What's the Best Long Bed Jointer, old or new?

[Ben Sherwyn]

Hi All,

I just finished up a table top that required a lot of 8-9' joints and realize that a longer jointer bed would've helped quite a bit. I ended up finishing each of the panels off with a #7 hand plane, which I would've done a bit of anyway, but I do believe a longer and more precise jointer would've taken a good amount of the work out of it.

So, I may think about upgrading to a longer jointer, but was curious to hear feedback from others about what jointer models, new and old, take the cake for a longer bed with high quality and precision. I'm thinking mostly about the 8" variety at the moment, but am open to other options as well. The ability to upgrade to a helical/spherical cutterhead someday would be a bonus, but not a dealbreaker.

Some of the candidates I've found so far...
- Delta DJ-20 8" Jointer with 77" bed
- Powermatic 60 & 60HH 8" Jointer with 73" bed
- Grizzly G0495X 8" with 83" bed

Thanks for your tips and recommendations!

Ben S.

[Kevin Jenness]

The best? Get a Martin T54.

[Ben Sherwyn]

Wow, only $22k! That thing is beautiful though...

[David Kumm]

Go to a 12" Oliver 166 with 96" length, Northfield HD , or Porter 300. All are old cast iron but with used you can verify the tables are flat. I have a DJ20 and while a decent machine, the tables are not as flat as my Oliver 166 or Porter. 12" doesn't take up much more room. 2500-3000 buys a very good condition machine and a vfd costs another 400. Dave

[David Zaret]

The best? Get a Martin T54.

my thoughts and words exactly. word for word.

[Cassius Nielsen]

This depends a lot on your budget. I've got a DJ-20, it works great for me, pitted beds and all. It has a 1.5hp motor which I have never found lacking, I do wish it had the 4 knife cutter head the grizzly clone has. There are helical cutter heads made for it, but they cost over half of what I paid for the machine. I have only used and owned two jointers but they are fairly simple machines. If your beds are co-planer and fence is flat, it will do the job with proper set up. Proper set up may include much more than just making sure your fence is 90 degrees to the tables. Parallelogram would also be nice, I have not had to adjust coplanarity of either of mine. I can only imagine how much of a pain it would be to shim a dovetailed jointer after seeing just how rough of a system it is. Get the one with the longest and widest beds possible within your budget imo. I went from a 6" to an 8" when the opportunity presented itself and if I had the space and money I'd go bigger. Another thing to keep in mind is that OEM parts for a DJ-20 are not a thing, but grizzly makes what seems like a 1:1 clone for parts. I have only replaced small parts on my dj-20 with grizzly parts but I have read of people putting a whole grizzly fence set up on a DJ-20. Having recently gone through buying used machines I can tell you it is very nice to be able to go online and buy, knowing in confidence that it will fit, the little piece that holds a door closed for $2. Alternatively you can get your welding buddy to fix it or search high and low to find it for $30. This experience was from a delta bandsaw, but you get the idea.

[Rod Sheridan]

Have a look at 12 inch jointer/planers.

I have one and joint 6 or 7 foot long pieces without issue.

Parts are available and they have insert cutter heads…..Rod

[glenn bradley]

I run a Grizzly G0490X which is a Delta DJ-20 clone. Long beds (for the width) and a tall fence were two of my top requirements. It has proved very satisfactory. Bear in mind that any time your material extends past the bed there is the possibility of feed path deviation. Good support for the full cutting operation is your friend regardless of bed length. The long infeed on my jointer means I can joint blanks most of the time without external support which is what I was after. The things you make will determine if this is so for you.

[Mark Hennebury]

Grizzly, Powermatic and delta, That's a pretty small, isolated island that you live on.

There are literally hundreds of companies from around the world that made jointers, many of the jointers are still out there, for you to find.


To pick "the best" of them, you would have to know all of them.

How about this nice longbed, right angle jointer from Japan.


462535

[Phillip Mitchell]

My first jointer was a DJ-20 and it was ok, but too small and light duty for some of the work that I tend to do. I found it frustrating and limiting as my only jointer after a while.

Ive had an Oliver 166BD (12”) for about 4 years and it fits the bill nicely. Total bed length from end to end is just over 100”. Not sure of too many other than Martin or possibly some Italian machines that are longer than that.

