What's the Best Long Bed Jointer, old or new?

[Steven Woodward]

Ben, you seem to have settled on 8 inch jointers. A good choice in my experience.

I recommend:
1) Helical Segmented cutter head. I like the Byrd Shelix because it is good quality and replacement blades are lower cost than others
2) Parallelogram table mechanism. Found this keeps tables co-planer without adjustment over 30 years of use on my Makita 2020 jointer
3) Long bed, for reasons you mention.

The Powermatic 60HH satisfies all of the above.

Here is the USA price of a pack of 10 replacement carbide cutters for various manufacturers heads:
These may not be the best price for each , but it does show quite a range.

$35 - Byrd Shelix (I think this is standard on Powermatic with helical head)
$50 - Grizzly
$60 - Laguna
$100 - Rikon

Hi All,

I just finished up a table top that required a lot of 8-9' joints and realize that a longer jointer bed would've helped quite a bit. I ended up finishing each of the panels off with a #7 hand plane, which I would've done a bit of anyway, but I do believe a longer and more precise jointer would've taken a good amount of the work out of it.

So, I may think about upgrading to a longer jointer, but was curious to hear feedback from others about what jointer models, new and old, take the cake for a longer bed with high quality and precision. I'm thinking mostly about the 8" variety at the moment, but am open to other options as well. The ability to upgrade to a helical/spherical cutterhead someday would be a bonus, but not a dealbreaker.

Some of the candidates I've found so far...
- Delta DJ-20 8" Jointer with 77" bed
- Powermatic 60 & 60HH 8" Jointer with 73" bed
- Grizzly G0495X 8" with 83" bed

Thanks for your tips and recommendations!

Ben S.

[Warren Lake]

Aldinger, Bauerle, Crescent, Dankert, Hoffman, Kolle, Martin, Newman, Panhans, Porter, Preston , Robinson, SCM Invincible, Schwabadessen, Sicma, Wadkin, Yates, and more

[Jared Sankovich]

You forgot about the Newman #60, but otherwise I'd agree.

Newman was omitted due to rarity but you are correct in that quality was outstanding. Maybe the heaviest castings although Porter used better bearings and had an adjustable yoke. I don't remember if Newman had that. The old 12" PM jointers were made in Europe and can be a bargain . Dave

Certainly rare compared to the others mentioned, but they seem to be more often priced considerably lower than say a Northfield. The yoke is separate one peice with integral dust chute like the porter. Iirc there is no claim to adjustability with the Newman yoke though.

I'd think griggio, casadei, casolin or SAC would on the list as well.

[Warren Lake]

most of the machines I listed are heavier, I left Griggio out even though I have one 1,600 lbs but other stuff there all looks heavier build

[Richard Coers]

Vintage Wadkin, purely for the sex appeal!

[Andrew Hughes]

I already own the finest jointer ever made. The best the op can do is second place.🙂
I remember when Jared picked up the The Newman 60. I admit I was jelly

[Alex Zeller]

More information would be helpful. Do you have access to 3 phase power? Do you have a budget? Do you mind working on a used tool? Where's it going, as in is this a basement shop with a narrow entrance? Do you have a budget? As for what you listed I have a PJ-882HH (which is about the size of the Grizzly you listed). Since I move it around my shop old classic iron was limited to lighter machines, not the good massive chunks of iron that I would love to have. Also few old machines come up for sale around here.

My Powermatic is a pretty good jointer. The fence and tables are very flat (less than .0015" over a 24" span). The parallelogram adjustments work very well making setting it up and fine tuning easy. About the only complaint I have is the fence has a plastic insert where the cutter head is. It's not exactly flush to the fence so when jointing the face of a board if the edge against the fence has a curve it'll can catch. It's minor but for my technique for jointing it does bother me. Since it's right at the cutter head so the board is just starting to be fed into the cutter I'm not putting much down pressure on the board face yet. So trying to slide the board away from the fence just as I'm about to start getting into a rhythm bothered me enough to shim it flush.

[Warren Lake]

Andrew what if he finds the same kind you have ?

