1/2" bevel across about 7".

Where jointers really shine as rabbet cutters is cutting big rabbets on door sill bottoms. A medium jointer can cut a 1/2" deep by 6" wide rabbet in White Oak in one pass.

[George Bokros]

I have a Delta 6" jointer (circa 2000). I am (was) planning to do it in four passes. I like the table saw kerf suggestion and understand what William pointed out. I did not think of the fact there would likely be a tear out issue.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Ronald Blue]

If you don't mind post photos of the finished rabbet George. Maybe even the jointer set up. I see this as a learning experience.

[Wes Grass]

20 years ago a friend loaned me a 4" Craftsman for a bench build I was doing. The blades needed some work,so I surface ground them straight. While I was at it, I also ground the ends with relief for rabbeting. I didn't cut anything big with it, but I think I may have made some 1/4" deep cuts just to try it out, and it worked really well. They don't need to be perfectly square. A little 'fishtail' like an endmill would be helpful. Getting them all set evenly in both directions adds a little extra work as well. I think I just flushed them to the end of the cutter head before dialing them in for depth.

Even one of the blades ground with relief and set a tick proud of the others would be an improvement.