Jointer blades getting nicked.

[John Gregory]

I have owned a Ridgid Jointer (6") for about 4 years now. I bought an extra set of knives. I mostly use Red Oak. I have noticed on the last two knife changes I get evenly spaced "nicks" in the knives. The are not very deep nicks, they sand out of the wood.

This last set I only used for red oak. No nails or such in the wood. and the nicks appeared. It didn't take long for them to show up.Too soft of steel from Ridgid? Where is a good place to buy better ones? A harder steel perhaps?

Thanks
John

[Mike Parzych]

Interesting. I just changed knives on my Rigid planer and apparently got 2 small nicks. Hadn't used the new set much, and the hardest thing I planed was hard maple, and there were no foreign materials in the wood.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of alternate sources for knives that would fit the Rigid planer?

[John Gregory]

That is what I am looking for too Mike, another choice. I wrote down the blade size in the owner's manual the last time I had them out. This set I am using now has relatively low use, and just rough sawn red oak picked up from MacBeath's

[Alex Berkovsky]

I have owned a Ridgid Jointer (6") for about 4 years now. I bought an extra set of knives. I mostly use Red Oak. I have noticed on the last two knife changes I get evenly spaced "nicks" in the knives. The are not very deep nicks, they sand out of the wood.
John,
I am also having the same problem - I bought a Ridgid jointer recently and after running a few cherry boards through, I noticed a couple of nicks.

[Ken Werner]

I have found some fabulous blades. They are made by Amana in Germany. They come very sharp and in my experience, hold up very well. They do cost more than some others, but seem to be worth it.

Here's a site that sells them:
http://www.toolstoday.com
and look for the Amana jointer knives, HSS with 18% Tungsten.

PS: I have no connection with Amana or the vendor.

Good luck.

Ken

[John Gregory]

here is the size for the Ridgid.
http://www.toolstoday.com/advsearchdetails.asp?catnum=5&key=p+220&pdescription=Planer+%26+Jointer+Knife+Sets+%2D+HSS +w%2F+18%25+Tungsten

Freud makes a set too, their number is C400. Just under $17 on amazon. I wonder how they compare to the amana.

Just found the amana ones on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00066FXFU/002-2530400-3188017?v=glance&n=228013

[Bill Lewis]

Does anyone know if this would be the same size that would fit my PM 54A? The manual doesn't give the size for the blades (but it does give sizes for everything else). These seem to be better prices than I remember. I'd have to say that the $17 set is cheaper than I could get my blades sharpened, but I think I'd like to try the Amana blades.

[Rick Doyle]

well, i'm glad to hear it's just not me with the nicks. i didn't have any in my original set of ridgid jointer knives, but as soon as i bought a new set i noticed a nick fairly soon after. the majority of the wood run thru my jointer is white ash.

i think i'll probably pick up a se of amana blades and see how they do.

[Boyd Gathwright]

I have owned a Ridgid Jointer (6") for about 4 years now. I bought an extra set of knives. I mostly use Red Oak. I have noticed on the last two knife changes I get evenly spaced "nicks" in the knives. The are not very deep nicks, they sand out of the wood.

This last set I only used for red oak. No nails or such in the wood. and the nicks appeared. It didn't take long for them to show up.Too soft of steel from Ridgid? Where is a good place to buy better ones? A harder steel perhaps?

Thanks
John
.... Thanks John for the thread, good information :).

Boyd

.

[Craig Dempsey]

I have been using the Freud knives from Amazon in my Ridgid jointer. Until I saw this post I had forgotten how well they have held up compared to the original equipment.

[Russ Massery]

John, Here's where I get my knives from there T-1 also. I found there prices hard to beat. And the T-1 lasts a lot longer than the M-2 most manufacture's use.http://globaltooling.bizhosting.com/planer_knives.html

[Ken Werner]

Russ,
Those are great prices. How is the quality of the knives - sharpness etc? Do you know where they are made? I agree with you about the T-1 knives being better than M-2.
Ken

[Thomas Canfield]

I had a similar experience with chips in the Ridgid jointer blades after changing a set for the place where our club meets. The joined surface showed two ridges very shortly after the blade change and it was reported that there had been no gritty or painted wood run. Some of the wood had some knots, but all wood was pine or "white wood" from a "Box" store. It looks like I wrongly accused someone of running some trashy wood over the new blades when there is possibly a defect in the blades. A second set of blades was purchased, but has not been installed to date and hopefully that will solve the problem.