Thats pretty nice and might sound odd what looks interesting to me is that the area for your feet are is completely open. My SCM Combo is restricted as there is a shaper there. Given a choice I like less bulk where your feet are and some do take that into account in the shape of the base.

[Jim Becker]

One of the advantages of going with big/long old iron is that it will also likely be wide, too. That's nice for flattening material.

[Andrew Hughes]

Andrew what if he finds the same kind you have ?

Thats pretty nice and might sound odd what looks interesting to me is that the area for your feet are is completely open. My SCM Combo is restricted as there is a shaper there. Given a choice I like less bulk where your feet are and some do take that into account in the shape of the base.

Its possibly he could find one. Or maybe one would find him the question is will he be ready. The first time one stands in the presence of majestic old arn it can be intimidating.
Even with the help of owwm there’s still a lot to figure out alone.
The open bridge design is my favorite too. Most of the time I’m facing short easy to manage boards. I sit in a chair and tuck my feet underneath the open space.
Passing boards left to right hardly any effort.

[Warren Lake]

you lost me there, you sit when you use a jointer? Thats new to me.

passing left to right you mean right to left?

what width and bed length is that machine. Did they have a number of different models or just one? What about weight. Curious now.

[Andrew Hughes]

Opps your right I meant from right to left. The length from end to end 99 inches Long. A 12 inch wide head with a 5inch cutting circle.
166 bd with direct drive motor. The head spins at 3400 rpm so it’s not very loud in fact one of the most quietest jointer made. The big cutting circle makes up for the lower RpMs.
I can easily handle 5 ft boards just sitting in my chair. The thicker boards are easier to handle because the weight is enough to keep it down.

[Warren Lake]

thanks for explaining. Also I looked and i had some info saved on them even printed stuff saved of different models with all dimensions and weight I think as well. Its interesting about head size and also weight of all the machine. For sure I like the sound of the SCM over the general. The general howls compared to the SCM, Its quieter and its a nice hum. Older machine with some weight.

A jointer like yours sold recently, I think it was from a school, it looked in good condition. It wasn't beat up and looked like a good cleaning and it would be very nice. I cant quite remember what it sold for. It was good value. What a nice piece of history.

If you are jointing mostly shorter boards do you use just your hands or any type of push device or both. When im smart I have one push thing I like because its comfortable to use, maybe because its like a hand plane handle, nice old piece of honduras mahogany.

[Patrick Kane]

I once read the rule of thumb with jointers is you can expect accurate results on work pieces that are 2x the length of your infeed table. In other words, your infeed table is 36" long, so you should expect excellent results on workpieces 72" or less--assuming your jointer is calibrated properly. Of course operator skill and auxiliary setup can push a machine to exceed its limitations, but I think you need to find the right machine to meet your expectations. I dont work for a machine manufacturer, but i assume 8" jointers were not designed for the door manufacturing industry. Id be surprised if they even intended the 8" line to be used by furniture makers. That level of machine seems to cater to the cabinet maker's needs and expectations. Like others mentioned, i think the 12" size class is standard for furniture makers and door manufacturers.

I have owned a rigid 6", Delta DJ20 8", Grizzly 12", and Griggio 500mm for several years each, and can tell you there is not much size difference between a 8" machine and a 12" machine, but the difference in build quality and performance is immense. I just edge jointed several 16-18" wide 8/4 walnut slabs that were 8.5' long yesterday prior to gluing them into my sister's future table top. No infeed/outfeed support, no fussing, and excellent results. That is a function the machine was designed to handle, and i spent 6-8 hours calibrating the beds to perfection.

[Warren Lake]

There is no reason not to have support in and out whatever you need and a rule based on no support is rules are made to be broken. Then who made the rule, salesman, manufacturer. cabinetmaker?

Glad ive never heard that before or it would have stopped me from jointing long stock. The biggest reason the big jointer here is better than the general is the mass the machine has and what comes along with that package (larger cutter head and )

I could have still made a living on the 8" general. I didnt use wide boards or live edge stuff. Usually widths no more than approx 7" for table tops and more likely 6.5" or so as the max. That all works fine on an 8" jointer. I dont remember any one or not many if anyone making large board stuff back when I started. it wasnt a thing.