I've been "lurking" here at Sawmill Creek for nearly a year, just soaking up all the great tips and projects, but now I finally have something to post about. Maybe it will help somebody save a few pennies.
I started seriously looking for a jointer about 2 weeks ago when I found out from a friend of mine at work that he had a bunch of free wood that I could have. He has a whole mess of 4/4 cedar that is at least 10" wide and 10' long, as well as a bunch of white pine that is close to 8/4 and about the same width/length. Turns out his father owns some land and occasionally has some folks come out and harvest trees off of it. More than a year ago his father sent him this huge amount of wood that was delivered on a flatbed truck. Now, my buddy does some woodworking, but not very much, and he doesn't really have the tools to turn the rough stock into usable boards, so he said if I would help him clean up enough for a couple of small projects that I could have all of the rest of it. It seems that his wife isn't too thrilled with all of this wood stacked up under his porch and would be happy to get rid of it. God bless that woman...
But I digress, the point is that I already have a nice tablesaw and thickness planer but no jointer (there's another story in that, but I think I've already strayed enough). I have looked in the past at the Ridgid 6" at the borg, and various Delta and Jet models at my local Woodcraft. I've also looked at Grizzly, especially since I could get an 8" from them for just a couple hundred more than some of the 6" models from other companies. And then last week I started thinking about trying to find a used one after reading Dominic Greco's article on restoring his tools after a flood. (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/articles/5)
After seeing how Dominic was able to bring tools back to life that I would have sworn were doomed to the garbage bin, I realized that if I could find a quality built jointer that needed some TLC then perhaps I could save money AND still get a good tool. Now all I needed was a little luck...
I had to visit my in-laws this past weekend with the LOML so I figured the tool hunting would have to be put on hold. But it turns out her dad was looking for a used roto-tiller, so on Saturday we decided to hit up a garage sale that said it had tools. (Here in Alabama, going to garage sales is a family affair and constitutes a "big day out".) I really didn't have much hope for it, because usually "tools" in a garage sale ad means "one broken hammer and a rusty box of nails". But I went along anyway, and I'm very glad I did because the first thing I saw when I got out of the car was a Ridgid 6" jointer that needed a bit of work.
The faces of the entire bed and fence were coated with rust. Not spots of rust, but a complete red-brown coat that almost looked like paint. But I didn't notice any pitting, and none of the moving parts were siezed up, so I figured it was worth picking up if I could get it for the right price. After some negotiation that price turned out to be $100. And I also picked up a bundle of about 8 board feet of 4/4 cherry for just $10. So not only did I get a jointer, I bought some wood to run through it!
My father-in-law and I wrestled the jointer into the back of my SUV and I spent the rest of the weekend twitching in anticipation of getting it cleaned up and running. After I got home Sunday night I spent a couple of hours surfing the Creek to find out all I could about removing rust. It turns out that there are dozens of methods, so I finally went with the one that I thought I was least likely to screw up: WD-40, scotch brite, and some wet sand paper in 400 and 600 grits. There were a lot of other methods involving wire cups in grinders, or electrolysis, or naval jelly, but the simple elbow grease method seemed like something I could do without hurting myself of damaging the jointer. Besides, the bed of this jointer is only 45 inches, so I didn't figure it would take that long.
So far, it is looking pretty good. I only worked on it for about an hour tonight and I have the outfeed table shined up as nicely as my tablesaw top was when I bought it. And I owe it all to the advice I got for free here at Sawmill Creek. If I hadn't read Dominic's article, I never would have even looked twice at this jointer, and if I hadn't read so many different stories about how to remove rust (and how NOT to) I probably would have made a pig's ear out of my attempt. As it stands, I've saved myself about $300 and learned a lot about how to keep the machines I own from ever looking like this jointer did when I bought it.
I'll post up some more pics when I get done, and details on what tools/products I used. I have several other old tools (bandsaw, RAS, disc/belt sander, scroll saw) that I inherited from my wife's grandfather last year that I haven't had the courage to tamper with before, but I'm going to make those my next priority.
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