Including the cost of a nice 5HP VFD, I paid slightly less than a Grizzly 8” helical head machine was at the time and got a machine that is miles ahead in terms of capacity, build quality, shop presence, weight, and will likely last longer even though it was made during the WWII era.

Just my thoughts, but if you can find a way to move it (and where there’s a will there’s a way) then big heavy jointers are worth the effort to acquire and setup if you consistently need to joint longer and wider stock.

PS - sometimes you may still need to break out the No. 7 for edges depending on the circumstances. I did it just last week when prepping edges for interior door panel glue ups. Sometimes the stock reacts just enough as it’s being milled that it can be tricky to get a perfectly straight edge joint off the machine and those are times when your hand plane skills will still be needed and appreciated.

[Jared Sankovich]

Go to a 12" Oliver 166 with 96" length, Northfield HD , or Porter 300. All are old cast iron but with used you can verify the tables are flat. I have a DJ20 and while a decent machine, the tables are not as flat as my Oliver 166 or Porter. 12" doesn't take up much more room. 2500-3000 buys a very good condition machine and a vfd costs another 400. Dave

You forgot about the Newman #60, but otherwise I'd agree.

I had a g0490 delta clone. I wasn't very impressed.

[Steven Woodward]

Nice looking jointer. Picture shows straight blades, and no mention of helical segmented cutter head in the PDF file. Seems odd on such a fine machine


The best? Get a Martin T54.

[Warren Lake]

Like most things there is no best.

I did fine on a general 8" jointer for years. When I got an SCM 14" approx I just about never used the general again. Once you use a machine with mass hard to go back, the general still could do stuff at least most of the work I needed to do till one specific job calling for bit wider jointer. I did the extra steps to trick the general till I got the SCM, that wasted time.

You dont need a 100 " plus total jointer beds to do long work you need infeed and out feed support and positioned right. Lots of people have done long work with support. The support on both sides hold the board up while you do the work on the outfeed table.

[Mike King]

I just spent another two weeks at Anderson Ranch where they have an old Porter. I lust after that machine!

Mike

[David Kumm]

[QUOTE=Jared Sankovich;3135805]You forgot about the Newman #60, but otherwise I'd agree.


Newman was omitted due to rarity but you are correct in that quality was outstanding. Maybe the heaviest castings although Porter used better bearings and had an adjustable yoke. I don't remember if Newman had that. The old 12" PM jointers were made in Europe and can be a bargain . Dave

[Steven Woodward]

Ben, you seem to have settled on 8 inch jointers. A good choice in my experience.

I recommend:
1) Helical Segmented cutter head. I like the Byrd Shelix because it is good quality and replacement blades are lower cost than others
2) Parallelogram table mechanism. Found this keeps tables co-planer without adjustment over 30 years of use on my Makita 2020 jointer
3) Long bed, for reasons you mention.

The Powermatic 60HH satisfies all of the above.

Here is the USA price of a pack of 10 replacement carbide cutters for various manufacturers heads:
These may not be the best price for each , but it does show quite a range.

$35 - Byrd Shelix (I think this is standard on Powermatic with helical head)
$50 - Grizzly
$60 - Laguna
$100 - Rikon






Hi All,

I just finished up a table top that required a lot of 8-9' joints and realize that a longer jointer bed would've helped quite a bit. I ended up finishing each of the panels off with a #7 hand plane, which I would've done a bit of anyway, but I do believe a longer and more precise jointer would've taken a good amount of the work out of it.

So, I may think about upgrading to a longer jointer, but was curious to hear feedback from others about what jointer models, new and old, take the cake for a longer bed with high quality and precision. I'm thinking mostly about the 8" variety at the moment, but am open to other options as well. The ability to upgrade to a helical/spherical cutterhead someday would be a bonus, but not a dealbreaker.

Some of the candidates I've found so far...
- Delta DJ-20 8" Jointer with 77" bed
- Powermatic 60 & 60HH 8" Jointer with 73" bed
- Grizzly G0495X 8" with 83" bed

Thanks for your tips and recommendations!

Ben S.

[Warren Lake]

Aldinger, Bauerle, Crescent, Dankert, Hoffman, Kolle, Martin, Newman, Panhans, Porter, Preston , Robinson, SCM Invincible, Schwabadessen, Sicma, Wadkin, Yates, and more

[Jared Sankovich]

You forgot about the Newman #60, but otherwise I'd agree.


