I recently changed the blades on my 6″ jointer and then went to work face jointing walnut and cherry stock for a blanket chest.. then planing and back to the jointer for edge jointing. Everything fine.. so far.
Then I selected some of my dimensioned cherry sticks for panels.. three sticks to a panel. When I was checking for a nice tight fit.. I saw that one of the sticks had a bit of a gap in one end like snipe.. about a 16th or so.
I take it back to the jointer and begin edge jointing to get it evened up and erase that 16th.
Back and forth.. back and forth.. the 16th won’t disappear. I have plenty of width to play with so I keep running it on edge and still the gap is there.
Then I notice the stick has run down about an inch on the infeed side and is all lopsided. Couldn’t wrap my mind around it at all. Just took it to the TS and ripped it even referencing the straight edge on the fence.
What happened? Anyone?
Replies
It sounds like your outfeed table is just a hair below top dead center of the blades in the cutter head. Take a straightedge and lay it on the outfeed table extending over the blades. Rotate the cutter head around and check each blade--with the jointer unplugged of course. I had the same thing happen to me--I forgot to lock the outfeed table, and it shifted down just enough to create snipe on the ends of the pieces I was jointing. Hope that helps. Tom
But why wouldn't the knife reach the end of the stick.. and not just front half of it I wonder? It seems that a knife set too high would still cut the length of the stick.. no?
Not exactly clear on what you are saying but snipe would be a clip off the end of the board about 1/2" or so and is caused by the outfeed table being slightly lower than the knives. A tapering cut is caused by the outfeed table being slightly lower by a few thousandths than the knives. You would think it would hit the table and stop and it would if it were any lower.
As the board is run again and again over the jointer, it will naturally become curved due to the wood being removed and the balance in the board changing.
It is a natural phenomenom that almost always occurs. The same thing happens when one side of a board is run through a planer over and over. It will end up bowing up at the ends, toward the side where the wood was removed.
Your jointer may actually be cutting perfectly, it's just that you need to joint off the ends a couple of passes, then joint the entire board to make it perfectly straight.
It is possible that the snipe is being caused because as you run the board over the jointer with this curve in it (curved up in the middle), the board is being supported by the end of the board. When it gets to the end of the infeed table, it falls off, causing the snipe.
Hal
http://www.rivercitywoodworks.com
"As the board is run again and again over the jointer, it will naturally become curved due to the wood being removed and the balance in the board changing.
It is a natural phenomenom that almost always occurs. "
Thanks, Hal. I never realized what you've explained. I checked and rechecked my jointer and the knives are set flush to the outfeed table all along their length.. and I have the infeed table lowered to about a 32nd.
The phenomenon you mentioned is difficult for me to understand.. but I'm definitely ready to accept it.. because there can be no other explanation.
Thanks again.
Bill
PS.. I just checked out your website. Beautiful work! I liked the banquette you built. I couldn't see how the benches are attached to the wall. Did you install it on cleats?
Edited 11/1/2006 4:25 pm ET by billballeza
the snipe happens when your stock "falls off" of the infeed table
-Eli
Cushing, Maine
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