What percent of time do you actually need more than a 6" jointer?

[Steve Clardy]

Seldom. In fact I cannot remember the last time I had to face flatten a board.
I went with a 8" jointer, because I needed the bed length, not the width.

[Peter Scoma]

My 6" grizzly is limiting but I dont think an 8" would make life much easier either. I spent the morning flattening some 18+ wide 8/4 poplar that would have been difficult on anything less than a monster 24 incher.

As an aside, I was at Hearne Hardwoods last week and saw the largest joiner I've ever seen in person or in pics. It had to be at least 24 inches. Went well with their 37" planer.

PS

[Andy Pratt]

Fred,

I know that it's possible to face joint a board larger than your jointer width, but I think we would all agree it's certainly not something you want to be doing all the time. While it's a worthwhile thing to keep in mind for occasional projects, here are the issues I see with it for any sort of normal use:

1. If you are using a pork-chop style guard you have to remove it to do this, reducing safety and increasing time spent

2. Unless you are working with the same width stock, or keep adjusting your fence, you're going to have some boards that this is harder on than others. If you do a 6" pass on an 8" board, you now have only a 2" surface to joint, with 6" of dead-weight leverage trying to keep you from doing it correctly. The only alternative is to move the fence to 4" or so for the 8" boards and back to 6" for the 6" or 12" boards, either way you've still got some leverage on the already jointed side to contend with.

3. If your jointing technique isn't perfect or you're working on a truly messed up board, you can potentially make any errors worse, as you magnify them by flipping the board around.

I know that planing after this reduces some of the issues I have mentioned, but I personally want my face jointing to be perfect, as every other function is based off the trueness of that first face. I'm not experienced at doing wide boards on a narrow jointer, so maybe I have missed something. From what I know, it seems like a great thing on occasion, but nothing we should rely on as standard practice.

Thanks,
Andy

[Alan Frazier]

I have a 8'' Inca jointer/planer and I can think of a bunch of times I've had to face joint boards over 6'' so far I've never had a need for more than 8'' though. It depends on what kind and size of work you plan on doing.

[Tom Hintz]

I rarely have boards over 6" wide. In fact, I sold my 8" jointer and went back to a better 6" (Powermatic 54HH, helical head) and am very happy with it and its capacity. My shop is easier to get around in also.

[Jon Grider]

I am glad that many others here are content with a 6" jointer and its' size is adequate for their work. I own a 6" and have found it too small for probably half the work I do. I do hand plane my wider boards, and though I enjoy the swoosh swoosh of a sharp plane slicing off high spots on a 12" wide board,I would really like a bigger jointer to save time. I was about a half inch away from buying an 8" jointer last year, but have decided to save up and look for a good used 12".

[Don Morris]

I had a 6" Jet for years and was pretty satisfied, but had to take pieces I really didn't want to rip to the local pro shop on occassion. Also, I had a heavy long piece of something (I can't remember the species), and when I got to the end, the Jet started to tip over. That's when I decided to get the 8" I have now. A long piece isn't going to tip over this beast, and I have more options when I go to select pieces for projects.

Don M

[Frank Drew]

Fred,

I know that it's possible to face joint a board larger than your jointer width, but I think we would all agree it's certainly not something you want to be doing all the time.

I for one don't agree; I did it every time I had a board wider than my jointer that needed surfacing. For years.

1. If you are using a pork-chop style guard you have to remove it to do this, reducing safety and increasing time spent.

Well, the whole point of the exercise is to save time over other methods of preparing stock wider than your jointer, and, anyway, it takes only a few seconds to loosen the bolt than holds the guard on; as for the safety concern, if you set the fence so that you're face jointing about half the board's width each pass I don't see how that's any more dangerous than face jointing a 6" board on a 6" jointer with the guard in place. In what way does my method leave the operator more at risk (and it's not really "my" method since it's widely done in professional shops that don't have extra wide jointers)?

I would never recommend using a technique one is uncomfortble with -- that's a great way to get hurt. But I worked safely, and felt quite comfortable with that procecure, and was entirely satisfied with the results after final surface planing (the face planed surface off the jointer was never the finish surface, it only had to be flat enough to go face down on the planer bed and produce a true upper face.)