Newman was omitted due to rarity but you are correct in that quality was outstanding. Maybe the heaviest castings although Porter used better bearings and had an adjustable yoke. I don't remember if Newman had that. The old 12" PM jointers were made in Europe and can be a bargain . Dave

Certainly rare compared to the others mentioned, but they seem to be more often priced considerably lower than say a Northfield. The yoke is separate one peice with integral dust chute like the porter. Iirc there is no claim to adjustability with the Newman yoke though.

I'd think griggio, casadei, casolin or SAC would on the list as well.

[Warren Lake]

most of the machines I listed are heavier, I left Griggio out even though I have one 1,600 lbs but other stuff there all looks heavier build

[Richard Coers]

Vintage Wadkin, purely for the sex appeal!

[Andrew Hughes]

I already own the finest jointer ever made. The best the op can do is second place.🙂
I remember when Jared picked up the The Newman 60. I admit I was jelly :)

[Alex Zeller]

More information would be helpful. Do you have access to 3 phase power? Do you have a budget? Do you mind working on a used tool? Where's it going, as in is this a basement shop with a narrow entrance? Do you have a budget? As for what you listed I have a PJ-882HH (which is about the size of the Grizzly you listed). Since I move it around my shop old classic iron was limited to lighter machines, not the good massive chunks of iron that I would love to have. Also few old machines come up for sale around here.

My Powermatic is a pretty good jointer. The fence and tables are very flat (less than .0015" over a 24" span). The parallelogram adjustments work very well making setting it up and fine tuning easy. About the only complaint I have is the fence has a plastic insert where the cutter head is. It's not exactly flush to the fence so when jointing the face of a board if the edge against the fence has a curve it'll can catch. It's minor but for my technique for jointing it does bother me. Since it's right at the cutter head so the board is just starting to be fed into the cutter I'm not putting much down pressure on the board face yet. So trying to slide the board away from the fence just as I'm about to start getting into a rhythm bothered me enough to shim it flush.

[Warren Lake]

Andrew what if he finds the same kind you have ?

Thats pretty nice and might sound odd what looks interesting to me is that the area for your feet are is completely open. My SCM Combo is restricted as there is a shaper there. Given a choice I like less bulk where your feet are and some do take that into account in the shape of the base.

[Jim Becker]

One of the advantages of going with big/long old iron is that it will also likely be wide, too. That's nice for flattening material.

[Andrew Hughes]

Andrew what if he finds the same kind you have ?

Thats pretty nice and might sound odd what looks interesting to me is that the area for your feet are is completely open. My SCM Combo is restricted as there is a shaper there. Given a choice I like less bulk where your feet are and some do take that into account in the shape of the base.

Its possibly he could find one. Or maybe one would find him the question is will he be ready. The first time one stands in the presence of majestic old arn it can be intimidating.
Even with the help of owwm there’s still a lot to figure out alone.
The open bridge design is my favorite too. Most of the time I’m facing short easy to manage boards. I sit in a chair and tuck my feet underneath the open space.
Passing boards left to right hardly any effort.

[Warren Lake]

you lost me there, you sit when you use a jointer? Thats new to me.

passing left to right you mean right to left?

what width and bed length is that machine. Did they have a number of different models or just one? What about weight. Curious now.

[Andrew Hughes]

Opps your right I meant from right to left. The length from end to end 99 inches Long. A 12 inch wide head with a 5inch cutting circle.
166 bd with direct drive motor. The head spins at 3400 rpm so it’s not very loud in fact one of the most quietest jointer made. The big cutting circle makes up for the lower RpMs.
I can easily handle 5 ft boards just sitting in my chair. The thicker boards are easier to handle because the weight is enough to keep it down.

[Warren Lake]

thanks for explaining. Also I looked and i had some info saved on them even printed stuff saved of different models with all dimensions and weight I think as well. Its interesting about head size and also weight of all the machine. For sure I like the sound of the SCM over the general. The general howls compared to the SCM, Its quieter and its a nice hum. Older machine with some weight.

A jointer like yours sold recently, I think it was from a school, it looked in good condition. It wasn't beat up and looked like a good cleaning and it would be very nice. I cant quite remember what it sold for. It was good value. What a nice piece of history.

If you are jointing mostly shorter boards do you use just your hands or any type of push device or both. When im smart I have one push thing I like because its comfortable to use, maybe because its like a hand plane handle, nice old piece of honduras mahogany.

