Originally Posted by
Kevin Jenness
Are the bearings in good shape? The bearings should not be smelly or hot. If they are worn so much as to be loose that could cause the scallops you are seeing in the cut. Are there shims between the bearing shells that can be removed to eliminate any play? An old school millwright can scrape or repour worn babbit bearins but it may not be worthwhile depending on the overall condition of the machine.
Tearout may be related to the cutting angle of the head. What is it? You can have a face bevel ground on the knives though that will increase noise and feed resistance. You could install a helical head - $$$. Straight carbide knives will wear better but will not improve the cut over hss. Are the knives set accurately?
It may make sense to use this jointer strictly for facing if you don't want to invest time and money in it. A sliding table saw will work for edge jointing but will typically need more cleanup than a good jointer. An edge sander is useful here. Effective jointing on a shaper requires an accurate fence setup and ties up the shaper which may be needed for other tasks.
A friend of mine has an L. Power 16" two knife babbit bearing machine like yours which he uses for facing with an 8" Powermatic for edge jointing, a good combination if you have the space.