Jointing Long Stock

[Jim Summers]

Hello All,

I was recently handed down a Rockwell 6" jointer. Got it all cleaned up and am about ready to run some boards through it.

I do not have a lot of experience with a jointer, but have used one off and on over the years. I have refreshed myself with reading all of the safety rules and even found a video of a guy showing how to use one.

The total length of the infeed+outfeed tables is three feet. I have a couple of roller stands which I will align with each table height.

I was wondering when running 8 - 10 foot board through, will there be any trouble when the midpoint of the board passes the cutterhead? Such as the outfeed side of the board trying to lift the remaining portion off the infeed table and I won't get a good even pass?

It seems that if I get the roller stands set correctly it won't be any trouble. But I thought I should check and see. I didn't want to use to much downward force when finishing the pass.

TIA,
jim

[Mike Parzych]

Congratulations on immediately zeroing in on the real problem in jointing long stock. Weight hanging off the infeed or outfeed tables definitely causes problems. When this is encountered, all to often I've read advice to the poster to start screwing around with the table heights. In fact, in almost all "jointing problem" threads, that's the first solution that pops up.

If you can very accurately and SECURELY set up rollers on both the infeed and out feed side, your chances of success are very good. One suggestion for long stock - with a string, or long straight edges, or whatever, find the areas that will need to have the most stock come off, and cut those down. I use a pencil line and a power planr to hog off excess material. This way you'll need fewer passes to get it straight, and reduce the possibility of errors.

Jointing is 95%+ technique.

[Andy Pedler]

I have a similar small 6" planer and I've nearly given up on trying to joint boards longer than the tables. It is really frustrating. Maybe I'm just a knucklehead, but I seem to put a cup into boards that are too long. Shorter length boards come out fine, but anything over 3-4' long just doesn't work.

So, after contemplating a different hobby, I decided instead to build a planer sled like the one shown here:

http://treebeau.blogspot.com/2006/10/nifty-thickness-planing-sled.html

This one seemed easier to build than the style shown here by SMC's Glenn Bradley:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=58735

The one that I built works very nicely. Not perfect, and it takes some adjustments to get it set up properly (I would recommend a more creative clamping mechanism than just a thick rod and wing nuts...although that's what I used and it does work).

However, I'm betting that Glenn's works a little better. The principle behind it seems more sound to me.

So if you get as frustrated as I was trying to get the jointer to work, spend a night in the shop and make a planer sled and see how it works.

Regards,

Andy - Newark, CA

[Brad Shipton]

If you have a jig to straight line the stock on the TS before the jointer (edging only obviously), that will save you some headache. Nothing worse than having a piece bobble in the same place as you are trying to get it straight. For stock this long, I have a 36" extension on the infeed and a 16" extension on the outfeed. I wish I had two 36" extensions, as I can always tell when the stock starts to want to lift on the outfeed or the silly extension starts to flex. I set the extensions with a straight edge before jointing. Now I am sure you will get posters suggesting you can do stock up to 12' on the machine, but it has never worked very well for me.

By the way, there is a very good discussion on the woodweb regarding the use of a power feeder on the jointer. The PF is not the interesting part, but several of the posters talk about maximizing the stock yield when planing/jointing.

Brad

[Chip Lindley]

We talking "edge jointing" or surfacing the wood???

I feel Mike is right on with his take on jointing long boards. Edge jointing is much less forgiving than surfacing long boards. Sturdy auxillary infeed and outfeed tables placed to support long stock can help a lot in obtaining desirable results. Fiddling with table height is a NO NO! When a jointer's outfeed table is correctly adjusted, it will joint long stock same as short, IF the right technique is used.

Those with experience at the jointer DO know that it is 95% + technique, with a "feel" for the relationship between the board and the machine at any given point.
(That mid-point where you shift your pressure on the board from the infeed to the outfeed table and pull rather than push the piece through, for instance!) Practice will increase your "feel" more than any words can convey here.

I once straight-edged a 20 foot long piece of red oak on an old Delta/Milwaukee 6" jointer with only a 32" bed. (to be used as a kitchen countertop backspash) It was a "Rasslin Match" but I WON!

Enjoy your jointer Jim! Be safe, and Good Luck!

[glenn bradley]

Good advice from the folks here. I'll join in on the good support part. You should be able to move your material comfortably through the entire path of the cut without having to wrestle it around or use any undo force. If you can't achieve this, pick up a couple more roller stands, adjustable saw-horses or whatever.

In addition I would add that I only joint material as long as I have to. Does your project call for 10 foot boards or are you just preparing stock? If you are just preparing stock, wait till you know your part sizes a little better and then joint a few 40" boards instead of a 10 footer that you will later cross cut. Just my .02.

P.s. While I suffered for my sins of not listening to everyone here who told me to get a larger jointer in the first place, I used the sled mentioned here by Andy. Now, hand-me-down tools are not subject to the "I told you so" rule so embrace your new-to-you tool and give it some external support ;-) . . . back to the sled . . . Despite looking like some sort of Thurber-esque invention, it goes together pretty quickly and served me for quite awhile whilst I saved my pennies, Mine would only do 5 ft boards but I never ran into the need for more during that time.

Be safe and enjoy.

[Jim Becker]

I will add one thing...if you are not going to actually use that board at the long length, don't try to joint it at that long length. Lay out your components to rough dimensions, cut them apart and then mill them true. This is the best method no matter what the capacity of your jointer happens to be!

[Jim Summers]

I forgot to mention that it is edge jointing. I am prepp'ing some boards for a couple of projects.

I will use all of the given tips / ideas.

Fortunately all of the boards are six to eleven inches wide so that helps with the safety factor, but also increases the 'rasslin' factor.

I'll just go slow and take light ( ~1/32" ) passes and see how it goes.

Many Thanks

[Greg Cole]

Iif you are not going to actually use that board at the long length, don't try to joint it at that long length.
+2 or whatever to that.
The jointer is one tool that makes you really embrace this method. Many other tasks can be done with full "size" stock, but given the table size on an old 6" machine... you'd be best served to break down the sticks to the needed length.

[Jeff Duncan]

When I was still stuck using a 6" jointer I built a set of infeed/outfeed tables for it out of mdf. A couple c-clamps held it to the jointer beds and a single adjustable leg at each far end to get it dead accurate with the beds. I found this to be a better method than the rollers as the stock is well supported over the full path.
I built quite a few interior panels doors using this setup, some of which were over 7' high.
good luck,
JeffD

[Loren Hedahl]

Like Mike above, I like to start out with a power plane for surfacing. I can take out bumps, cups and twists good enough on one side to send through my portable planer for the other side.

For straightening edges I like a circular saw with a guide. Festool is the best here, but any circular saw that has no end-play on the armature and that can be adjusted by whatever means so the blade runs exactly parallel with the edge of its shoe can be made to follow a straight edge.

[Mike Parzych]

Andy -

"Maybe I'm just a knucklehead, but I seem to put a cup into boards that are too long."

No, you're not a knucklehead. The cupping is the result of jointing (edge) of long stock without it having support past the infeed/outfeed tables. First time I did it was on some 4/4 10" wide red oak x 8 feet long, and what I ended up with was a nice flat middle section with each end having a convex shape in the last 8-12". It's caused by the leading edge being raised by the weight hanging off the infeed tble, and vice versa on the trailing edge. No matter how well I thought I had the board resting on the tables, the weight influenced it.