Joint Facing Rough Lumber

[Larry Edgerton]

Hmm, that would be better than licking or spitting on my fingers, I suppose. Some woods taste pretty good actually but, on the other hand, some don't.

Ha! I came up with that after doing a project with a particularly nasty tasting species!

John, I like my bare hands on the wood, but if I am just putting stock away in large volumes I use motocross gloves. I had to give up dirt bikes a couple of years ago and had all these gloves. Turns out they are the perfect glove, by nature good grip, tight fitting, can still feel the wood/machine, pretty tough, and can be bought relitively cheap on clearance. I am losing my grip [no puns here please] and gloves help me do more work in a day.

[Ronald Blue]

Get a set of these from Peach Tree. They work pretty well. http://www.ptreeusa.com/grr-ripperinfo.htm

[David Nelson1]

I brushed the dust off the blades and they looked fine. Of course, not believing my own aging eyes, I slide a piece of sheet paper over the blades. Sheared it with no effort. 4 or 5 coats of more coats of wax made one heck of a difference. I thought it felt pretty slick to start with, heck I wouldn't want to walk on it now.

[Jim Becker]

This may not be for anyone but me, but I have never used push blocks, pads, whatever for face jointing rough lumber. I either use my bare hands or wear gloves if the wood is so rough that it'll give me splinters. I don't know how you can control a 6 foot long, 10" wide, 2" thick board any other way. I religously use the guard so the blades are never exposed when wood is going through.

Similar for me, too. And...one should not be "pushing down" very hard on the lumber as you don't want to flatten it out with pressure. You want the knives to shave off the high spots.

That said, the closer one gets to a board having a flat face, the harder it gets to move, particularly on a jointer that has a "smooth" surface. That's why many wider machines have a Blanchard type grind on the surfaces as it reduces the natural "suction" that normally occurs between a smooth iron top and a smooth piece of freshly shaved lumber.

[Steve Griffin]

I'm concerned some beginners might be confused by the "don't push down too hard" comments.

You should only being pushing down on the outfeed table, and only where the board has been cut by the knives. Push as down as hard as you like, it won't hurt a thing.

But if the board face or edge was so warped that the knives don't even touch a section, then for that part of the board the proper amount of down pressure is as close zero as you can. There is no need for any down pressure other than what you need to move the board.

Also, I'm not a "multiple light pass" kind of guy. For some reason I get better results with one, or maybe two deep passes.

-Steve

[Jim Matthews]

I'm contemplating similar lengths running across my jointer, and wonder about the relative level of your floor.

Boards this large obey the call of gravity... if the infeed side of the floor (and therefore table) is lower than the outfeed side, you're fighting just to hold the board down.

What does your spirit level say?

jim
wpt, ma

[David Nelson1]

Morning Jim,

I don't think you have much to fret about. I placed the roller stands not to be level with infeed and outfeed tables , but more to counter the sag you mentioned. I set the stand about 1/4-1/2 in. below the feed tables. I was killing myself due to the need of additional layers of wax and excreting way to much down pressure. As mentioned earlier it glides very well now till its flat then its a bit rougher, but still manageable. BTW without the stands the jointer wants to tip over. Not exactly the outcome I was thinking of. If I continue to find myself in this position I need to get a larger machine or go Neander.

I'm contemplating similar lengths running across my jointer, and wonder about the relative level of your floor.

Boards this large obey the call of gravity... if the infeed side of the floor (and therefore table) is lower than the outfeed side, you're fighting just to hold the board down.

What does your spirit level say?

jim
wpt, ma

[Chris Fournier]

It's tough and dangerous when your jointer can be tipped! I'd highly recommend that you fasten it to the floor somehow; it can be a reversable bolt and anchor type setup. Once your jointer is set up nice and solid you can develop your technique.

The best way to set up knives is with a dial indicator and shop made base indicating off of the outfeed table. I provided a drawing in a previous thread that will be archived. Blades squirm when tightened and the magnet based jigs are useless and a waste of your money. Sharp knives will make your life at the jointer far easier!