[Patrick Kane]

I once read the rule of thumb with jointers is you can expect accurate results on work pieces that are 2x the length of your infeed table. In other words, your infeed table is 36" long, so you should expect excellent results on workpieces 72" or less--assuming your jointer is calibrated properly. Of course operator skill and auxiliary setup can push a machine to exceed its limitations, but I think you need to find the right machine to meet your expectations. I dont work for a machine manufacturer, but i assume 8" jointers were not designed for the door manufacturing industry. Id be surprised if they even intended the 8" line to be used by furniture makers. That level of machine seems to cater to the cabinet maker's needs and expectations. Like others mentioned, i think the 12" size class is standard for furniture makers and door manufacturers.

I have owned a rigid 6", Delta DJ20 8", Grizzly 12", and Griggio 500mm for several years each, and can tell you there is not much size difference between a 8" machine and a 12" machine, but the difference in build quality and performance is immense. I just edge jointed several 16-18" wide 8/4 walnut slabs that were 8.5' long yesterday prior to gluing them into my sister's future table top. No infeed/outfeed support, no fussing, and excellent results. That is a function the machine was designed to handle, and i spent 6-8 hours calibrating the beds to perfection.

[Warren Lake]

There is no reason not to have support in and out whatever you need and a rule based on no support is rules are made to be broken. Then who made the rule, salesman, manufacturer. cabinetmaker?

Glad ive never heard that before or it would have stopped me from jointing long stock. The biggest reason the big jointer here is better than the general is the mass the machine has and what comes along with that package (larger cutter head and )

I could have still made a living on the 8" general. I didnt use wide boards or live edge stuff. Usually widths no more than approx 7" for table tops and more likely 6.5" or so as the max. That all works fine on an 8" jointer. I dont remember any one or not many if anyone making large board stuff back when I started. it wasnt a thing.

[Patrick Kane]

There is no reason not to have support in and out whatever you need and a rule based on no support is rules are made to be broken. Then who made the rule, salesman, manufacturer. cabinetmaker?

Glad ive never heard that before or it would have stopped me from jointing long stock. The biggest reason the big jointer here is better than the general is the mass the machine has and what comes along with that package (larger cutter head and )

I could have still made a living on the 8" general. I didnt use wide boards or live edge stuff. Usually widths no more than approx 7" for table tops and more likely 6.5" or so as the max. That all works fine on an 8" jointer. I dont remember any one or not many if anyone making large board stuff back when I started. it wasnt a thing.

Your source for lumber must be disappointing. Thats a lot of narrow boards for a table top! I love wide stock--whether its dimensional or live edge.

Exactly, rules and norms are what they are, and can always have exceptions. You are an example of a craftsman pushing a machine beyond its intended design. I commend your efforts, but also ask, "should you?". Is that the best use of your time and capital to modify machines to make them do something they werent designed to do in the first place? Also, im sure your infeed support is well thought out and built, but its not planed/ground cast iron. I need to go back and reread the OP's first post, but if this is for profit, then i dont think a "longbed" 8" machine is the correct answer. If he only has one of these projects, then yes, he should boot-strap it like you and get acceptable results and move on. I havent needed to do it before, but a track saw with a ripping blade and a long track might be the most cost effective solution too. I have a TS75 and long tracks, but i havent used them as a glueline rip yet. I cant personally attest to the results from this process.

[Ben Sherwyn]

Go to a 12" Oliver 166 with 96" length, Northfield HD , or Porter 300. All are old cast iron but with used you can verify the tables are flat. I have a DJ20 and while a decent machine, the tables are not as flat as my Oliver 166 or Porter. 12" doesn't take up much more room. 2500-3000 buys a very good condition machine and a vfd costs another 400. Dave

Thanks David... I'm definitely considering these options if one comes up near me (I'm in Milwaukee, WI).

[Ben Sherwyn]

I'll keep my eyes out for a Newman too

[Ben Sherwyn]

More information would be helpful. Do you have access to 3 phase power? Do you have a budget? Do you mind working on a used tool? Where's it going, as in is this a basement shop with a narrow entrance? Do you have a budget? As for what you listed I have a PJ-882HH (which is about the size of the Grizzly you listed). Since I move it around my shop old classic iron was limited to lighter machines, not the good massive chunks of iron that I would love to have. Also few old machines come up for sale around here.