[Russ Massery]

Ken, There great! Very sharp no honing needed, And they hold and edge much longer than M-2. When I installed them in my old delta jointer. Probably the best finish I ever got from that machine.:rolleyes:

[Seth Poorman]

I stay away from Freud blades , Ibought some last year for my Powermatic model 60.
The blades were bowed (not straight) I ended up buying some (Titen Carbide knifes) I love them they stay sharp forever..:D
Carbide knifes for the planer too...:D

[Chris Curtis]

:eek: Viewing this thread has convinced me that Ridgid has a problem with their cutting knives! I bought a brand new 6-1/8" Ridgid Jointer at Home Depot a little more than a week ago and have run only 10-12 pieces of brand spanking new soft pine through it so far and it has already developed two small nicks in at least two of the blades. Very possibly they are in the exact same position on multiple blades or at least very close because the little ridges that they leave are constant and appear wider than the visible nicks I can see in the blades. One is approximately 1/2" from the fence and the second is about 3/4" further away from the fence. VERY IRRITATING for a brand new unit!

I called Ridgid Tech Support and the gentleman I spoke to had not heard of any problem. He said that the knives would be covered under the Ridgid warranty (surprise!) and that I should take it in to the local repair entity. After I told him about this post, he also said he would report this to his management to see if there was a problem with knives in general.

So now I have to decide whether to lug the 9 day old, 216 pound jointer up from my basement (ugh) and take it 15 miles to the repair place or just go 3 miles to Home Depot and exchange it for a brand new one (either of which could do exactly the same thing in another week or so). Or should I just buy some better knives as those recommended in this post and replace those bad ones with another manufacturer's?

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated. :rolleyes:

[John Gregory]

:eek: Viewing this thread has convinced me that Ridgid has a problem with their cutting knives! I bought a brand new 6-1/8" Ridgid Jointer at Home Depot a little more than a week ago and have run only 10-12 pieces of brand spanking new soft pine through it so far and it has already developed two small nicks in at least two of the blades. Very possibly they are in the exact same position on multiple blades or at least very close because the little ridges that they leave are constant and appear wider than the visible nicks I can see in the blades. One is approximately 1/2" from the fence and the second is about 3/4" further away from the fence. VERY IRRITATING for a brand new unit!

I called Ridgid Tech Support and the gentleman I spoke to had not heard of any problem. He said that the knives would be covered under the Ridgid warranty (surprise!) and that I should take it in to the local repair entity. After I told him about this post, he also said he would report this to his management to see if there was a problem with knives in general.

So now I have to decide whether to lug the 9 day old, 216 pound jointer up from my basement (ugh) and take it 15 miles to the repair place or just go 3 miles to Home Depot and exchange it for a brand new one (either of which could do exactly the same thing in another week or so). Or should I just buy some better knives as those recommended in this post and replace those bad ones with another manufacturer's?

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated. :rolleyes:

I bought new knives as recommend by members of SMC. But I have not installed them yet, so nothing new to report.

[Joseph N. Myers]

What I do if I get a nick is to more one of the blades to the right or left to get a good part of the blade over the bad part. One of my 3 planers (not Ridgid) has 3 blades so I get to do this twice. Works great (until I hit the next nail).

There might be some rough edges on the machine(s) someplace. When it happens, take the wood out, tape a piece of paper to one of the blades, hand turn the blades and see what happens to the paper.

If more than one of you are getting nicks in the same place, i.e., 3/4" in from the left, I would doubt that it would be a problem with the blades, i.e., usually they are cut from a much longer piece. Rather I would assume that the machine is in question.

Regards (and good luck), Joe

["Michael Hinkel"]

I bought replacement blades from Sears on someone elses suggestion, they work.

[David Rose]

Chris,

I would suggest just taking in the knives. They are much lighter! :eek: Of course, you will have to reset the new ones. But that is something you will want to learn to do anyway. Surely they won't want the whole machine to look at the knives.

David


:eek: Viewing this thread has convinced me that Ridgid has a problem with their cutting knives! I bought a brand new 6-1/8" Ridgid Jointer at Home Depot a little more than a week ago and have run only 10-12 pieces of brand spanking new soft pine through it so far and it has already developed two small nicks in at least two of the blades. Very possibly they are in the exact same position on multiple blades or at least very close because the little ridges that they leave are constant and appear wider than the visible nicks I can see in the blades. One is approximately 1/2" from the fence and the second is about 3/4" further away from the fence. VERY IRRITATING for a brand new unit!

