Questions on Restoring Old Jointer

[Gene Michael]

I have an old Rockwell 6" jointer (model 37-220) that's been sitting in storage for 10 to 12 years (blame it on the day job!). The manual was printed in 1975, so it's a reasonable guess that the machine is around 30 years old. The manual states that when the blades are worn, to remove the entire cutter head and return it to the factory for repair. Does anyone know of any reason not to pull the blades myself and replace them? Also, does anyone know a good source for replacement blades? Last question: Any advice before digging into this?

Any and all advice will be appreciated. :D

[Shane Sullaway]

I have an old Rockwell 6" jointer (model 37-220) that's been sitting in storage for 10 to 12 years (blame it on the day job!). The manual was printed in 1975, so it's a reasonable guess that the machine is around 30 years old. The manual states that when the blades are worn, to remove the entire cutter head and return it to the factory for repair. Does anyone know of any reason not to pull the blades myself and replace them? Also, does anyone know a good source for replacement blades? Last question: Any advice before digging into this?

Any and all advice will be appreciated. :D

Hey Gene,

I found this site (http://www.owwm.com/) to be very helpful on an old Parks Planer I have maybe it could be a good source for you too.

HTH,
Shane

[Dennis Miller]

I have a 37-220 that my dad purchased in the early 1960's. The knives are easily removable to be sharpened and replacements are readily available. I don't recall any statement in the manual about returning the cutter head for replacement of the knives. I do recall that the manual stated to return the cutter head for replacement of the bearings. I completely disassembled my jointer for repainting and rebuilding. I took the cutterhead to a local electric motor repair shop to replace the bearings. As I recall it was $60 to $75 to get the bearings replaced.

Here is a link to a helpful article on jointer knife adjustment:
http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/knife_adjustment.shtml

Here is a link to at least one source for replacement knives:
http://www.woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=731-002&search=Jointer%20Knives
Part Number 147-059 is the correct part number...I think.

Good luck...

Dennis

[Randal Stevenson]

After looking on OWWM, I found an earlier version of your models (same number from the 60's) manual on that site. I think I found your passage, and it is horribly written.

The way I read it, is if you can't get your blades to sharpen and stay true (cutting), and you find the bearings could be causing it, remove the whole unit and send to.....