My Powermatic is a pretty good jointer. The fence and tables are very flat (less than .0015" over a 24" span). The parallelogram adjustments work very well making setting it up and fine tuning easy. About the only complaint I have is the fence has a plastic insert where the cutter head is. It's not exactly flush to the fence so when jointing the face of a board if the edge against the fence has a curve it'll can catch. It's minor but for my technique for jointing it does bother me. Since it's right at the cutter head so the board is just starting to be fed into the cutter I'm not putting much down pressure on the board face yet. So trying to slide the board away from the fence just as I'm about to start getting into a rhythm bothered me enough to shim it flush.

I currently could run 3 phase with VFD, but am looking to move to a shop with 3 phase power before long. I rent a dedicated shop (not a basement shop) I certainly don't mind working with old tools... Many of my machines are vintage and I appreciate the high quality I can get for the price, albeit sometimes with the help of a local machine shop. I'll need to wrap my head around how to move such a big piece of equipment, but the idea of going larger as many people are suggesting here is exciting to me.

[Ben Sherwyn]

That Oliver is certainly a beautiful jointer. Is that a 16"?

[Ben Sherwyn]

Prior to this post, I was intimidated by the size and weight of some of the bigger jointers... But after learning more and seeing some prices out there, having a jointer with more mass would be pretty great and most likely doable for me. An old Oliver or Porter, or a number of the models that have been mentioned in this thread would be quite something to own. I am thinking about moving shops soon, perhaps I should do that first so I would have to move one of these things twice!

[Jared Sankovich]

Prior to this post, I was intimidated by the size and weight of some of the bigger jointers... But after learning more and seeing some prices out there, having a jointer with more mass would be pretty great and most likely doable for me. An old Oliver or Porter, or a number of the models that have been mentioned in this thread would be quite something to own. I am thinking about moving shops soon, perhaps I should do that first so I would have to move one of these things twice!

I was sure a 16" was more than I wanted, in fact I passed up a 12" crescent a few months before I ended up with my newman. Size and weight is a benefit you need to experience first hand to truly appreciate. The large diameter of the cutterhead also makes a tangible difference.
462625

462626

[Andrew Hughes]

My experience with jointing long boards is the length of the beds is a plus but only if they are reasonably flat. For instance my machine has very flat tables. I have one spot I can slip a 2 thou. Shim under a 36 inch precision straight edge.
I challenged myself on some white pine some years ago. First I ripped a 12ft x 13+wide board in half faced each side and jointed the edges. Layer them together on my bench to inspect the joint in good light.
I was satisfied white woods will show any gaps. I do remember the boards were light and easy to manage.
Wider then my jointers head isn’t really a issue for me.

[Charles Coolidge]

Ben, you seem to have settled on 8 inch jointers. A good choice in my experience.

I recommend:
1) Helical Segmented cutter head. I like the Byrd Shelix because it is good quality and replacement blades are lower cost than others
2) Parallelogram table mechanism. Found this keeps tables co-planer without adjustment over 30 years of use on my Makita 2020 jointer
3) Long bed, for reasons you mention.

The Powermatic 60HH satisfies all of the above.

Here is the USA price of a pack of 10 replacement carbide cutters for various manufacturers heads:
These may not be the best price for each , but it does show quite a range.

$35 - Byrd Shelix (I think this is standard on Powermatic with helical head)
$50 - Grizzly
$60 - Laguna
$100 - Rikon





Powermatic now uses Asian knock off helical cutter heads, Byrd's are no longer used just fyi.

[Warren Lake]

No Patrick. The hardest part for me is getting good stock and ive hand picked for 40 years. The hard part is conditioning companies to do that. If I make a top its as close to veneer in consistency as it could be. Centered hearts grains close all joined on straight edge grain flowing from one board to another. Non of the cabinetmakers I knew did wide stuff. In the mass produced or semi custom stuff there is usually very little care into the material its order and layout. I buy material to best do the job based on what it is,. on one that was 9 and wider cherry to end up just over 9, boards were 16 feet long so all on the project was cut from one board

The extreme of that is the Doucette and wolf guy where he is hand picking from a sequenced log and doing the best match and also doing the sides and other parts from one board. Very few build like he does that but its the best it could be. Ive gone to those mills in the US before. Ive also had one company here send me to one of their mills in the US and let me pick on the line and then sent it up here for me to pick up from there business. He knew who picky I was and im sure ive been grief for them but that saying about a sows ear and silk purse its hogwash just a saying that doesnt ad up if you use logic. Ive had calls in the past like we have three lifts of birdseye you can come in and pick what you want. I do leave with 40 or 50 boards and have that for jobs for years. Last time I used birdseye I looked at buying it to not draw from my stock but i had way better stuff than the supplier.