Very rarely do I use any push sticks or gripper thingies while jointing, they get in the way and are not easy to manipulate. The jointer is quite safe as long as you don't pass your hands over the cutterhead - walk the board over the jointer with your hands avoiding the cutterhead area. Sounds easy but it can take some practice. On 6' stock I like to get set up at the back of the board with my right hand and use my left hand half way up to push the board down on the table; once I've got a good 12" of board onto the outfeed table I begin the "walk".

I would agree with the poster that didn't really like multiple passes at small settings. If your board has much twist it is all to easy to pass the board over at a different twist each time and you are chasing your tail. What's the right setting then? It depends... Start at 1/16" and experiment.

With the right technique and a properly secured machine it's no big deal to handle 10' to 12' stock on the jointer (well maybe not 16/4!), it just takes time to get there.

[Jerry Olexa]

Waxing the table is VERY important and will help immensely

[ron ogle]

wax, sharp cutters and glue sandpaper to old paddles.

[David Nelson1]

hmmmm sandpaper, imagine that. Good tip!!!

[Russell Sansom]

You've gotten a ton of good advice. Sometimes using an assistant on an awkward board is the prudent thing to do. For long boards it's almost a necessity. I have to admit, I fantasize about a power feeder. How come that inexpensive ( well, sort of... ) yellow lunch box planer has one built in and my jointer doesn't?

I have to strongly second what Chris said: Use a dial indicator for setting knives. Many people get by with other methods, like finding top dead center with a ruler or a magnetic holder. But finding TDC is only half the challenge. It's amazing how much those knives move when you tighten the cave-man-era set screws. You tighten the screw and find that the ruler doesn't catch for the 1/8" of travel it did before you tightened them, but now 1/4". Then you have to loosen the set screws and try again. It can take an hour of fiddling, depending on how much cam action the screws inflict on the knives ( I have heard of people radiusing and polishing the set screw tips to minimize this effect ). In the end there's no feedback to tell you how far they're off. And if you're like me, after an hour any semblance to close is good enough. The DI is the simplest and easiest way to do it by a long shot. And you can see exactly how much cam action each of the...what...15 set screws on an 8" jointer throws the knife off.
I recently ran across a UTUBE video of somebody adjusting his powermatic jointer using a DI. Sorry I don't have a link at my fingertips. It takes only about 30 seconds to see the DI light.

[Peter Quinn]

In the first post you said something like "no matter how hard I push down...". Well, don't push DOWN that hard. You need just enough down pressure to keep things moving forward, and most of that on the out feed as soon as possible. I see guys pushing down like they were trying to rub the wood flat on a stone, but that is not necessary. If the knives are truly sharp and the tables are now waxed like a surf board, check the alignment of the knives with the out feed table. If the out feed table is a little high it can feel like you are pushing the wood up hill which makes for tough going. Another problem I've seen is having one or two knives lower then the others sn you don't really have three doing the cutting. If one knife is even a bit proud or low, or if they weren't jointed when sharpened so the middles don't really cut it can make for very hard jointing.

[David Nelson1]

Morning Peter, I have to agree with everyting you have mentioned. The machine is sharp and set up correctly, checked with a dial indicator. I feel that a majority of my problem was forgetting the basic technique and my lack of experience. I put a few more coats of wax down Friday evening and Saturday morning. It made a world of difference. Jointed a more appropiate length board, that effort went without a hitch. Even the 8 footers where 100% easier to joint. Thanks for the heads up.

[Jim Matthews]

I'm more frequently jointing small boards on my portable.

Larger stuff can apply significant force and induce flex in stamped steel tables.

I long for one of those "Aircraft carrier" 20" jointers I see at the Woodworking schools, but they take up more space (plus the cash requirement) than my car.

I think that once your jointer is bolted down, a prop under each table might help.
Given that you're hogging off maybe 1/16" max, adding another 1/32" from table flex or other misalignment could tax your motor beyond capacity.

If this thing isn't bolted down, it will tip over, and it will happen when there's no one to catch your best board.
DAMHIKT