Why do i need a jointer?

[Roger M.]

Seriously........Why does one need a jointer??

I have made a beautiful desk, and other furniture that have stood up to over

20 years of my abuse. I always buy my rough lumber with one side cut straight, and I take it home to plane, and then rip on my "General" contractors table saw. I use old fashioned pipe clamps to hold my boards in place while gluing. When I take the boards to a local saw shop for sanding even,. they always comment on how straight and even they are ( and i don't use any type of biscuits or doweling). I will purchase a jointer if u can tell me what benefits there are in having one. I have wondered this for quite some years, and am hoping someone can help me. Thanks in advance.

[Doug Miller]

To make straight and flat, things that are not. There are other ways of achieving the same result.

If you're happy with the results you're getting without it, then you don't need one.

-- 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.

[Paul Kierstead]

I am sorry, I do not understand your question. Are you asking what the purpose of a jointer is? I don't think so; I would imagine someone with said 20 years of build well knows the purpose of a jointer. Are you asking if it is right for you? How would we know? You haven't even listed your needs?

Or are you being "clever" and criticizing those who do use a jointer?

What is the purpose of your challenge?

PK

[Todd Fatheree]

More than likely the lumber store used a jointer to get that straight edge, so you're basically farming that out, which is why you don't need it for that. It sounds to me like you're not buying rough lumber but S3S, which is (or should be) ready to plane to your desired thickness and rip to width. People who truly buy rough lumber use either a hand plane or a jointer to get one of the faces flat and then either the hand plane again (more power to them) or a planer to bring it to a consistent thickness. So, if you're buying S3S, it's relatively easy to get around using the jointer.

todd

[Leon]

You do not.

If you were buying bowed, twisted, or warped wood it would help you flatten or straighten the wood. I have a jointer and it is probably going to disappear. Most the lumber that I buy is pretty good to start with as apparently is yours.

[loutent]

Hi Roger,

I consider myself an amateur woodworker with almost 20 years shop (hobby-type) time.

I convinced myself that I needed a jointer about 10 years ago while watching Norm. Set out to get the best deal I could and eventually bought a Delta 6-incher.

I swear that next to the table saw, I use it more than almost any other tool (ok, maybe the router is second!).

Anytime I want to shave off a 64th or 32th, guess what I plug in? Sure, you can do it with a hand plane or a TS (maybe), but for fast, accurate truing (sp?), I would not trade the jointer for anything.

Certainly, you can do without it, but it is a great piece of iron to have around when you need it.

After 20 years of working without one tho, I would say just keep on doing what you're doing if you're happy with the time & process you use. On the other hand, if you have to ask, maybe you do need one!

Happy woodworking!

Lou

[Unisaw A100]

I think he's somewhere between wanting to be a provocateur and seeking an enabler.

At least that's the way it read to me. He did a lousy job with it either way.

UA100, who hasn't used his jointer in a year or so but that's onna 'count of the motor is sitting on the floor...

[bridger]

jointers are bunk.

they don't really do anything. just another mysterious gadget invented to separate unwitting woodworkers from their hard earned cash....

[Ba r r y]

So, pick it up!

Barry

[Ba r r y]

My DJ-20 gives a much closer shave than anything at the grocery store.

Barry

[Bullwinkle J. Moose]

Obviously, someone of your caliber doesn't!

[David]

Being less of a woodorker than yourself, I use a jointer.

Humility apparently isn't your strong suit.

David

Roger M. wrote:

[Geoff]

Time is money. After a couple of years I think I've finally recouped my investment on the jointer. It definitely speeds things up.

In my experience, rough lumber with one side cut straight is never truly square to the face of the board. It may appear so when you are selecting the boards, but when you let it rest in your workshop you'll probably get a bit of movement. A jointer will make quick work out of re-straightening and re-squaring the boards. And if you need to cut larger stock to smaller width with a bandsaw, you are going to release some pressure in the stock which will surely make it move (depending on the species you're working with).

I use the jointer to generate a flat (albeit with circular cutter waves) edge, then remove any cup on the face while at the same time creating a square edge. Unfortunately you need to always calibrate your jointer to make sure it is square to the fence.

If I'm joining boards into a panel, I find that the jointer really isn't enough. It looks good, but there may be 0.01" or so gaps along the edge of the boards. However, these edges are square.

I then take the 2 boards to be joined together and clamp them (facing edges up) to the table. I use a long benchplane to smooth both edges together. This removes circular marks from the jointer blade and makes sure that the 2 edges match perfectly.

And forgive me, Norm, but if you do it this way you don't need to use biscuits or an $800 Lamello biscuit jointer.

[Nate Perkins]

"Roger M." wrote in news:gBlAd.161919$ [e-mail]:

You only need a jointer if you aren't satisfied that your boards are straight and square, without cup or twist.

[Ba r r y]

Right!

I carry a 6" combo square in my apron at all times, as I'm constantly using it. Checking the jointer takes 5 seconds, I don't bother if I'm face jointing.

If carrying the square dosen't suit your habits, why not buy a $4 drafting triangle and leave it at the machine?

Barry

[Unisaw A100]

But, it's heavy.

UA100

[Swingman]

Bingo on all counts. My payback was a bit quicker. I basically paid for a Powermatic 54a by milling free walnut 'scraps' from a sign shop into 3x3x36 leg blanks. For $11.75 b/f for S4S 3" walnut blanks, it didn't take long.

[igor]

[snip]

I s'pose I should not argue with success, but if the two boards have their (soon-to-be) facing sides up for planing together, how does that make sure that they match? Seems you would have mirror images in your result. Now, the mirrors may be perfect so that they are perfectly tight when put together. But if there is an error along the way, doing it your way _seems_ to raise the propsect of a compounded error -- i.e., take a little two much off along the way and when the edges face each other the gap will be twice the amount you took off. OTOH, if your technique is as good as your results suggest, then doing the two boards at once would seem to save time and effort. But, again, doing it _this way_ would not seem to help ensure a perfect match. My hunch is that _you_ would have a perfect match even if you did the boards one at a time.

Caveat: I say all this having used neither a jointer nor one of these high-f'luttin planes some of youse guys have. I'm just trying to follow along. -- Igor

[Swingman]

You're right, nothing is ever perfect (and the more expensive the wood, the less perfect it is, particularly when you're on the last piece). But, if done properly, the described method will give you "perfect enough" results than you would get by doing the edges one at a time without some stable, and repeatable reference, preferably perpendicular to the edge you're preparing.

Assuming the faces of the stock are parallel, the idea is to insure that the joined edges, if not precisely 90 degrees each, are at least 'complementary', in that they add up to 90 degrees.

IME when planing with this method, which is limited, it works best when the thickness of the two pieces clamped together is less than the width of blade doing the cutting, so that both edges are cut all the away across on the same stroke.

Actually, you don't even need to go out to the shop to see the principle in action. Grab a piece of paper and scissors and cut out two virtual tubafours. Lay them on top of each other and snip one end off with the scissors, either straight across, or at a slight angle. Now join the two snipped ends and they should match.

You can do the same thing on a jointer, and remove any small error in the fence being 90 degrees to the tables, by alternating good-face-in, good-face-out, when jointing for long grain edge to edge glue-ups.

[Ba r r y]

Get help!

Barry