Which jointer design.....?

[Chris Barnett]

About ready to ditch [or sell to an unsuspecting old widow :D] the old 6-inch cast iron CM and buy a larger, probably 8-inch minimum, jointer. Have seen the several designs but not yet that familiar with the available types and their limitations or advantages.

Looking for recommendations and would an 8-inch be adequate...kinda like asking if one beer is enough...but anyway...you get the picture. Need is to just flatten one side and edge of material to pass through a planer. I have used my 6-inch with fence removed, on 8 and 10 inch wide stuff and doing the edge last, but my success may have been just dumb luck. Planer is 20-inch but cannot go too large on the joiner, permanent space and temporary cash limitations [until I can talk DW into getting a job...uh, make that a permanent limitation too]....some folks may relate to that :D.

[John Thompson]

First.. you need to decide on one dove-tail ways.. parallegram.. do you want standard knives or the spiral-helix etc. Once you have that worked out.. then go shopping.

I can recommend Steel City 8" with the granite fence as I have one.. I can reccomend Sunhill as I did have one of those. I can reccomend the Grizzly as I have put a lot of stock through one of those on a friends machine in transition of going from 6" to 8".

I can tell you the Steel City is the same basic jointer as the Grizzly with a few exceptions. The Grizzly has around a 3" + tall fence and the SC has a 5 1/2" tall in either cast iron or granite. Both use standard knives but the Steel City are double sided meaning an edge on both sides. You just flip them when the first edge gets dull.

BTW.. the Steel City's knives need no adjustment when replacing them as most jointers. You just flip them over and re-tighten the screws. SC designed a raised bar on the cutter-head that corresponds to a slot in the knives. No fooling with a jig to set them. They also designed the fence to skew easily. Most don't know it, but their fence will probably skew. But.. to do so requires some time to set up. The SC was designed to do it in about a minute or so.

But.. all three of those machines will get the job done. If I may I will make a suggestion if the budget is tight. There is a gentleman named Larry that sells on Craigs-list in Knoxville that buys scratch and dent from Steel City in Mursfreesboro. Super prices as most are cosmetic damage as a dent in the base or a broken motor cover which can be replaced for about $30 or so. Just a thought as I have him trying to get a 5 HP TS for me as I need 5 HP in lieu of the 3 HP I have now.

Hope that helps...

Sarge..

[glenn bradley]

I deliberated (and saved my pennies) for over a year. I read everything here and elsewhere. Sent PM's to owners of various machines with various options. I ended up here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=84153) and am very happy. Of course a 12" would've been better so, if your needs exceed 8" frequently, I would go with a 12". I always needed larger than a 6" but have yet to need larger than an 8".

Oh yeah, gratuitous cutter head shot: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88889&d=1211213784