If you buy the best grade whatever name they want to call it and i go through a lift on average likely about 20 percent is what I end up with.

using logic to support material on the infeed and outfeed is not pushing a machine beyond its design. I could have jointed all that material twice the 14-16 foot stuff likely 20 boards each time on the general as well if it had support. The thing I dont like aboiut the general is its liight and I dont like the feel of pushing stuff across light machines. carpenters use those small onsite saws. Ive been in places and used them maybe four times and I hate all of them. They are too light to me to do the work how I feed. Minimum if I was an on site guy id have a 10" general saw but dont have interest in on site work when there is a shop of machinery.

Patrick I have the same jointer you have, the SCM smaller one worked fine with suport. All that long stuff was done on the SCM and it could have been done on the general as well, it was 8" presized rough material. More so if I used the griggio with the 105 bed or whatever it is would make zero difference over the SCM on 14-16 foot material, It still needs infeed and outfeed support to do that.

[Joe Jensen]

The best? Get a Martin T54.

Yes, that is IMHO the best new available. But like $27,000 :(

[Kevin Jenness]

As a client's wife said of a $50k change order, "Oh come on Bill, it's just a one time expense."

[Jim Becker]

As a client's wife said of a $50k change order, "Oh come on Bill, it's just a one time expense."
I'm kinda using the same rationalization for my future new shop building... LOL

[Warren Lake]

Not my style, I like old cars. If I was going to do that id pass on a new one and buy an old Martin in good shape then a gaggle of other good used european machines with what was left over.

[Mark Hennebury]

My general rule of thumb (in a perfect world) is; A jointer infeed table should be as long as the longest board that you will dress. and the out feed should be at least half that length. But that's just me. Oh, and it should have a vertical head also for perfect 90°

this Gubisch one is close

462700

[Andrew Hughes]

That’s a very interesting machine Mark
There is truth to your rule of thumb. It’s hard dismiss what works for anyone and everyone.
I offer this as proof.
Good Luck good day.

[kevin nee]

462702A Newman No. 60 came up on Craigslist in Worcester Massachusetts yesterday for $995.
Send me a note if you come for it. Kevin

[Jared Sankovich]

462702A Newman No. 60 came up on Craigslist in Worcester Massachusetts yesterday for $995.
Send me a note if you come for it. Kevin

Woah, that side head is interesting.

Its a deal either way.

[Patrick Kane]

Looks like a complete Festo feeder too. Dang, thats a good one and more than likely wont last the day. Thanks for sharing, Kevin. I love a good deal, and they tend to be fleeting.

You learn something new everyday. I have never seen a manual jointer with a secondary cutterhead built into the fence. Looks like the precursor to the modern moulder. Nice to see both examples have power feeders.

[Joe Calhoon]

462709
You see a few of these side cutter fences in Europe. It was pretty common before 4 side S4S machines and moulders were common in even the small shops. this one was in a door and window shop that now had a molder. The side head has been disabled. they would take some work out of the S4S process if you did not have a moulder. Not sure if those units tilt. This particular jointer was the loudest I have ever heard! I asked if I could turn it on and the shop hands said I would be sorry!

[Mark Hennebury]

Andrew,
As a " general rule" rules are made to be broken depending on many variables. Once a certain ratio is exceeded wood is too flexible for a long table to be of much help. So joining lumber is a balance which counts on experience as well as equipment.
If you are dressing lumber that is rigid enough to be dressed then a long table will allow you to fully support the stock being fed into the cutter. If you have lumber hanging over the end of your infeed table, you risk having stock hanging below the table and rising up onto the table as you feed, It may also rock, twist or bump, as it lifts onto the table which will ruin what you have already done.

