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Thread: What's the Best Long Bed Jointer, old or new?

  1. #1

    What's the Best Long Bed Jointer, old or new?

    Hi All,

    I just finished up a table top that required a lot of 8-9' joints and realize that a longer jointer bed would've helped quite a bit. I ended up finishing each of the panels off with a #7 hand plane, which I would've done a bit of anyway, but I do believe a longer and more precise jointer would've taken a good amount of the work out of it.

    So, I may think about upgrading to a longer jointer, but was curious to hear feedback from others about what jointer models, new and old, take the cake for a longer bed with high quality and precision. I'm thinking mostly about the 8" variety at the moment, but am open to other options as well. The ability to upgrade to a helical/spherical cutterhead someday would be a bonus, but not a dealbreaker.

    Some of the candidates I've found so far...
    - Delta DJ-20 8" Jointer with 77" bed
    - Powermatic 60 & 60HH 8" Jointer with 73" bed
    - Grizzly G0495X 8" with 83" bed

    Thanks for your tips and recommendations!

    Ben S.

  2. #2
    The best? Get a Martin T54.

  3. #3
    Wow, only $22k! That thing is beautiful though...

  4. #4
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    Go to a 12" Oliver 166 with 96" length, Northfield HD , or Porter 300. All are old cast iron but with used you can verify the tables are flat. I have a DJ20 and while a decent machine, the tables are not as flat as my Oliver 166 or Porter. 12" doesn't take up much more room. 2500-3000 buys a very good condition machine and a vfd costs another 400. Dave

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Jenness View Post
    The best? Get a Martin T54.
    my thoughts and words exactly. word for word.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    This depends a lot on your budget. I've got a DJ-20, it works great for me, pitted beds and all. It has a 1.5hp motor which I have never found lacking, I do wish it had the 4 knife cutter head the grizzly clone has. There are helical cutter heads made for it, but they cost over half of what I paid for the machine. I have only used and owned two jointers but they are fairly simple machines. If your beds are co-planer and fence is flat, it will do the job with proper set up. Proper set up may include much more than just making sure your fence is 90 degrees to the tables. Parallelogram would also be nice, I have not had to adjust coplanarity of either of mine. I can only imagine how much of a pain it would be to shim a dovetailed jointer after seeing just how rough of a system it is. Get the one with the longest and widest beds possible within your budget imo. I went from a 6" to an 8" when the opportunity presented itself and if I had the space and money I'd go bigger. Another thing to keep in mind is that OEM parts for a DJ-20 are not a thing, but grizzly makes what seems like a 1:1 clone for parts. I have only replaced small parts on my dj-20 with grizzly parts but I have read of people putting a whole grizzly fence set up on a DJ-20. Having recently gone through buying used machines I can tell you it is very nice to be able to go online and buy, knowing in confidence that it will fit, the little piece that holds a door closed for $2. Alternatively you can get your welding buddy to fix it or search high and low to find it for $30. This experience was from a delta bandsaw, but you get the idea.

  7. #7
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    Have a look at 12 inch jointer/planers.

    I have one and joint 6 or 7 foot long pieces without issue.

    Parts are available and they have insert cutter heads…..Rod

  8. #8
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    I run a Grizzly G0490X which is a Delta DJ-20 clone. Long beds (for the width) and a tall fence were two of my top requirements. It has proved very satisfactory. Bear in mind that any time your material extends past the bed there is the possibility of feed path deviation. Good support for the full cutting operation is your friend regardless of bed length. The long infeed on my jointer means I can joint blanks most of the time without external support which is what I was after. The things you make will determine if this is so for you.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  9. #9
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    Grizzly, Powermatic and delta, That's a pretty small, isolated island that you live on.

    There are literally hundreds of companies from around the world that made jointers, many of the jointers are still out there, for you to find.


    To pick "the best" of them, you would have to know all of them.

    How about this nice longbed, right angle jointer from Japan.


    SAM_2800.JPG

  10. #10
    My first jointer was a DJ-20 and it was ok, but too small and light duty for some of the work that I tend to do. I found it frustrating and limiting as my only jointer after a while.

    Ive had an Oliver 166BD (12”) for about 4 years and it fits the bill nicely. Total bed length from end to end is just over 100”. Not sure of too many other than Martin or possibly some Italian machines that are longer than that.

    Including the cost of a nice 5HP VFD, I paid slightly less than a Grizzly 8” helical head machine was at the time and got a machine that is miles ahead in terms of capacity, build quality, shop presence, weight, and will likely last longer even though it was made during the WWII era.

    Just my thoughts, but if you can find a way to move it (and where there’s a will there’s a way) then big heavy jointers are worth the effort to acquire and setup if you consistently need to joint longer and wider stock.

    PS - sometimes you may still need to break out the No. 7 for edges depending on the circumstances. I did it just last week when prepping edges for interior door panel glue ups. Sometimes the stock reacts just enough as it’s being milled that it can be tricky to get a perfectly straight edge joint off the machine and those are times when your hand plane skills will still be needed and appreciated.
    Last edited by Phillip Mitchell; 08-08-2021 at 10:24 AM.
    Still waters run deep.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Kumm View Post
    Go to a 12" Oliver 166 with 96" length, Northfield HD , or Porter 300. All are old cast iron but with used you can verify the tables are flat. I have a DJ20 and while a decent machine, the tables are not as flat as my Oliver 166 or Porter. 12" doesn't take up much more room. 2500-3000 buys a very good condition machine and a vfd costs another 400. Dave
    You forgot about the Newman #60, but otherwise I'd agree.

    I had a g0490 delta clone. I wasn't very impressed.
    Last edited by Jared Sankovich; 08-08-2021 at 12:20 PM.

  12. #12
    Nice looking jointer. Picture shows straight blades, and no mention of helical segmented cutter head in the PDF file. Seems odd on such a fine machine

    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Jenness View Post
    The best? Get a Martin T54.

  13. #13
    Like most things there is no best.

    I did fine on a general 8" jointer for years. When I got an SCM 14" approx I just about never used the general again. Once you use a machine with mass hard to go back, the general still could do stuff at least most of the work I needed to do till one specific job calling for bit wider jointer. I did the extra steps to trick the general till I got the SCM, that wasted time.

    You dont need a 100 " plus total jointer beds to do long work you need infeed and out feed support and positioned right. Lots of people have done long work with support. The support on both sides hold the board up while you do the work on the outfeed table.

  14. #14
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    I just spent another two weeks at Anderson Ranch where they have an old Porter. I lust after that machine!

    Mike

  15. #15
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    [QUOTE=Jared Sankovich;3135805]You forgot about the Newman #60, but otherwise I'd agree.


    Newman was omitted due to rarity but you are correct in that quality was outstanding. Maybe the heaviest castings although Porter used better bearings and had an adjustable yoke. I don't remember if Newman had that. The old 12" PM jointers were made in Europe and can be a bargain . Dave

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