LV Jointer Fence with a cambered blade?

[Drew Sanderson]

I am thinking of purchasing the Veritas® Bevel-Up Jointer Fence when I purchase the plane. I plan on sharpening the blade with a camber. It seems to me a cambered iron and using the side of the plane as shown in the picture might not work out well. It seems I would want to have an second, non-cambered iron to use for that operation. Am I over thinking this? Other opinions relevent beyond what I have laid out are very welcome.
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[john zulu]

Some do actually chamber their blade for jointing without the fence since the apex of the blade needs to be at the centre. The reason is to create some concavity at the edge. When the edge is pressed into each other it would provide a better bond.... Since there is room at the centre of the edge. That being said, I don't do it. The amount of concavity is hard to measure and it could create pressure at the joints. I don't use a chamber blade for jointing.

[Jim Matthews]

I believe that a cambered blade needs to be positioned such that you take a series of shavings.

The fence is designed to keep a straight edged blade perpendicular to the reference face.

Their designs are at cross purposes - one uses the blade with an additional degree of freedom.
The other is intended to limit where the blade travels.

Phil Lowe gives an excellent demonstration in grinding a camber in the FWW video below:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-t...ane-blade.aspx

He gave an in depth description of how to use a cambered blade to joint edges that I struggle with, three years on.
I have found that reliably grinding a camber is a finicky proposition, and I can't get it right.

So, do I square grind my irons? Not exactly...

In practice, cambering offers real advantages if (and I would assert ONLY if) you're dealing with undulating grain.
It allows the user to move the blade to take more or less of a shaving, depending on where there's too much material.

This requires frequent inspection, good task lighting and better eyesight than I possess.

I've taken to freehand honing, which places an essentially square edge on my irons - with a finishing step to relieve the outside "corners"
so that I don't leave tracks if the blade is misaligned, with one edge proud of the plane sole.

http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2...n-plane-irons/

With a square grind, sure fence and clean lumber - the fence should be faster, and reliable.

If you get tear out on the edge due to undulating grain, a smaller plane with a cambered blade could be a rescue method.

Shannon Rogers covers this in greater depth, here.

[Judson Green]

I've come to appreciate having two jointers in the shop. One with a cambered iron and one that's pretty straight. So yes you might wanna think about getting two irons or doubling your order.

Oh and I do use a fence (a shop built thing) with the straight iron jointer.

[Brian Holcombe]

Just a thought; my heavy stock removal is often done cross grain or diagonal with a jack plane. I don't use a jointer but my jointing procedure is a bit more fine and I am usually making light passes as that point.

[Curt Putnam]

I have and use the jointer/fence combination. It is possible for the fence to attach such that it is not square, which is why there is an adjusting screw. Check for square as frequently as your paranoia demands. I use mine for edge work after either the saw or powered jointer. Makes for a far better edge, IMO.

I use a square ground blade with the fence - and yes, I relieve the corners since that blade will likely be used for jointing. If you have bought into the 3 plane "system" then it is easy to have multiple blades with multiple angles. Once can even have cambered and non-cambered blades. Just order all your blades with the 25° grind. You can hone higher angles easily.

IMO & YMMV

[Jim Koepke]

Each of us must find our own way to achieve our results.

Before winning a bid on a jointer fence on that auction site my edge planning got to the point of not needing one.

If there is a bump or knot on the face of the work piece it may throw the angles off.

The other problem for me is often I am edge planing something that isn't as tall as the jointer fence.

I tend to not camber my blades used in jointer planes.

jtk

[bridger berdel]

I made myself a jointer fence that is functionally similar to the LV fence. I use it with a slightly cambered blade. as long as the camber isnt too pronounced you can can use the lateral adjuster to center the cut on the edge of your board

[Judson Green]

Jim's post has giving me cause to want to clarify my use of two jointers with different edge profiles.

The one with the cambered iron is used for surfaces and edges wider than the iron itself. The other with the mostly straight edge is use primarily for edges.

[Derek Cohen]

I am thinking of purchasing the Veritas® Bevel-Up Jointer Fence when I purchase the plane. I plan on sharpening the blade with a camber. It seems to me a cambered iron and using the side of the plane as shown in the picture might not work out well. It seems I would want to have an second, non-cambered iron to use for that operation. Am I over thinking this? Other opinions relevent beyond what I have laid out are very welcome.
05p3701s3.jpg

Hi Drew

The purpose of a cambered blade in a jointer is that you do not need a fence. The camber is to enable one to correct for possible out-of-square by planing on a different part of the camber. The fence is also to ensure that the planing leaves a square edge.

It is one or the other, but not both.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Anthony Moumar]

I use the fence with my Veritas jointer. I also have the low angle jack which uses the same sized blades. I brought a thrid blade which is ground square that I use for shooting in the jack and edge jointing in the jointer. The blades that came with the planes both have cambers on them for when I surface the faces of a board.

[bridger berdel]

Hi Drew

The purpose of a cambered blade in a jointer is that you do not need a fence. The camber is to enable one to correct for possible out-of-square by planing on a different part of the camber. The fence is also to ensure that the planing leaves a square edge.

It is one or the other, but not both.

Regards from Perth

Derek

the fence keeps the body of the plane square to the board. the cambered blade produces a concave edge. it's a nice trick that you can use the cambered blade to "quick adjust" the depth of cut and lateral adjustment on narrow edges by positioning the plane, but it's by no means a one or the other thing. with the fence on and the cambered blade adjusted for it's deepest cut down the center of the edge you get a consistent *slightly* hollow (remember, we're talking about a slight camber. this isn't a jack plane...) surface, and the jointer plane can do it's thing- make the edge of your board straight and ready for glueup, or ready for decorative edge treatment, or whatever. The fence and the cambered blade play well together.