I called Ridgid Tech Support and the gentleman I spoke to had not heard of any problem. He said that the knives would be covered under the Ridgid warranty (surprise!) and that I should take it in to the local repair entity. After I told him about this post, he also said he would report this to his management to see if there was a problem with knives in general.

So now I have to decide whether to lug the 9 day old, 216 pound jointer up from my basement (ugh) and take it 15 miles to the repair place or just go 3 miles to Home Depot and exchange it for a brand new one (either of which could do exactly the same thing in another week or so). Or should I just buy some better knives as those recommended in this post and replace those bad ones with another manufacturer's?

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated. :rolleyes:

[David Rose]

Btw, Scott Whiting, who is a member here, sells the Amana blades for jointers and recommends them. He helped me a bunch when I got an old old Delta to refurbish. I sent him the junk knives on the machine and he said he would sharpen them (that is his main business) but that they would not last. He returned the blades at no charge... and got an order for Amanas! They are great blades, and great service from Scott.

David

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

I found the Freud blades to be the best I have used on my old Delta. Bowed blades are defective and should be returned to the vender for replacement. The Freud blades were much thicker than the Delta blades and cut much better.

[David Rose]

Hey, Don,

When I say "old", I mean old. My Delta is about 1953 vintage. The "vendor", a friend who gave it to me, probably wouldn't want to replace the blades. :D

Have you tried the Amana blades? I'm not saying they are better, but I am happy with them. I like most Freud router bits. Just wondering... I think the Amana blades are the same thickness as the Delta's... if they were original.

Btw, I think the gibs on this ole jointer would pull out any bowing.

David


I found the Freud blades to be the best I have used on my old Delta. Bowed blades are defective and should be returned to the vender for replacement. The Freud blades were much thicker than the Delta blades and cut much better.

[Don Kilgore]

I know that this is an old post, but I am new to sawmillccreek, and looking for information on knives for the Ridgid Jointer JP06101. I noted that you referenced information as to the size of the knives, and recomendation a source. I would like to know the size for ordering a set, and don't want to take out the old ones just to measure. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Don Kilgore

[Tom Adger]

I too have a Ridgid 6" jointer. I am going to make a suggestion that has nothing to do with the knives itself, but the preparation of the wood.

Before I run anything thru my jointer, I first check it with my Little Wizard metal detector. I have occasionally found bits of metal that a visual exam would not show. Next, I take my wire brush to all four sides. Remember grit and sand? They are just tiny bits of rock, and will play hell with your knives. After the wire brush, I use my shop vac to get everything I can off.

The above may sound a waste of time to some, but my knives hold up very well.

[Michael Schwartz]

:eek: Viewing this thread has convinced me that Ridgid has a problem with their cutting knives! I bought a brand new 6-1/8" Ridgid Jointer at Home Depot a little more than a week ago and have run only 10-12 pieces of brand spanking new soft pine through it so far and it has already developed two small nicks in at least two of the blades. Very possibly they are in the exact same position on multiple blades or at least very close because the little ridges that they leave are constant and appear wider than the visible nicks I can see in the blades. One is approximately 1/2" from the fence and the second is about 3/4" further away from the fence. VERY IRRITATING for a brand new unit!

I called Ridgid Tech Support and the gentleman I spoke to had not heard of any problem. He said that the knives would be covered under the Ridgid warranty (surprise!) and that I should take it in to the local repair entity. After I told him about this post, he also said he would report this to his management to see if there was a problem with knives in general.

So now I have to decide whether to lug the 9 day old, 216 pound jointer up from my basement (ugh) and take it 15 miles to the repair place or just go 3 miles to Home Depot and exchange it for a brand new one (either of which could do exactly the same thing in another week or so). Or should I just buy some better knives as those recommended in this post and replace those bad ones with another manufacturer's?

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated. :rolleyes:

You should be able to take just the knives to the repair center, and exchange them for a new set. Its much easier to change knives yourself than lug a jointer 15 miles and back. If your going to own a jointer your going to have to change knives eventually so you might as well just do it and learn how to.

If the ridged knives still give you problems measure the width and just order a better set from another company. A new set of knives your size of jointer shouldn't run more than about 20 bucks.

Unless the jointer is otherwise defective keep it, not worth exchanging it for another one when it only takes 30 minutes to change the knives.

[Jason Beam]

OLD THREAD ALERT!!

Don, I suggest you start a new thread. People don't notice the dates and end up responding to an outdated thread which tends to confuse lots of folks.