Straight Edge recommendations

[Brian Holcombe]

Problem solved:

7319257A-B65F-47C8-A080-282F50EADA0D.jpg951097A6-BD15-453B-AC7B-7B54F5DCB151.jpg1B206B44-0C8E-4329-AC0A-B927CC1549B8.jpg41262BED-57A8-453B-870D-4DC64E4F21DB.jpg

41” x 2.5” x 2.5”

[Pat Barry]

Up to 8 pages on this topic? Must be cabin fever

[johnny means]

Up to 8 pages on this topic? Must be cabin fever

I'm always surprised at what topics create the most conversation.

[Prashun Patel]

The simplest concepts are the deepest: Straight, sharp

[Patrick Walsh]

My guess is the guy you linked to in the video hand scrapped and or scraped that with whatever machine he mentioned?

I’m just gonna go Joes route with the 48” SPI. I might also get a 96 for the jointer as I gotta tend to the jointer at work as it’s cutting a convex joint.

Good enough for me and my work.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Tile stores for pros sell aluminum straight edges that are within a 64th over 8 feet. Good enough for me.

[Patrick Walsh]

Yikes!


Not for me and I suspect not Brian..

Id just never trust aluminum. So easy to Knick or ding. Plus a 64th is a mile setting up a machine..

Tile stores for pros sell aluminum straight edges that are within a 64th over 8 feet. Good enough for me.

[peter gagliardi]

Nice Brian!
Outfeed table is too high Patrick.

[johnny means]

Yikes!


Not for me and I suspect not Brian..

Id just never trust aluminum. So easy to Knick or ding. Plus a 64th is a mile setting up a machine..

Not if the goal is to actually work wood.

[Patrick Walsh]

I work wood all day everyday as I’m sure many do around here.

A 64th setting up a jointer is a problem. At least for me it is.

I’m a picky guy what can I say.

Not if the goal is to actually work wood.

[Patrick Walsh]

I’m not sure that’s the case Peter but you may be right.

I put a straight edge on it and the infeed table is toeing down at the cutterhead.

I suspect that is the problem. But you know I have only screws with a jointer a few times now so for all I know you are right.

What do you think with the provided info?

Nice Brian!
Outfeed table is too high Patrick.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with Patrick. Out feed table two thousandths high will will make the material "climb". Small knife nick will make
make material climb. Out feed table too low by several thousandths will make joints that are open at board ends.

[Brian Holcombe]

My guess is the guy you linked to in the video hand scrapped and or scraped that with whatever machine he mentioned?

I’m just gonna go Joes route with the 48” SPI. I might also get a 96 for the jointer as I gotta tend to the jointer at work as it’s cutting a convex joint.

Good enough for me and my work.

The stated tolerances on SPI's straight edges is very good for a ground straight edge. Something like .001" over the length and .002" parallelism.

This bar I received is from Daryl, he scrapes with a Biax which is a handheld power scraper.

Not if the goal is to actually work wood.

Depends on what you're after. My work calls for tight joinery fit-ups. I noticed at some point that a considerable amount of my time was spent fettling joinery. So much so that I could not produce a reliable time frame for the effort required for any given job. A few years into this precision pursuit and now the amount of fettling required for 99% of the joinery I cut is zero.

So compared to literally weeks a year of fettling, a few hours tuning a jointer at a leisurely pace in the evenings with high precision equipment is time well spent.

I often feel that expending time in this fashion has been worth it.

Specific to the jointer, it just makes every other aspect of the work easy so a well tuned jointer is paramount to precision in the shop.

Finally, I enjoy it. It makes me feel good to have things 'add up' in my mind. A flat surfaces agreeing with one another, stock square to fences and cutting square and tight shoulders, etc.

[Bradley Gray]

On the other end of the scale from a hand scraped masterpiece, I have had good results setting up my old 9' long 16" jointer with a 10' length of steel drip edge - I clamp it to the jointer's fence to keep it vertical.

Doesn't look as cool hanging on the wall but I get perfect glue joints.

[peter gagliardi]

Outfeed table is always the first culprit.
Infeed tables are very rarely like that unless someone "fixed" it that way.
I only use a straightedge to see if tables are flat with no twist.
I use the actual cutting results to adjust the jointer almost always.