What 8" jointer would you get and why?

[Tom M King]

I have always adjusted the infeed a lot. Why take three passes when one will do? This jointer was used when I bought it at a school auction in 1975. I've never done anything to it but change the knives, and bearings a couple of times.

I used it to straighten this old 8' 4x4 with little trouble. I don't remember how many passes to get to this point, but I expect four. I did lighten the cut by the time I had gotten the big bow, and most of the twist out of it.

Start with the bow down, and follow the flat spot you made. Hold it down on the outfeed, and it has nothing to do with the length of jointer other than physically being able to hold it down. If it doesn't start on the plane you wanted, do tapering cuts until it gets aligned like you want it. You could look at this 4x4 and see three sides, plus it had a bow. It was the last dry one I had though, so I used it.

I started with a 3' total bed length Delta, and straightened more than a few 16' boards on it, but I had helpers back then. It's a joke that piece length is limited by jointer length.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with Tom.
In a commercial shop there might be a “straight-line” power fed saw . But I’ve not see a shop with two of them, and they take up a lot of
space. Sometimes 2 or 3 long bed jointers are needed to keep the work flowing. Those jointers will usually remove 3/4” to 1” in one pass.

[Warren Lake]

Hey Mel,

You have to agree you have been stating that as long as ive been reading you here. Hence my past statement there is a guy that has spent time on machines and understands wood.

[Mel Fulks]

Warren , sometimes when in a long line at at the grocery store …I start explaining proper use of woodworking machinery . That makes a lot
of people leave . Yes , I hate to see so many with lack of interest . But on balance ,it sure speeds up the line !

[Warren Lake]

If the old guy was still here there would be more questions. He once said you know it all, day later I said you know what I asked you. he said yeah. I said I dont and neither do you. He turned red and started laughing.

His understanding was next level. I said why is it when I rip a 45 on the table saw there is more tension release than if I do it on the shaper. No pause just instant answer because the shaper nibbles the material away.

So even how you machine a thing can have different reactions.

[Robert Hayward]

Tom, cannot help but wonder what size piece of lumber did you end up getting out of that twisted 4X4?

[Tom M King]

1-15/16 x 2-15/16 handrail piece. I wanted to keep them as thin as possible to not cut any more of the view than necessary. Target was 2x3, but some of the pieces wouldn't quite let me get that much out of them. Painted, so I used old, dry treated stuff.

[Pat Germain]

This. Used industrial is still cheap (relatively speaking) I looked yesterday and saw a bunch of 12" plus jointers available at less than new 8" import prices.

Were those 3-phase machines? I don't even see used industrial machines for sale in my area.

[Jared Sankovich]

Were those 3-phase machines? I don't even see used industrial machines for sale in my area.

They may have been. It's not much of a barrier to entry.

Most of my machines are 3ph, ideally all of them would be.

[Joe Calhoon]

Were those 3-phase machines? I don't even see used industrial machines for sale in my area.

Pat, Colorado is pretty dry for vintage industrial machinery. I’ve picked up a couple machines here just out of luck and good timing but mostly not available or costly. Sometimes good auctions if you keep your ears open.
Joe

[jeff oldham]

i bought the g0814x from grizzly,,its a 6 inch jointer and the reason i bought it is for the v style cutter head and space,,,with that being said after i got it the vibration and noise was terrible,,,i called grizzly and they walked me thru everything to try to get the vibration out which did not work,,so they sent me a new machine out and told me to send the old one back,,,plus paid for the return shipping,,,all i did was switch out the jointer itself,,,and i could not be happier,,,no vibration,,i even did the nickle test and it never fell plus the noise level went down so much,,my dust collection is louder than the jointer,,,im not a big fan of ordering machinery on line but grizzly customer service is great,,it changed my attitude in that respect,,,,,i will say this and i told the grizzly rep about it,,,the cover over where you change the belt is 90 percent of where the noise was coming from,,i put some stick on rubber between the cover and housing and it cut the noise level almost out,,

[Bill Dufour]

V style cutter head?
Bill D

[Andrew Pitonyak]

What is a "parallelogram" in the world of jointers?

I am not well informed, but, I believe that Jointers come in two primary varieties, Parallelogram and Dovetail; but I think that there others (for example, things made by Oliver if I am remembering correctly).

You adjust a dovetail jointer using shims whereas a parallelogram jointer has four points of adjustability. I think that a parallelogram is easier to adjust but you need to adjust them rarely. So, if the price is the same take the parallelogram. If the parallelogram is significantly more expensive, well, you are probably fine with a Dovetail.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....hich-to-choose

Note I do not own a jointer; sadly.

[Jason White]

I had a Grizzly G0490 that served me well. Worked much better after I upgraded the cutterhead. https://youtu.be/gKwX092vWu4

[Brian Holcombe]

I take large cuts when edge jointing, and for really long boards I prefer to put the convex edge down. If the concave edge is down it will remain concave unless the jointer has very long tables and outfeed supports. At my shop I have Aigner tables setup on the jointer so most stock can be jointed either way but I still prefer convex down in most cases as it will produce a flatter end result. It does however take more care in the first cut to balance out the gap and avoid shifting the board as it’s processed.

I consider this an approach for experienced folks and rarely ever teach it to beginners since many of them have a difficult time avoiding tilting the board as they feed it which can result in a kickback.