Featherboard on Jointer?

[Homer Faucett]

I don't run featherboards on a jointer.
Don't see a need.
#1, my question is, for you that want to run one, if you have a featherboard on the top edge of narrow board, where is the room for your hands to push the wood through?

You push on the infeed side of the wood. The featherboard is on the outfeed side of the board. It works a lot like a router table featherboard setup.

[Steve Clardy]

You push on the infeed side of the wood. The featherboard is on the outfeed side of the board. It works a lot like a router table featherboard setup.

I run the feather board over the bit on a router table.
Guess that would work on a jointer, feather board on the outfeed.
But seems like a pain to me

[Jim Becker]

I agree with you Jim, and they way you describe it is what I do, but I'd still like the pressure against the fence when edging a taller board, it just makes it easier for me, the fence on the green meanie is not that tall.

Stu, now that's an application that makes sense...

[Jon Farley]

Jim, I don't understand why a featherboard "isn't a great idea" based upon your post. Sure, the featherboard will be attached to the fence, and over the outfeed side of the table. That way, you have constant downward pressure (and you can adjust the pressure pretty easily) at the exact same point. It seems to me that would make your jointing more consistent.

After all, if featherboards aren't a good idea for jointers, why are they used so often for router tables? They both operate pretty similarly, and you can easily use a router table to edge joint.

If you have a featherboard, it seems to me that you aren't moving two sets of hands on either side of a cutter. In my mind, that improves safety.

Further, you can concentrate on keeping the feed speed consistent, which I would think would also improve your results.

Just my thoughts.

Jointers and router tables are totally different in this regard. "Constant downward pressure" is not desirable when face jointing a board. With most other machines (like a router table) it is, but not with a jointer. With a jointer, the idea is to take one face of a rough board, which almost always has some degree of warping, and making it flat. To achieve true flatness, the key is to just guide the board across the jointer beds with as little pressure as possible, and what pressure is applied should be put on the 'head' of the board, which is the first part to pass over the knives, and essentially just dragging the rest of the board across the knives, and letting them take off the "high spots." Of course the process is repeated over and over again until there are no high spots left and you are left with one flat side - next step: planer. By attempting to apply downward pressure, you will diminish the effectiveness of the jointer, which will leave you with smoothly faced, yet still warped board. This is especially true on long boards. The same effect occurs if you try to send a rough board though the planer as a first step. Note: this does not apply when edge jointing.

Downward pressure is good with router table because you are already using a finished (i.e. squared, flat) board that needs to be pushed down and sideways against the squared fence and table in order to to get a consistent cut.

The reason I feel qualified to give this response is because for the longest time when I got my first jointer I did things the wrong way. When I finally figured out the right technique it made a world of difference in the quailty of my finished projects.

[Homer Faucett]

So, Jon, let me see if I understand . . . you don't put downward or sideways pressure on the outfeed side of the board when you are jointing your board? How do you keep the board in contact with the table, then?

I could understand why you wouldn't want to put pressure over the cutter head, but i'm not sure I understand why you don't want to put pressure on the outfeed side.

It seems to me that is what you do with your hands already.

Applying costant downward pressure to a board when jointing does not turn a jointer into a planer, otherwise all jointers would become planers when we placed our hands on the wood. The important part seems to me to be where the pressure is applied to the wood, and how much.

[Jon Farley]

[quote=Homer Faucett]So, Jon, let me see if I understand . . . you don't put downward or sideways pressure on the outfeed side of the board when you are jointing your board? How do you keep the board in contact with the table, then?

Gravity takes care of this for you.

If you 'assist' the gravitational force by applying downward pressure, you are in effect 'squishing' the board's defects onto the table (even just if on the outfeed side), thus onto the cutterhead. When the pressure is released, the board will 'spring' back into it's warped form, even though it might appear flat because the face is smooth.

Again this process I'm talking about only applies to face jointing a board, not to edge jointing, which is a whole other ball of wax, sort of.

I know it might seem hard to understand (it's a hard thing to explain), but in practice it is really quite simple.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I have to agree with what John is saying here, the amount of pressure that you would apply to the board with your hands, is very little, you do not want to have the board bend, or spring, or deflect in any way, this cancels out the whole point of using a jointer.