[Robert LaPlaca]

Actually I think this calls upon the 'it depends rule'. If you primarily build furniture, a wide jointer is very useful. If you primarily build cabinetry, a wide jointer might not be so necessary, as face frames and rails and styles are not usually very wide.

I personally want to use the widest lumber that I can find for the type of furniture that I build..So the 16" capacity of my MM FS-41 is indispensable..

[Curt Harms]

I had a 6" jointer and it worked well. The shortcoming showed up when i started to buy rough stock. I have a sawmill just up the road that regularly has stock wider than 6" and face jointing is a necessary first step with this stock. If you're able to get straight S3S stock that stays straight face jointing may not be necessary as Steve says. For me, a 12" combo has worked out well.

Curt

[Paul Ryan]

Rick,

There is really some good information on both sides of this argument. The common answer to "what jointer should I buy" is always buy the 8" your a fool if you buy a 6". That is a complete bogus answer. It all comes down to your personal situation. How much $ do you have to spend, how much room to you have, what kind of wood do you buy, and kind of products to you plan to produce.

Only you can answer these questions. I think if you read through this thread you will see what I mean. The biggest condition comes down to how much $ and what kind of wood do you buy. If you only plan on buying rough cut lumber than you are a fool to buy anything less than a 8" unless you can't afford one. And if you can afford it now how long before you could afford the extra 2". If you are like me and you prefer the s2s lumber and don't mind spending the extra .10 a br ft. Then a 6" with a good lenth bed will suit you just fine for many years. I bought a jet years ago for a really good price the price has double since I bought it. It has suited me just fine and I don't plan on replacing it anytime soon. It has done everything I have wanted and then some. But think about what you are going to ask of the jointer.

I think other than size right now if we are taling new. I would worry more about the extra cost between knives and helical heads. Even though most experts think the knives give a better cut, the carbide tips are sooooooooo much easier. You can turn them if they get nicked, and you don't have to replace all of them at one shot, they are much easier to align, and they last longer.

[Jeff Mohr]

My father in law has a 16" planer/jointer combo. It is the only jointer I've ever known and I LOVE the thing. Don't know if I would want to go to a 6" but if I had to by my own I'd have to go with a 2"! And I'd have to refine my technique to do what some of you above are talking about with a smaller jointer.

It is nice to use the jointer to get that cutting board, serving tray, or other large items real flat, real easy. I guess a drum sander would do but I don't (and the FIL doesn't) have one of those.

[Chip Lindley]

Rick, once-upon-a-time, I straight-edged a 20ft long piece of 4/4 x 6" red oak on that little 32" bed Milwaukee/Delta!! That was THE extreme! A board that long will have its own flex and not necessisarily be *straight-edge* straight, as say, an 8' board! It was plenty straight enough to run thru the shaper to make a special piece of backspash trim in one length for a custom kitchen remodel.

Others in this thread continue to mention the need to face-joint wide stock without pre-ripping! If they are building pieces which require wide boards, so be it! But, I argue that in all practicality, face-jointing a board wider than absolutely needed is usually wasteful. Any twist, or cup is magnified across the entire width, and must all be jointed flat. Pre-ripping to a narrow width increases the usability of stock which would otherwise end up being planed too thin, to compensate for twist or cup across a broad width.

[Rod Sheridan]

My father in law has a 16" planer/jointer combo. It is the only jointer I've ever known and I LOVE the thing. Don't know if I would want to go to a 6" but if I had to by my own I'd have to go with a 2"! And I'd have to refine my technique to do what some of you above are talking about with a smaller jointer.

It is nice to use the jointer to get that cutting board, serving tray, or other large items real flat, real easy. I guess a drum sander would do but I don't (and the FIL doesn't) have one of those.

Jeff, drum sanders, like planers make objects parallel, not flat.

Any FIL with a 16" combo must be a great FIL indeed!

Regards, Rod.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I don't know what percentage of the time I need more than 6". But the first project piece (oposed to scrap test piece) that I jointer was 7 3/4" wide. I was sure glad I got the 8" wide G0490.

On advantage of the wider jointer is that the fence can be pulled forward so a different section of the blade sees some wear. Seems kind of a waste to send a 8 or 10 inch long blade for sharpening when only the back 3-4 inches is dull.