Help Using Jointer - Newbie Questions

[Andy Pedler]

Hi all, I've been a lurker here for quite a while and have learned a lot from reading everyone's posts. Hopefully somebody can help me out with some very basic questions I have. Sorry if these are remedial questions, but I've never had any training in ww'ing so everything is new.

I recently bought the nice little "Tradesman" 6" jointer from the big L to play with (I've never used one before; it was a xmas present from my wife; she suggested I find something to play with since she had no idea what to get! She's awesome!). So I've been playing around with this thing a little bit and have searched on the web and read a few articles about tuning the jointer and using it, etc. I cut some maple scrap boards down to 3" wide strips and tried to flatten them since they were a little cupped. They started out about 3/4" thick.

When I put the concave side down, I was able to flatten that side in a few passes and it looked really good. I followed the instructions I'd found different places of applying most of the push block pressure to the piece on the infeed table and less pressure to the side on the outfeed table. First off, is that the right thing to do? It made sense at the time and the results were decent.

Anyway, then I tried to flatten the convex side. Suffice it to say that I didn't have much luck there. Is that even possible with this jointer? Am I expecting too much from this tool? Or is there some technique that I need to try to get it to work?

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm having fun playing with the new toy; I just wish I knew more about what it can do for me. Thanks in advance!

ap

[Dan Stuewe]

Andy, you've come to the right place for these types of questions. You won't find a better group of woodworkers ready to spend more of you money!

As for your problem, you've basically come across the problem of what comes first, the jointer or the planer? The jointer is great at getting that concave side flat since you are starting off with two points on the bed of the jointer. But when you get to the convex side, you're rolling all over the place. That is where the planer comes in, it takes care of that convex side since the nice flat formally concave side slides down the planer bed. So the electron burning answer is to get your jointer a mate and pick up a power planer. Or you can go crazy and do it by hand, but I'll let other with more skill and knowledge handle that.

Good luck!

[Ted Shrader]

Andy -

You are flattening the correct side - the concave one. The same also applies when you get ready to do an edge. Pick the bowed side that is concave. Put it against the infeed table with the grain running "away" from the cut (don't cut against the grain) and the newly flattened side against the fence.

Feeding - I generally use moderate pressure on the infeed side and then shift the pressure to the outfeed table after enough of the board is on the outfeed side to be stable.

Even if you were able to get the convex side flat with the jointer, the two faces would not be parallel and most likely, in my case anyway, tapered. The jointer just makes two faces of the board flat and at right angles to each other. (Unless you set the fence to a different angle.)

As far as the concave side of the board goes. . . . . . That is what a planer is for. The newly flattened side (previously concave) is the reference for the planer uses to take off wood from the convex side. The board then ends up flat. Continue feeding it through the planer until it is at desired thickness. You could use a hand plane to flatten this side, but you could also use it to flatten the other side too.

Regards,
Ted

[Andy Pedler]

Thanks guys! Now I feel a little bit better. Hmmmm...the next question is how to convince my wife that a planer is a critically important investment.

- ap

[Tim Morton]

the next question is how to convince my wife that a planer is a critically important investment.

Welcome to the rest of your life!!!! Just build her a cutting board that is flat on one side and rounded on the other....after awhile she will get tired of picking tomato's off the floor and ask you if there is a tool that can allow you to flatten BOTH sides.

[John Miliunas]

Thanks guys! Now I feel a little bit better. Hmmmm...the next question is how to convince my wife that a planer is a critically important investment.

- ap

Welcome to the Creek, Andy! Yup, this be de place for WW support! Hope you enjoy your stay!

Now, as to the issue at hand. Oh, it sounds like you've got the jointing end of it down pretty well (Ted really has included good, basic instructions for that end of things!), we need to work on your bride and that planer! Relatively easy, actually; Show her pricing on S4S boards! IF you can even find them in the flavor of wood you like! Milling your own (jointing, then planing), opens up many options to you, otherwise not easily available. Plus, it's the excitement of discovering some really awesome stuff from underneath what is often ratty looking coverings! Good luck!

[Carl Eyman]

My most frequent use of the jointer is to make an edge straight so a board can be glued up in a panel for a table top, for example. I must have had my jointer four years before I had a planer. This was back before lunch box planers came along. I had to go to a zillion auctions before I could find a planer I could afford. So; your next purchase may not necessarily be a planer. Do you have a table saw? Either that or a good bandsaw may be your next logical move.

[Dave Moran]

Andy, Ted gave you very good information, the only thing I do different is after truing one face, I use the tablesaw to true an edge. Put the true face down and rip an edge which is now 90° to the face. Your real test comes after you change your blades

[Dan Stuewe]

Andy, Ted gave you very good information, the only thing I do different is after truing one face, I use the tablesaw to true an edge. Put the true face down and rip an edge which is now 90° to the face. Your real test comes after you change your blades

Dave, are you assuming that one edge is already jointed? When using the table saw to rip a board, one true edge should be against the fence. Either the board's egde made true on your jointer (or the lumber yard's jointer). Or use a special jig to hold the board and run the jig edge against the fence. Either way, I don't think it is safe to run an uneven edge along a fence when using a stiff/wide/steel circular saw blade.

Does this make sense?

[Jim Becker]

Regarding "pressure" in the context of using a jointer and holding the work down during the pass, it's important to use the MINIMUM amount of pressure necessary to allow you to move the board through the cut. You do not want to compress the board in any way as that defeats the purpose of the machine...which is to shave off the "high spots" so that the face or edge becomes perfectly flat. In most cases, it's best to concentrate that little bit of pressure on the outfeed side once enough of the board is through the cut to do so. The reason is that the portions that have been "shaved" are there and "should" be flat on the table at that point.

[Dave Moran]

Dave, are you assuming that one edge is already jointed? When using the table saw to rip a board, one true edge should be against the fence. Either the board's egde made true on your jointer (or the lumber yard's jointer). Or use a special jig to hold the board and run the jig edge against the fence. Either way, I don't think it is safe to run an uneven edge along a fence when using a stiff/wide/steel circular saw blade.

Does this make sense?

Hi Dan, yes perfect sense, I use a jig with clamps to give a true edge. The advantage is you can chose the angle to use so that you get grain going the way you want. Glad you added that for Andy, I should have

[Andy Pedler]

Thanks again for all the advice!

My "shop", such as it is, consists almost exclusively of aging machines that I've adopted from family members who didn't want them. An old Dewalt 8" table saw that is good for the most basic cuts and a sturdy looking but old 14" band saw that I'm in the process of refurbishing hoping it will work. The new tools are a PC router in a benchtop table and a Delta 12" miter saw (that was the easiest to justify to LOML that I needed since we were doing some remodeling and it made replacing all the mouldings much easier), and now the jointer. Tune back in around fathers day for an update on a planer.

Thanks again!

ap