Results from a weekend with old Craftsman 6" Jointer

[Mike Buelow]

Over the weekend I picked up an old Craftsman 6” jointer. I spent the better part of the weekend getting to know it. This blog-style posting is placed here for the benefit of future googlers with newbie jointer questions.


Blade height – in lieu of depth gauges, I used a drywall t-square draped over the length of the outfeed. When I thought the blades were set appropriately I would rotate the cutter assy counterclockwise until the blades just raised and pushed up on the t-square. If you are careful you can use the t-square and reference the mark on the ruler where the blade intersects the long straightedge lying across the table. For instance, once tuned, the blades would all touch at the 27 3/8" mark at the apex of travel (even along the width of the cutterhead). I can vouch for the opinion that the knives should be just a wee bit proud of the outfeed plane, assuming that you don’t have a machinist’s gauge to do it down to a gnat’s ___. My apologies to the original innovator if this is a common knife-setting technique.

In the process of adjusting the height and balance of the infeed table, I took the whole thing off, cleared greasy sawdust and regreased the sliders and worm screw. Then rezeroed and then level/balance from there. Actually this was a lot easier than chasing my tail on the four adjustment screws.


Took me all weekend to figure out that turning the collar screw on the 90 deg set pin will fine tune the fence angle (later saw that this is in the manual). Props to the creeker that posted the link to the 113.206??? jointer manual from 1979.


I was getting mixed results from the old blades, and then cutout from the new blades being set too low, and then I found infeed to be a bit droopy. I think my lesson today is that if everything is aligned and tuned, then the jointer is a VERY easy tool to achieve good results with. Folks that have problems with tearout and turning flat stock into big wedges are probably not using it wrong-- e.g. grain direction and shifting pressure to the outfeed ultimately didn't matter much in my case -- it’s probably the calibration of tool.

Having nicely milled stock makes the hobby 100% more enjoyable.

[Gene Howe]

Mine is a 1976 model. I've probably used it 75% of my days in the shop. It's on its 3rd set of knives. Took me a while to learn to inspect and clean the work before letting the jointer see it.
As you so rightly stated "if everything is aligned and tuned, then the jointer is a VERY easy tool to achieve good results with. Folks that have problems with tearout and turning flat stock into big wedges are probably using it wrong."
The primary tasks this old friend performs are edging prior to ripping and flattening prior to planing.
To set the knives, I use a magnetic parallel bar set up (Paralign?) Works for me.
My cut depth is very rarely more than 1/16th, usually less. By cutting to approximate gross length and width before jointing, flattening passes are minmal, so the shallow depth of cut isn't a real problem timewise.

There are times when I lust for an 8" with spiral cutters. But, I don't think that even this tool junky can justify the purchase to himself, let alone the better half.

All in all, this machine has served me well and, hopefully, will continue it's reliable service for as long as I need it. It represents the best that Simpson Tool (now Rigid) made for Sears.