Help with purchasing an 8" jointer!

[Chad Wallace]

I would like some advice on purchasing a good quality 8" jointer. Are the Powermatics and Jets worth the extra money? Does anyone have any information on the 8" Craftsmen jointer. I am just like alot of you guys, I want a good quality machine for as little as I have to spend, but I don't want to have to worry about the saying of "you get what you pay for"! Does anyone have a good used 8" jointer in the SW Kansas area that they would be willing to part with?
I would also like to know where to order in some good rough wood that I could get delivered in SW Kansas. Mostly red or white oak.

Thanks in advance,
Chad

[James Carmichael]

I can't vouch for it, but I'd sure take a look at the Sunhill, especially $795 for an 8" jointer with spiral cutterhead.

http://sunhillmachinery.com/store/

[Jim Fox]

My thought was that when I got ready, I would either get the Wilke's or the Shopfox 8". I can get the 8" local (well thereabouts) and skip the shipping.

[Allen Bookout]

I bought the Grizzly GO490 last year and have been real happy with it for the money. I grew up in the Texas Panhandle and I don't think there is much of that type of machinery around there so I suspect that SW Kansas would be about the same. May be there are some used deals around Denver. Just guessing.

[Matt Meiser]

Its hard to find negative comments about any machine in this class. Yorkcraft, Bridgewood, Grizzly, Jet, Delta, Sunhill etc all sell a good jointer. Look at the details of each, things like the type of switch, mobility if that matters to you, adjustment, fence design. Decide what you want and buy that one. I really don't think you can go wrong.

[John Terefenko]

Now I did not look at all these units but the other big factor is height of fence, switch location, and you want hand wheels over levers for table adjustments. Boy I wish I had the room for an 8" jointer.

[Jim O'Dell]

I bought the Grizzly GO490 last year and have been real happy with it for the money. I grew up in the Texas Panhandle and I don't think there is much of that type of machinery around there so I suspect that SW Kansas would be about the same. May be there are some used deals around Denver. Just guessing.

But depending on what part of KS Chad's in, the Griz place in Springfield, MO might not be too bad of a trip. I do like that 795.00 price on the Sunhill with the spiral cutter head. Jim.

[Al Willits]

Can't say about the sprial cutterhead, but with a slow,steady feed, my 4 cutter York does a rather nice job.
But that does seem like a nice price...:D

Al

[Larry Rasmussen]

This thread caught my attention because my Sunhill catalog arrived today. I have been sneaking up on the idea of getting a jointer. I had to do a drop off at the Sea Tac (Seattle) airport today so dropped by Sunhill. Bummer, 9 to 5 Mon though Fri only. What I did notice after looking a bit more carefully at the catalog was the style of the Sunhill 8" Spiral head with HSS blades at $229 is different than the 8" Helical Head with carbide insert blades at $318. I knew that the difference existed, it is just that I automatically kind of assume it is the upscale shelix carbide product if I casually hear about a spiral cutterhead.

The breakdown for the Sunhill SM-204 8' jointer with 65" bed is sale price with 4 knife cutterhead $595, with spiral head $795, and with shelix carbide 4 surface type cutterhead $995.

Anyway maybe I'm the only one that was getting exited about the $795 price but I'd be inclined to investigate kind of carefully on the quality of cut with the HSS spiral design.

Larry

[Joe Spear]

The Wood Magazine that just came today (Issue 175, March 2007) on p. 96 has a brief discussion of the spiral-knife head on the Sunhill jointer. The reviewer's verdict: spiral knives give a lot less tearout than the usual straight knives. He didn't compare it to performance of the Shelix-type, but he pointed out that it cost about half as much, and the replacement "no-fuss disposable knives" are only $19 a set.

[Chad Wallace]

Thank you very much for all the info guys. I appreciate you time and efforts tremendously. Please keep it coming.

Chad

[Chad Wallace]

The Wood Magazine that just came today (Issue 175, March 2007) on p. 96 has a brief discussion of the spiral-knife head on the Sunhill jointer. The reviewer's verdict: spiral knives give a lot less tearout than the usual straight knives. He didn't compare it to performance of the Shelix-type, but he pointed out that it cost about half as much, and the replacement "no-fuss disposable knives" are only $19 a set.

Joe,
I'm not familar with the shelix-type. Are the shelix cheaper to replace than the spiral?

Chad

[Joe Spear]

The Byrd Shelix head (and some others, like Grizzly) use individual small four-sided cutters arranged in rows on the cylindrical hear. Each cutter is mounted with one screw in the center of the square. If you chip one of the little edges, you loosen the screw and rotate the piece to a new edge. Basically, each set of cutters is the equivalent of 4 sets of blades. And being carbide, the set may last longer than 4 sets of steel knives. One of the differences in brands is that some have the cutters arranged straight-on (like conventional knives), and some have the cutters arranged in an angled or spiral pattern (which may help avoid excessive tearout in highly figured wood). Google planer-jointer cutter heads for more information than you could ever want.