There are lots of interesting machines out there, a few German and Japanese machines with two heads for right angle joining. There also a few interesting thickness planers out there, some that also have two heads, a horizontal and vertical head, for dressing the other two sides. There is even one machine that has a two-sided jointer and a two -sided thicknesser together in one machine. There is a thickness planer that has a split table, that you can lower just one half or dressing lumber on edge. And Two -sided right-angle supersurfacers. It's all down to a combination that works for you.




That’s a very interesting machine Mark
There is truth to your rule of thumb. It’s hard dismiss what works for anyone and everyone.
I offer this as proof.
Good Luck good day.

[Bill Dufour]

That’s a very interesting machine Mark
There is truth to your rule of thumb. It’s hard dismiss what works for anyone and everyone.
I offer this as proof.
Good Luck good day.

Andrew, that company is now known as Paramount pictures so the shop made lots of money for the company. probably had to move away from the studios when sound became a problem.
Bill D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Players-Lasky

[Warren Lake]

I think head speeds on some of those jointers were pretty high. I had a photo of an Aldinger with writing on it and head speed looked like 5,790 RPM. That is moving a lot of air on a wide machine. I was looking at something else the other day and it was clear there are over 40 companies that had made heavy jointers. Likely a lot more.

[Jared Sankovich]

I think head speeds on some of those jointers were pretty high. I had a photo of an Aldinger with writing on it and head speed looked like 5,790 RPM. That is moving a lot of air on a wide machine. I was looking at something else the other day and it was clear there are over 40 companies that had made heavy jointers. Likely a lot more.

The literature on the newman #60 indicated a 6000rpm top speed.

462711

[Mark Hennebury]

These guys have a Japanese Taiyo two sided jointer, and a Marunaka split table thickness planer, you should see them using both within the first two minutes of the video.


https://youtu.be/RRqAuOZ5QSs

[Mark Hennebury]

That's an old German jointer thicknessplaner combo that i had, it's 24" wide, I also had a separate 24" jointer same brand W. Klein and sons, I believe it was a 6000rpm head on it.
Scary as hell first time starting them up, I thought it would never stop accelerating. I hid behind the bench until the speed leveled out. You soon get used to the sound though.


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The literature on the newman #60 indicated a 6000rpm top speed.

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[Andrew Hughes]

Andrew, that company is now known as Paramount pictures so the shop made lots of money for the company. probably had to move away from the studios when sound became a problem.
Bill D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Players-Lasky

Thanks for the link very cool to have a peak back into the past.
I like old woodworking pics of woodshops with jointers. Here’s another I have saved any ideas where it’s from?

[David Kumm]

Porter spec'd their heads over 6000 rpm too. The bearings were large but precision so capable of high speeds and high radial load. Some Euro machines ran 6000+ speeds with two knife heads which isn't a horrible deal. Knife changing was fast and finish was still good. Dave

[Jon Snider]

I'm kinda using the same rationalization for my future new shop building... LOL

Go big or go home Jim! :)

[Warren Lake]

quite the video Mark but they get the work done. Good training video of a number of things not to do. I like his steel toed toe nails.

Maybe I was wrong on the RPM I said 5,790 but maybe its 5,990. Shaper speeds on some of those old jointers. Nice beast, no side jointing head like Joe posted. I see the base cutaways like I mentioned somewhere some of them just thought that way, likely be more comfortable at times


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[Joe Calhoon]

Old machines that ran 5000 - 6000 rpm with much knife projection were pretty loud. New machines with Tersa or spiral heads running that rpm are pretty quiet.

[Kevin Jenness]

These guys have a Japanese Taiyo two sided jointer, and a Marunaka split table thickness planer, you should see them using both within the first two minutes of the video.


https://youtu.be/RRqAuOZ5QSs

That's really something. I liked the guys in the background at about 8:30 walking on the carved panels- maybe that's why they take their shoes off.

[Jonathan Jung]

Thanks David... I'm definitely considering these options if one comes up near me (I'm in Milwaukee, WI).
Ben, I agree with the others. Older jointers like those mentioned are excellent machines and can be had for a song if you look. I got my 16" Oliver for $150. Mind you, it needs a lot of cleaning up and a $2,000 helical head. But once going it will be irreplaceable except by the likes of a SCM $13,000 machine.

As far as moving it around your shop, I only have a used $90 pallet jack for both unloading these 2,000 lb machines off the trailer and for wheeling around the shop.

By the way, I'd be interested to see more of your space, since it's rented and commercial. There's not many with such a space as we have.