Jointer? help???

[Rick Runyon]

Just wondering if anyone has/uses a workbench jointer? which one? and are you satisfied? I have been looking at the Jet and Delta X5 but have decided that they are really too large for my shop. Would love to have a closed base machine but!!! I do have most of my machines on moveable bases but do not have room for another. Advise please. Thanx Rickl

[Jim Becker]

Rick, I "used" the Delta benchtop jointer in a friend/coworker's shop in CO a couple years ago. It "worked" fine for short boards, but was horribly noisy and easy to move around due to lack of mass. If your projects are small, the Delta or similar will help you flatten and straighten smaller boards. If your space is truly constrained to the point that you cannot accomodate even a 6" jointer, you might want to consider using other methods for doing your edges, such as hand planes or a router table with a split fence and flattening your boards using a sled on your planer.

[glenn bradley]

I've got the "baby" Dleta as well. I agree with Jim on the noise and weight but for a couple hundred bucks, you're in business. You do want to clamp it to the bench as it is light. I get success by remembering this is a SMALL jointer. Feed it small boards and it does fine, overload it and you won't be happy with the result. There is just not enough mass or table length to handle much over 3 feet or so. I passed on their dust port for the unit as it was pretty flimsy. I epoxied a 4" port to a piece of masonite and used the factory screws to attach it to the dust chute; works fine.

[Brent Grooms]

you can generally pick up one of the smaller 6in jointers from someone who is upgrading for usually not a lot more than what you will pay for a new benchtop model. I picked up my craftsman for $200 and will mostlikely be able to sell it for that when the time comes. So far, I have used the snot out of it and I am glad I went with it vs a benchtop. Just my $0.02