It is king of a "Feel" thing that you have to do, once I'd used the jointer for some time, I found that the "Touch" needed just came to me.

Cheers!

[Jim Becker]

To clarify...and I totally agree with Jon...there is a "fine line" between enough "pressure" to keep the board on the outfeed table and too much "pressure that causes deflection. It's something you learn to do by feel. A feather board is too static in this respect as every board is different and it changes with every pass. (I'm speaking about face jointing / flattening here)

[Keith Barkhau]

I think all of this has already been said, but I'm going to ditto some of the earlier posts....

I have to agree with Jim, Stu and others that you are probably better off using your hands (with push blocks of course). For one, there is a transfer of your downward force from being applied more to the infeed side to more on the outfeed side that happens as the length of the board moves across the jointer, and second you are really only applying enough force to keep the board flush with the fence and generate enough friction between your pads and the board to allow you to push it forward. I have found this "feel" to be especially important when face jointing since the last thing I want to do is push my board hard enough to flatten the bow I am trying to joint out.

With all that said I do have a set of grip-tites and have used them on my jointer, but only as someone mentioned above when edge jointing a wide board in order to help me keep it flush to the fence. I would be concerned that if one used them for anything more than very light downward pressure that they would begin to work like the pinch rollers on a planer.

Just me $0.02's worth....

[Homer Faucett]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I wanted to make good on my promise to Stu with the pics, so here is the less than spectacular jointer, the rough stock, and part of it faced two sides.

1960's Sears-Simpson Craftsman Jointer

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...1&d=1139036102

Rough sawn Oak
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...1&d=1139036102

Boards edge and face Jointed
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...1&d=1139036102

[Norman Hitt]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I wanted to make good on my promise to Stu with the pics, so here is the less than spectacular jointer, the rough stock, and part of it faced two sides.

1960's Sears-Simpson Craftsman Jointer



Rough sawn Oak


Boards edge and face Jointed

Sumpin' must have gone wrong........I can't get the pics to open.

[Homer Faucett]

Okay, I've been fiddling around with this thing, and I think you should be able to see the pics below. The original post won't edit properly, and the picture upload format is not very user friendly compared to other php boards I have used. This is my last try . . .

Craftsman jointer
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...1&d=1139036102

Rough Sawn Oak

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...0&d=1139036574

Jointed boards

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...1&d=1139036102

[Dev Emch]

Jointers and router tables are totally different in this regard. "Constant downward pressure" is not desirable when face jointing a board. With most other machines (like a router table) it is, but not with a jointer. With a jointer, the idea is to take one face of a rough board, which almost always has some degree of warping, and making it flat. To achieve true flatness, the key is to just guide the board across the jointer beds with as little pressure as possible, and what pressure is applied should be put on the 'head' of the board, which is the first part to pass over the knives, and essentially just dragging the rest of the board across the knives, and letting them take off the "high spots." Of course the process is repeated over and over again until there are no high spots left and you are left with one flat side - next step: planer. By attempting to apply downward pressure, you will diminish the effectiveness of the jointer, which will leave you with smoothly faced, yet still warped board. This is especially true on long boards. The same effect occurs if you try to send a rough board though the planer as a first step. Note: this does not apply when edge jointing.

Downward pressure is good with router table because you are already using a finished (i.e. squared, flat) board that needs to be pushed down and sideways against the squared fence and table in order to to get a consistent cut.

The reason I feel qualified to give this response is because for the longest time when I got my first jointer I did things the wrong way. When I finally figured out the right technique it made a world of difference in the quailty of my finished projects.

Jointers like the T-54 Martin and the Hofmann both have provisions for using a power feeder. Does a power feeder not put downward pressure on the board just aft of the cutter head?

[Jon Farley]

Jointers like the T-54 Martin and the Hofmann both have provisions for using a power feeder. Does a power feeder not put downward pressure on the board just aft of the cutter head?

It sure does, and I have heard of people using power feeders on a jointer, but I stand by my assertion that as little downward pressure as possible will yield better and more consistent results over the long run.