Of course I know the danger involved, and I appreciate your concern. I probably should have written a disclaimer, huh? A friend of mine got a fingertip taken off by his jointer. The very same jointer I now own. I had to make my own guard for this jointer, as the original was lost, and it's usually on. Unless there are teeth or pawls along the edge of the guard(which I've never seen), it will not prevent kickback. There's just not enough pressure against the fence. It merely prevents a careless hand from dropping down onto the spinning cutterhead. I have removed the guard, pawls and splitter from my tablesaw, too. It is_ the_ most dangerous hobby I enjoy. Tom
I've used the jointer for rabbets on the occasions when the rabbet was wide. One example was transition molding for flooring where the rabbet was about 2.5" wide and 1/4" deep.
It's specifically designed for the task -- that's why there's the extension table on the front and the rabbet removed for stock clearance and the support on the rear bed.
So will I. It is not necessary, not safe and not what a jointer is designed to do. If that 'feature' is mentioned, I think it is because that particular model 'needs' another feature because the rest of it is suspect.
If it hasn't been jointed, I wouldn't say that it's been "flattened". The straightening you describe on the TS makes an edge straight, but not a face. To make a face both straight and flat, the board needs to be jointed -- not necessarily with a jointer. Other techniques include hand-planing, machine planing with a sled, or using a router and jig. (Note that I'm not disagreeing with you -- I know you know all that already -- I'm just trying to make sure the OP understands the difference.)
It almost always has been a design feature -- look at any vintage text or manufacturer's literature. That either one may be too young to have learned it or simply started after the router became ubiquitous is quite likely a major factor...
It still works "most excellent" for the purpose...
The way it is described in my manual, it's no more dangerous than using a router. Only a small portion of the blade is uncovered, about the same size as a router bit. I don't see any more chance of your hand going into the blade than with a router table.
Yes... and I'm a bit puzzled about why using a jointer for rabbeting is viewed as extraordinarily dangerous... My Delta DJ-20 has a rabbeting ledge and I wouldn't call that machine a gimmick laden tool... The 6" Reliant I had before that also had a rebatting ledge. In use the fence and uncut portion of the board cover the cutter whereas for jointing a combination of the board, fence and guard cover the cutter. The difference being that in the former some cutter is exposed when no board is being fed through and in the later the cutter is covered whether there is a board being fed through or not.
In most applications I've encountered the board is run on edge along the fence so no more cutter is exposed in this operation than would be exposed using a dado cutter in a table saw... With wide rabbets the board is run through flat on the tables. Again the entire cutter is covered by the fence and the board. Here is a case where the jointer may beat out the table saw as you can cut a very wide rabbet with the board well supported and the cutter unexposed. Table saw dado cutters on the other hand are typically an inch or less wide and wide rebbates on the table saw require multiple passes and the rebatted area is unsupported by the tool.
On the DJ-20 long boards are well supported due to the long in feed and out feed tables. I cannot say that about boards run through my shaper as discontinuous stands are needed to support the board. I'd never use my bench top router table for such purposes as it's too small to support long boards and is underpowered. Molding cutters on my molder/planer will do the job but between installing the cutters and building feed guides set up is very time consuming. However, if I were doing 1,000s of linear feet that would be the machine of choice for me.... between the pressure rollers and guides the board is well controlled with little user influence. For small quantities of short boards I generally make two to four cuts on the table saw with a combo blade for rebates or use a plow plane for the task if solid wood is involved.
I've come to the conclusion that I am the most dangerous tool in my shop... the only shop injuries I've sustained outside of splinters or cuts from the sharp corners of boards occurred when I was fatigued and rushing. They both involved kickbacks on the table saw and resulted in nasty bruises. In one case I failed to reinstall the T-Splitter for a through cut after making non-through cuts, this as "I only had one cut to make" and in my fatigued state didn't control the board properly. In the other case, again in a fatigued state, I turned the saw off and accidently dropped the small, roughly 4" x 8", piece of oak veneer plywood onto the still spinning blade while trying to pick up the wood. In both cases that marked quitting time as I was clearly too tired to continue.
The comfort level experienced by users boils down to what specific tools are available and the attentiveness and skill of the user. I figure that any one of my floor, stand, bench top, or hand power tools, and even my meat powered tools, can bite me if I don't do my part. Overall, I suspect that abused and improperly used screw drivers rank very high on the "tools that injure" list and they are about as simple a tool as there is!
I have always maintained that it is not "if" you will get hurt in the shop, it is "when" you will get hurt in the shop. After 30 years of serious woodworking I look back on my first 10 years and think, I only thought I knew all the safety precautions to take.
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