Please help me buy a benchtop jointer

[John Huber]

Because of my shop limitations, I need a jointer light enough to carry (say 75 lbs or less). I'm going to use it to make the faces of 3" wide x 30" long boards FLAT to be resawn to 1/4" thickness on a tablesaw. I already have a vacuum fence and sled to make the resawing work.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

[Doyle Alley]

Do you have a thickness planer? If so, you can make a sled for it out of MDF. Place the board to be face jointed on the sled and use playing cards under any gaps so the the board can't "rock". Plane the top until it is nice and flat, then flip it over (with the shims) and plane the other side parallel.

[Lee DeRaud]

I've had pretty good results from my Delta Shopmaster (model JT160). It's 6"+ with a 30" bed, variable speed. Can't tell you the weight (it's bolted down at the moment), but it should be on Delta's website or maybe Amazon.

[Jim DeLaney]

I don't know if they still make it or not, but I used to have a Ryobi 6" variable speed that did a really good job. It even had a good chip removal system. Having a universal motor, it was pretty loud - think router - but that was my only complaint with it.

I generally don't like, and won't recommend, Ryobi tools, but this is the one exception...

[Don Bergren]

I've had good luck with the Delta Shopmaster 6" jointer as well. It's not terribly heavy making it easy to move around. It's not a full size rig that's able to handle the long stuff, but it's a pretty good option for anyone who needs to stay small.

Somewhere around here I have a plan I purchased somewhere for adding some length to the infeed and outfeed tables. I haven't built it myself, but it looked feasible for jointing longer pieces.