Ridgid jointer and planer

Tony,

I have the planer, it's highly rated. Should have bought the jointer too, but I saved 30 bucks by driving to pennsylvania... ;)

What was I thinking? ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Tony - I don't have either, but read next to no complaints about both. I know the wide stance jointer is a bit harder to mate to a mobile base, but it's a far cry from a show stopper.
 
I don't own either, but thanks to Grizz and Mark I've seen both in use. Grizz (Jim Capozzi) has the planer, workhorse machine does a fine job. Mark has the planer, and if I weren't buying Grizz's old craftsman so he can upgrade, It would be on my short list of tools to save up for.
 
I have the TP13000 and whatever the model of 6" jointer was a couple of years ago. I bought my planer new in box and I bought the jointer used, but like new. While neither is built with the fit and finish that I would expect from professional equipment, neither is sold as "pro" equipment. Both have performed exactly as I think they should and neither has caused any trouble. I have abused my planer by using it as a paint stripper for old boards, and as long as I sharpen the knives regularly it works well. I sharpen my own knives. For consumer use, and given the appropriate care, they should work well.

cheers

John
 
As a former WWing teacher I was subject to some of the finest Planers on the old time market, Olivers and Jay Faye & Egan each heavy duty and massive in construction. when I went to get one for myself I was weary of the new modern ones on the market. I thought Delta would be the way to go but was hearing a good deal about snipe and problems and then a friend showed me his Ridgid that he bough and told me he sold his Delta to get it. He had just finished planing down several hundred BdFt of White Oak he was using to build a Model A Truck body. I changed my plans and opted for the Rigdid based on the two extra blades and the free dust shoot and the stand included (along with the Lifetime warrantee)

I was impressed with the outcome, and still am every time I use it. Sinse I made my purchase some 3-4 years ago, I have run several THOUSAND feet of lumber through with no problems. No Snipe and aside from my carelessness few blade nicks. I do need new blades as they are dulling but I am too cheap and too lazy to purchase the change out is so simple even I can master in seconds, much easier than most others I have witnessed.

A good buy on the Planer and if the Joiner is any where close, I would consider it as well (except I have two old joiners and want to sell one. )

I offer thumbs up....:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
I don't own either, but thanks to Grizz and Mark I've seen both in use. Grizz (Jim Capozzi) has the planer, workhorse machine does a fine job. Mark has the planer, and if I weren't buying Grizz's old craftsman so he can upgrade, It would be on my short list of tools to save up for.

Contrary to Ned's typing, I have the jointer. I'm quite happy with it. I suspect this is true of all cast iron bedded jointers and not just mine, but you need to keep on top of waxing it - gets a little interesting to pass wood through it if the wax wears off. I haven't gone nuts with dial indicators or anything, but it is easy to adjust the fence both laterally and for angled edge jointing. The pivot pin for the guard is kind of a pain to remove and reinstall, but I can't imagine a way to have it set up to be less a pain and still suitable for its purpose. You only take the guard off for rabbets or jointing wider than 6" boards.

I've had the occasion to use the jointer for rabbets and for angled edge jointing. Both of these operations went well, except that 1 out of 8 rabbets I did for my cherry floor thresholds was difficult to push and I don't know why. I don't think this was a machine issue but some sort of operator issue.

Speaking of rabbetting, the jointer has a stop that requires you to pull out a knob to allow for greater than 1/8" depth of cut. Unfortunately, the machine does not have a stop to prevent you from leaving it at 1/4" depth of cut after making a rabbet and forgetting to check cut depth the next time you're trying to flatten a board. :doh: Not sure any jointer on the market has this feature though. Work too hard to prevent operator stupidity and you wind up with headless hammers missing a handle too. :rofl:

I haven't used other jointers to compare to, but one of my buddies in the area started on this model (before upgrading to an 8" unit) and this seems to be a very popular first jointer for folks. I put mine on a custom mobile base together with my drill press, but I have a kind of unique shop set up. If you have a part wall in your shop, you can orient the jointer like the take-off deck of an aircraft carrier and buy yourself a little extra space / not have to move stuff out of the way of the jointer path for longer than expected boards.

Keep up with the DC when using this guy. The port tends to clog if you decide to not run the DC for some odd reason like the bag fell off and you can't be bothered to put it back on.

Hope this helps!
 
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My WW Buddy has all but two of his WW tools set up in MY shop and among them is a 6" Rigid Jointer that I have used many times, and I can find NO Fault with it's operation or the results it gets. It has Medium length beds, but I have jointed quite a few pieces 6' long with no problems. Pricewise I feel it is a Good Value. :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
I have the TP1300 and [...] I sharpen my own knives.

I'd be mighty interested to learn your method. I just got my TP1300 back from a neighbor who went through 3+ sets of blades over a period of months, converting a big stack of old wall boards for use in various projects around his house. He has offered to replace the original 2 sets of blades and throw in another one as a "Thank You" (I know, I know ... I'm a softie). If it is truly possible to sharpen the blades a few times I would probably never need to buy another set ... especially if I end up with 6 sets!
 
Hi Kerry,

I also do the odd sharpening job for old customers, so I've got a couple of special grinders. The one I use for planer and jointer knives is this one:

http://grizzly.com/products/Universal-Knife-Grinder/G2790

except I bought mine at Busy Bee Tools here in Canada. It does the straight knives on my planer and jointer as well as some other jobs. It's not a top quality unit, and had a couple of peculiarities, but once I learned how to deal with those it proved to be a very usable grinder.

They sell on sale for around $175-$200 so for the average person it's still way cheaper and easier just to send the knives out to a commercial service for sharpening.

cheers

John
 
i have the jointer. i like it just fine

newest issue of wood magazine gave it "best value" award

gotta agree about the dust collection, i modified the outlet to fit my 2-1/2" shop vac hose and it works fine but if you dont run something there the "tube" tends to get clogged up pretty quick. i imagine its like that with all jointers though not just a ridgid deal
 
I have the Jointer (JP610), and I have no complaints with it. My only annoyance is with HD for not carrying the replacement knives for it. They will however special order them in for you, at the pro desk.

I put it on the basic model HTC mobile base, that I nabbed on clearance from HD for $10.

I have it hooked up to my seperator and then DC, which keeps it from clogging up with chips.


While I don't have the Ridgid planer, I have heard good things about it.
 
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