Laguna 6″ jointer, helical head, good buy?
jfsksa
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I’ve been looking for a jointer and have a lead on a Laguna 6″ jointer, helical head, model MJOIN 6100-00130. Seller says its 3 years old, in great condition. Pictures look good.
The seller wants $1400. This is at the top end of my price range.
How does this deal look to you? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
A 6" jointer will only teach you that you need a wider one. My first jointer was a 6" helical grizz ($600) that I sold off 5 months later to buy a 12" combo machine. Got all of my money out so all in all a good experience. $1400 seems high to me for any 6" machine.
Good point from MJ. I'm a home hobby woodworker. I've got some decent equipment (Sawstop, 17" bandsaw, drill press, dust collection, lots of hand tools). I've gotten by without a jointer until now, so I'm not sure how much I'd use it. From what I've seen 12" jointers cost way more than the price of this one. How can I get a 12" jointer without breaking my bank?
Helical jointer/planer combo is what I went with. $2800 at the time I think. Save up, worth it. Being able to joint and plane anything you resaw is wonderful. You'll use it. The 6" jointer will only open your eyes to why you need a wider one very quickly.
I have a old Makita 6in jointer, and I like it but I'd not spend much money on it. 6 in is really limiting, and while there are tricks to work around the limitations, id get a wider one.
I will echo that a 6" jointer is almost useless and would find a way to get a 12" combo machine, the cheapest way to get a 12" jointer. I won't advise anyone how to spend their money but if you have the 1400 and can find a zero percentage financing like I did I would opt for that to get a tool that will meet your needs for the long term.
When I got my jointer (6 inch Jet) I really couldn't fit anything bigger in my shop and any jointer was better than no jointer. Now that I moved and have more space I will likely upgrade to at least an 8 inch. Space, how your shop is wired and the type of work you do should all be taken into account. If all or some of those point to a larger machine I would hold off.
Seconding the good advice.
That looks to be a good machine, but it is neither fish nor fowl. It has the bulk of a much larger machine but not the capacity. If you are sure you never want to joint wider than 4-6 inch boards then it'll be great, but that's a very unlikely scenario.
I have just been through the angst of jointer upgrade choices. I currently use a planer/thicknesser where the same cutterhead does the jointing and the planing of timber. Much cheaper and way more compact than separate machines. The downside is you have to flip the tables out of the way to use the thicknesser and run the thicknessing table down to use the jointer - takes almost 45 seconds.
After many years of making do with a deWalt 8 inch, I'm going large and getting a 16 inch helical machine - the cost difference is small compared with a 12 inch and the footprint more or less identical.
For me, time and shop space are in short supply so I wanted the helical cutter as it needs less screwing around, but make no mistake, there is NOTHING wrong with machines with blades - they work really, really well. Even my 20 year old machine with 2 blades gives excellent results when the blades are sharp.
Why not consider an older 2 or 3 blade machine - I have two sets of blades so I don't have to stop if a set needs sharpening. The big downside is that fitting and adjusting the blades is a fiddle, but I get 6 or 7 major projects out of a set of blades before a change is mandated by poor performance or tearout. You will get a much more satisfying machine for your dollar, and if you buy one with a decent power motor and a common brand, you may find a helical head available for it easily later, once budget allows.
I have a Laguna 8” HH parallelogram and am very pleased with it and glad for the extra width vs a 6”. You don’t say what you build or aspire to build and I believe that is the key factor. Some of these combo machines require a lot of power, so keep that in mind too. My jointer requires at least a 1000 CFM dust collector, the 12 inch ones would need that much or more. And some of them are quite heavy. For some, 6 inch HH might be a dream machine and they will just make do with limitations given all the other constraints. If you want to build a lot of large furniture case pieces or table tops, wider will ramp up your productivity for sure and you would not regret going wider. With 6 in you’ll be doing more glue ups or rigging planer sleds. $1400 used seems high - probably what they paid 3 years ago, but I know prices have gone up with the pandemic. New looks to be $2000 but the new model might have some better features.
I also own a 8 inches helical jointer from the mass produced clones (Grizzly, Craftex, Shopfox, King) and could not be happier. The long beds is a real asset for what I do, I seem to get all the long and heavy jobs nobody wants and I have been running through 100 bd feet of lumber every other week lately and the jointer keeps pace. At this asking price I would go for a new cheaper brand than Laguna if the specs are comparable.
Just a note to say I bought the 6" Laguna jointer. I appreciate all the good comments and advice, particularly the ones that said, "you buy a 6" jointer so you can later realize you need a 12" jointer"
Here are my reasons:
-I work out of my garage doing projects for my wife. I usually build small cabinets, side tables, mirror frames, etc. Most of my lumber is 6" or less in width
-If I use larger lumber, I can prep it with hand planes and finish on a sled through my planer. I've been doing this for the past 5 years.
-I cannot imagine the day that I say, "yep, it's time to drop $5000 on a 12" jointer."
Thanks again, folks.
Lots of good advice above about size, but I too have a budget and understand your position. To answer your question, $1400 is way over priced. I did a quick google search and a brand new one is $1399. Mathematically, 10% per year depreciation means you should pay under $1000. The only question is if 10% depreciation is reasonable given the amount of use.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled