Woodworkers and Wood Shops

[mtnbkr]

I wouldn’t buy a jointer in your position. Honestly if you don’t have a Sawstop cabinet saw, and you got money to burn, that would be a better place to start. The safety aspect is great, but the aren’t much more than comparably built saws.

Jointer is good for volume and longer lengths of wood, especially hard woods, but you don’t need one to build furniture.

I don't know how much I don't know about woodworking, but a jointer was one of those tools that really clicked for me. I don't know why, but between the jointer and planer (both Powermatic), I found myself able to do things I couldn't do before. The top of the bench above is actually two boards we connected by running the edges over the jointer, then used the domino joiner (Festool) and glue to join them. After the glue cured, we ran the board through the planer and drum sander. After final finishing, you can't see or feel the seam where the two boards come together (close inspection may reveal grain discrepancies).

My buddy also has a Sawstop saw. Not only is a great saw (I've only used crap tablesaws before, but this thing is awesome), the safety aspect is impressive. Someone who knew what they were doing could probably do what needed to be done with just the saw, but I found the jointer useful all the same.

I lurk on woodshop forums. Look there for good advice from nice folks--like here but different equipment.

The two woodworkers I know are super helpful and freely offer their time. It's as if they're trying to spread the disease.

Chris

[Toonces]

The price range median is $1k but could get pushed up if for instance if helical cutters are a must, ect. Thanks

After completing an extensive home addition/remodel with a LOT of help from my Dad, I bought him a Grizzly 15" planer with the helical cutterhead (Instead of a nice rifle that he would never shoot. The rifle is what we agreed upon...). He had a 12" Craftsman 3 blade unit that he had used for 20 years. After he got the Grizzly set up, he called the Craftsman with the 3 straight blades a Model T compared to the Grizzly's modern Corvette. He was shocked with how smooth and quiet the helical Grizzly was. And he's kinda a grumpy old man that's not easily impressed.

Roughly a year ago, I read an article in a rather fancy woodworking magazine (Fine Woodworking?) that compared various cabinet saws. Not only was the Sawstop the only one that wouldn't cut your hand off, but it had the best arbor runout and miter gage slot runout to blade of the entire test. It was beating the Powermatic and Delta saws. Don't ask for links, I'm four Old Fashioneds into a bachelor weekend...

TLDR, Helical cutterheads and Sawstop FTW...

[txdpd]

I don't know how much I don't know about woodworking, but a jointer was one of those tools that really clicked for me. I don't know why, but between the jointer and planer (both Powermatic), I found myself able to do things I couldn't do before. The top of the bench above is actually two boards we connected by running the edges over the jointer, then used the domino joiner (Festool) and glue to join them. After the glue cured, we ran the board through the planer and drum sander. After final finishing, you can't see or feel the seam where the two boards come together (close inspection may reveal grain discrepancies).

My buddy also has a Sawstop saw. Not only is a great saw (I've only used crap tablesaws before, but this thing is awesome), the safety aspect is impressive. Someone who knew what they were doing could probably do what needed to be done with just the saw, but I found the jointer useful all the same.


The two woodworkers I know are super helpful and freely offer their time. It's as if they're trying to spread the disease.

Chris

I won't deny that a jointer is very handy on longer boards.

High waste method but easy to do


Lower waste method but harder to setup after the first time


Router Method


Other ways

[mtnbkr]

I won't deny that a jointer is very handy on longer boards.

High waste method but easy to do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrYjc3G1vgo

Lower waste method but harder to setup after the first time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N-WJs7F9fA

Router Method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6nql7mlSOo

Other ways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8pVGyFu6PQ

Thanks! Those were educational. I still have a pile of cedar left that I want to do *things* with, but I didn't want to "invite" myself over to my friend's house just to use his tools. One of the major hurdles was the lack of a jointer because I have a number of slabs that are too narrow for my projects (1"x8"x8' straight from the mill). I can chop those boards to the rough length I need, then use one of the methods above to clean up the edges.

Chris

[SD]

Saw Stop is very impressive, a friend has one of the higher end saws but he is a finish carpenter and his niche market is doctor office's. Talking with him about his preferences it surprised me that he prefers his panel saw for much of his work in the shop being he works by himself. For the time being my old belt drive Delta table saw is still working, it is 20 years old and had to have the motor replaced once already. I will update once the jointer is setup, thanks for the input it is very appreciated.

[Trigger]

Sliding table saws are very nice, I have one and swear by it. The key advantage is that you can lock/clamp the work to the sliding table and step away from the blade. Keeps the fingers and such safe. This is my fourth table saw, and will likely be my last.

One thing that no one discusses, but I feel is important—Dust collection. Fine wood dust can be carcinogenic, the finer it is, the more unhealthy it is. Simple felt bag dust collectors are worse than nothing. I chose a ClearVue cyclone: https://www.clearvuecyclones.com/. Highly recommended.

I have a sliding saw + shaper, a jointer + planer and a bandsaw. I use the bandsaw the most, especially for small projects. It is also the safest with no kickback.

I’ve used it all to build half the furniture in the house, build the kitchen cabinets from scratch, build about 10 rifle stocks and much more. Good tools are safer and last forever.

Buy good saw blades and a wide Lenox carbide bandsaw blade. Indispensable. For 10” saws I like the Forrest blades. For my sliding saw, I love the Tenryu blades.

[Trigger]

I will also make a pitch for digital measuring tools in the wood shop. I use a Height finder gauge and a set of digital calipers a lot. http://wixey.com/index.html

I used to make a test cut, adjust the Saw, make another test cut, adjust, and repeat 4 or 5 times. Now I set up the machine. Make a test cut, measure the error, and use the digital measuring tools to adjust the machine to the exact amount of error to remove. Makes my work faster and much more accurate.

And scrapers. Get a set of cabinet scrapers and learn how to sharpen and burnish them. OMG have they saved me a lot of time I would have spent sanding. They literally saved me hundreds of hours during finishing in the kitchen cabinet renovation. You can very quickly scrape to a finish smoother than 400 grit, then apply some shellac to seal, and rescrape to a very smooth finish. Easily 1000 grit. Then apply your finish of choice and enjoy. I use polyurethane over shellac, and love it. This would be a laborious process with sandpaper, yet is quite quick with a good set of scrapers.

[rob_s]

I think I’ve settled on bandsaw and planer. Going to order these up in the done the next day or two.

https://www.toolnut.com/rikon-10-326...-band-saw.html

https://www.toolnut.com/rikon-25-130...utterhead.html

Probably need some sort of 4” duct collection for the planer, which will be good because I also need something for the table saw.

[rob_s]

Converted the bed boards from our camper-van into a folding table for the campervan. It seems most of my to-do list of late is related to campervan and tiki hut, two things we didn’t have pre-Covid!

https://www.facebook.com/35948136439...2702802406810/

[whomever]

Looking to add a 6" jointer in the work shop and would appreciate hearing feedback from those making saw dust. Discovered there are way more options/brands then i realized in this market. The price range median is $1k but could get pushed up if for instance if helical cutters are a must, ect. Thanks

FWIW, I've been happy with my ancient 'classic' Delta. Those have shorter tables than some of the newer ones; you have to be careful with boards longer than 4 or 5 feet because they hang so far off the tables it takes a lot of downforce to keep them straight. But most of the boards I joint are less than 4 feet, so it's fine. Mine, of course, has conventional straight blades. I have two sets so I can swap in a sharp set and get the old ones sharpened when convenient.

There isn't anything wrong with the high end ones, to be sure, but you can make straight boards on any of them, as long as the tables are straight. That would be my one concern with any of them ... it seems like QC these days isn't always that great. I'd want to know what the plan was if you unload one off the truck and the tables aren't straight/parallel. If there is any way to inspect one first that would be a win.

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On the question of should you get a jointer ... it was a revelation when I got a jointer and planer ... all of a sudden I was starting with straight, square, flat boards, and so all of a sudden my joinery started working. You can make straight, square, flat boards with a set of good hand planes, windage sticks, and so on, but it's an order of magnitude or two faster with a jointer and planer.