Jointer advice needed.
I’m in need of your experienced advice, guys. I need to eliminate the very slight swirl marks left by a table saw, and a jointer seems to be the thing. I work mostly doing finish trim in homes, so I looked into something portable. Maybe I’m missing something, but only one unit came up in my searches, a Delta.
I take it that this is a bad idea! Are the stationary units really the only way to go??? Seems to me that there must be a lot of guys who would like a portable unit if it performed well. They figured out how to make tablesaws work as portables, why not the jointer?
So, what would the best unit be? The portable Delta? Or is it really the kiss of deathe? If so, what light stationary unit comes to mind??
Thanks for your time!
Jake
Replies
Just curious if you have something against delta, Ive always had great luck with their tools? As for the jointer I have never used the small delta, I have used a small craftsman, not sure if they still make it but I wouldnt recommend it anyway. My opinion of small jointers is you cant do much with them, if your only going to be trying plane down small pieces 2-4 feet they might work fine but anything longer then that and there not stable enough and hard to control becuase of the short bed. A smart guy I have worked with said never try to run a board more then 1 1/2 -2 times longer then the bed of the jointer. A good way to get rid of blade markings off 3/4 and wider stock is to use a planer. If you rip them a little wider then you need and you take several of them, put them on edge on and feed them through, plus you have a very accurate consistancy to the width your trying to get.
But thats just my opinion
I use a power hand planner made by Dewalt for edges and a Dewalt planner for faces.
If I had a full scale wood shop I would want a long bed joiner , but they arent portable IMO.
Tim Mooney
hey there apex. a trimmer friend of mine has the little delta and says it works fine for removing small imperfections on-site. yes, the fence is small an doesn't allow for long stock to be moved through. if the larger stock is inadequate for the task, he probably culls it or takes it back to his shop for jointing on the big machine.
i've had good luck with the delta tools that i've bought. plus, they're not bright yellow like dewalt, which seems to attract thieves. good luck.
Since you're not looking to actually true up the edge of the board, and you only want to clean up the marks left from the table saw blade, go with Tim's recommendation of a hand-held power planer.
I know of a trim guy that also uses one for sizing the depth for window jamb extensions as well. He installs the jamb extension so it's slightly proud of the adjacent wall, then power planes it to the perfect depth, dead-on flush with the wall surface. Works well for him.
Probrably much more than you're looking for but a Makita 2030 jointer planer combo is a nice machine. I don't believe Makita offers it in this country anymore but you may be able to find one used. Hitachi still offers something similar.
http://www.hitachi.com/Apps/hitachicom/content.jsp?page=Planers/details/P12RA%20Woodworking%20Tools.htm
if youre only using it to remove the saw marks and want something portable. Go to ebay and find an older stanley No7 jointer plane. One light pass and its cleaned up with that thin shaving. You could get by with a No5 as well. youll pay about 25-100 for stanely baileys.
No plug ins, no heavy machinery and no noise, just a whisper of a thin shaving with that sharp blade
True enough, lol.
I just use a large random orbital sander with 100 grit in it, and a smaller one with 120 on it, and finish with 150.
Joiners, by the way, will leave their own marks on the board, and for stain grade, is unacceptable.
I find sanders easer to use, less equipment to lug around, and better suited to remove milling marks of all kinds.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1927
I use the small Delta for trim work. I looked long and hard to find a better one but could not so I bought it. It's only 200 dollars now compared to 250 a while ago. It is a little difficult to use on longer peices but I have had perfect results with 1x up to 6' long. It is not a great machine but it is worth the money and works well within in its limits. It is faster than a sander.
Try using a Forrest Woodworker II Blade in your table saw. I think you will be pleasantly surprised."Don't take life too seriously, you are not getting out of it alive"
Buy a Forrest Blade for both your bench saw and your chop saw. I have a jointer and planer but the Forrest blade takes lots of their work away.
If I use a jointer for preparing pieces to be glued up for example I always make one more pass in the vice with a #8 hand tool, but with an excellent carbide blade it is already smooth enought to go straight to glue up.
By clamping the board you are trying to straighten to another straight board such as a 1 foot length of plywood the table saw will straighten your board with one pass that a jointer would take several passes to do the same job.
"If I use a jointer for preparing pieces to be glued up for example "
I havent heard this arguement on here , but Ive heard it on the job quite often.
Leaving the peice unshaved provides twice the bond surface .
I suppose it might go in to the same type as "to vent or not to vent " .
To plane or not to plane a glue surface.
Just thought I would throw that in there .
Tim Mooney
I ahd one of the portable deltas and it was great for what it was a small jointer. I jointed pieces up to 6' long with it and no probs just had to use a support on either end. I got rid of it when I moved into a bigger place that could handle a floor model. I sold it to a bud and hes happy with it. It is kinda loud though..
At Darkworks cut to size made to burn......Putty isnt a option