Jointer Question

[TJ]

Hi All, I have a newbie question regarding my stationary Craftsman 6" jointer. I am trying to square my edges to my planed face, but after about five

3/16" passes one end of the board is significantly narrower than the other. I have already made sure that the outfeed table is level with the top of the knives. Even after putting slightly more pressure on the outfeed end of the wood when feeding it over the bed, I still end up with a trapezoid after only a few passes. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong? What is the proper technique for jointing the edges of a long piece of wood?

Thanks, TJ

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You say edges, as in squaring both edges? If so, that is the problem You don't square edges on a jointer. You make one edge straight. then you put that straight edge against the fence of your tablesaw and cut the other edge parallel to it.

I'd take off less than 3/16" also.

[damian penney]

Yeah you have it the wrong way around. Jointer gets an edge flat and an adjoining face 90 degrees to the previously jointed edge and then the planer gets the unjoined faces parallel so do that last.

[TJ]

Thanks for the advice. I want to make sure that I understand though. Is this the correct sequence?

1) Run rough Face #1 over jointer (less than 3/16") 2) Run rough Edge #1 over jointer with smooth Face #1 along fence 3) Run rough Face #2 through planer with smooth Face #1 laying down 4) Rip rough Edge #2 on tablesaw

How do you smooth Edge #2 after it's been ripped by the tablesaw? Typically that leaves kerf marks on that edge.

[phildcrowNOSPAM]

It's my understanding that a paper-thin pass or two with the jointer on edge #2 should straighten it out. Or, you could use the old "Bailey #7 with shooting board" approach. That seems to have worked well for the past few hundred years :-)

-Phil Crow

[Cherokee-Ltd]

1-4 is correct. If you are experiencing blade marks on your rip, consider a better quality blade and check you blade/fence alignment. I have a junk saw with a middle of the road rip blade and I can get a pretty impressive rip if I set it up right. Failing that, you can run the ripped edge back through your jointer to clean it up. Set it up so the blade is just barely skimming the surface.

-Brian

[Doug Miller]

*MUCH* less than 3/16". I normally remove no more than 1/32 when jointing faces, and 1/16 on edges.

Yep. Doesn't have to be that exact sequence, though. Step 1 comes first, and step 2 must come before step 4. But you can do these in the order 1-2-4-3 or

1-3-2-4 also, and get the same results.

Use a better blade, and/or tune your table saw properly, and that will no longer be an issue.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

[George]

1) Sight the board to determine high spots. 2) Remove high spots with plane or use jointer by placing the low portion of the face over the knives and maintaining pressure over the high. Even works for opposite corners. Use your push blocks. 3f) Take approximately flat board to thickness planer. Run first pass flattest down. Don't need a square edge, or even a straight one yet, and if the board is marginal, you might be able to squeak through with a hidden rough spot or two, depending on project.

Now do the edge, using 1 and 2,

3e) Rip for parallel against the edge created, cleaning with a pass at the jointer if you like.

If you want to rip the board prior to surfacing, you use 1 and 2 with the best fit face against the fence prior to the rip, then surface. REMEMBER TO JOIN THE STRAIGHT EDGES FOR 90 after surfacing!!!!

[Mike G]

[Mike G]

If I read it right I'm afraid you are mistaken. One face has to be jointed flat first then an edge is made straight and at ninety degrees to that face.

Without a known flat and straight surface to put against the jointer's fence you can't do a second surface and trying to properly joint a face by keeping the edge not only against the fence but tilted so that narrow surface is flat against the fence while moving the board would be almost and impossibility not to mention dangerous.

Again, that is if I understand you post correctly.

[Leon]

Correct

The same way you would if the jointer leaves a rough edge. You fix the problem. There is a problem if your saw is leaving tooth marks on the edge of the board. The problem may not be much at all and in that case lightly scrape, hand plane or sand the wood. Typically I do not have to address the edge after ripping.

[Lawrence Wasserman]

[Stephen M]

Unless I am misunderstanding you, try way less than 3/16. (like 1/32) and take as many passes as necessary to get things flat and smooth. On a naturally flat, rough-cut board, that could be 2 passes. A twisty one could require 6 passes.

Yup.

-Steve

[toller]

I don't disagree with anything anyone else has said, however... If you are careful about the wood you buy, you can usually skip face planing. A planer will take care of cupping on 4/4 (unless perhaps you have a more power planer than mine), so you just have to make sure your wood is reasonably flat.

[woodcraftssuch]

TJ wrote: What is the proper technique for jointing the edges of a long

To get a straight edge, it helps me a tremendous amount to have auxiliary in-feed and outfeed support. Sam

[TDUP]

[Nate Perkins]

TJ wrote in news:41e34211$1_2@127.0.0.1:

As others mentioned, 3/16" is pretty heavy for a jointer cut. I usually cut at 1/16" or less in depth.

But the real problem might be that you are introducing taper because your outfeed table on the jointer is high relative to your knives. You want to set the outfeed table just high enough that you don't have snipe on your boards. Here's an article that may be of help:

out the diagrams about halfway through the article)

[Mike G]

Now I don't want to start a big deal about this and with all due respect I have yet to figure out why that particular bit of advice is so commonly given when, unless someone has been dicking around with the machine, it is usually a far simpler problem

The fact is that if you are taking heavy or a lot of cuts with a perfectly aligned jointer you almost can't help causing a taper.

Heavy and repeated passes will accent any taper already in a piece of stock and even with stock where the faces are parallel, since it is difficult to maintain consist ant pressure, your going to cause a taper if you insist on running the stock over and over again long after the face is flat.

Yes, misalignment is something to keep in mind but 99% of the time a newbies problem is not understanding what the machine is for and, for some unknown reason, trying to hog off ungodly amounts of wood with it.

A jointer is a finesse machine demanding a light touch, not a thicknessing machine meant to scrape off lots of stock real fast.

[Bob G.]

.

========================= I have owned and used the same 6 inch Rockwell Jointer for almost 40 years now.... AND I will admit that it really did take me a long time to master using the machine....

Looks simple... works simple... and it is simple

However your words...LIGHT TOUCH.. is the reason for my reply...

Very Very TRUE.... My proplems were solved only after LEARNING that I only had to keep enough downward pressure on the outfeed end to keep the board flat and I wanted to use as little downward pressure on the infeed side as possible...

When I was learning I put way tooooo much downward pressure on both ends ...The weight of the lumber should be enough to keep the board in contact with the table... LIGHT TOUCH.... ! Yep you are right

Bob Griffiths

[Silvan]

I use a #4 dialed in for a verrrrrrrrry whispy cut.