12" jointer???

[John Bush]

Good morning all,

I have been milling out a bunch of old stock, most having a bit of twist, and my 8" jointer has been doing a great job so far. It is a three bladed PM 60B and leaves a nice surface, but I freguently have tearout where the grain varies. Also, I'm getting to the portion of the stack that is wider than 8" so the obvious thought is how about a 12"er with a spiral cutter. Any thoughts/suggestions on this gloat in the making?? I have looked at the Griz 0609X at the showroom and it is a handsome beast but I haven't seen or compared to any other manufacturer. I also looked at their 12" J/P, but the tables are shorter than I would like and I have a good planer already. Also, there never seems to be a used one within 500 miles when look in the classifieds. Thanks, John.

[Mike Heidrick]

This year amazon was clearencing out the big Delta tools they had and I spung for a few of them. 12" DJ30 was one of the deals. You could always watch for it again if you have the time and patience. That or go with the 4 head on the G0609. It looks like a great machine.

[Hunter Wallace]

Hey John,

I just got the Shop Fox W1744 12" jointer. I know there is often
some back and forth on the differences between it and the Griz
G0609, but I have now seen them both and can tell you that they
really are the same machine...just different colors.
My SF has the 4 knife head and I was just flattening up some
11" birdseye maple the other day and didn't have a single spot
of tear out...I did have some tear out with my delta planer with
new knives though.
My thinking about this jointer with a shelix head is that I'm going
to wait to get a new planer with the shelix...after all, that's the
machine that's really used at the end of the board flattening process.
So, either the Shop Fox or Griz should work very well for you I think!
Good luck

[Steven Wilson]

For the occasional board wider than 8" you can always face joint it in two passes to remove the twist then skip plane it to get rid of the ridge where the two passes meet. For squirely grain you can try skewing the board. If you're looking at a 12" jointer you might want to step up to a 14" or 16". I run a 14" jointer/planer and I really like the extra realestate.

[Eddie Darby]

Why not this upgrade?

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0634

Jet also has a 12" combo coming out for around $2,000.

Check out this thread on combos.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=66739