Thinking about my next tool purchase.

tod evans said:

please save me the effort of one-fingerin` out all the cyber ink and read here for my take on jointers
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=30519

thanks, tod

Click to expand...

I read the other thread, Tod, but I'm ready to chuck the jointer. I worked for an embarrassingly high number of shops in a period of several years. I was laid off, fired, quit, was re-hired(some of these more than once). My point is that I've seen the inside of a lot of pro workshops. 4 out of 6 had jointers -big'uns. 3 of 6 had both jointer and sliding panel saw. The 2 shops that didn't have a jointer were A/ doing nothing but plastic laminate on K3 board and B/ building repro pine furniture from S4S stock which was run through a dual drum sander after glue-up.

[sorry, Don - you've been hijacked in at least twice, so far]

I often put a straight edge on using the sliding carriage prior to jointing one face and then thickness planing. Then the board would be ripped to final width. There might be an additional step or 2 (edge jointing)

I understand your method and see how it can get you a finished product quicker. You're obviously still in business, so you must be doing something right

I think most of us working in solids are better off sticking with "4 square". I'm tending more toward hand tools in recent years and square is one of the rocks I lean on to make things go together as planned. Jointing, whether with hand plane or on a big hunk 'o arn creates reference surfaces which are the basis for most of the joinery we do. (Yacht joiners are one obvious exception to this.)

Don, buy the jointer ! The shaper for me has the highest sphincter factor of any machine in the shop. I was the go-to guy for running crown moulding in the shop where I worked the longest - I never felt entirely at ease with it. Setups have to be spot on and you have to create a zone of safety around the shaper - especially when doing climb cut. And I had a heavy duty power feeder to help me out. I never saw a shaper kickback and I hope I never do.