I know this has been discussed many times before, but here goes.
I am hoping to get an 8″ powermatic Jointer an I am willing to spend the money to get a really great machine.
Is the 8″ still made in america and what is the model number?
Does anyone have any opinions about the new machinery?
There is lots of confusion about the different versions from all the vendors.
thanks, stevo
Replies
Steveo.. Good luck with your decision. Why do you need an 8". Just curious bcause I am in the market also.. I'm going with Jet when I do buy just because of the fantastic service. I've needed barely none with the Jet equipment that I own but when I did, it was fantastic.
Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
an8" jointer is great but a 16" jointer is better. you can buy wood wholesale and mill it yourself. how much volume do you plan to do? you can even buy wood wholesale and get it milled 2 or 3 sides. it all depends on your situation. good luck!!!
barry walker
Barry, please explain to me why you would need a 16" jointer. For the life of me, I can't figure it out. I would rather have a big ole planer and a 6" jointer for all my needs. After all, if I buy a piece of wood and pay a bunch of money for it, somebodies gonna give sumpin up. It is usually the people that I buy the wood from and they often mill for free or just a small charge. It has yet to amount cumulatively to the cost of an 16" plus the cost of bringing 3 phase 220 into the shop.
Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
Edited 3/30/2002 3:15:43 AM ET by Steve Schefer
Steve, Interesting angle. I always find it informative to see justifications for a mis-match in surface planer (US jointer) capacity and thicknesser capacity. Do lots of people buy stuff PAR (Planed All Round) or four sides square, and if they do, how do they handle it once they've glued it together to make a wider panel, e.g., table top or cabinet side. It's odd furniture making practice to buy stuff PAR to 3/4" thick to make a panel 3/4" thick, wouldn't you say? Wouldn't it make more sense to buy rough sawn 4/4, get it square at about 7/8", edge joint the panel, flatten the result and thickness again to 3/4"? So if you have a 6" capacity surface planer, and a 24" capacity thicknesser, I have to assume that all the exponents of a mis-match in machine planing capacity reach for their hand planes for anything over the width capacity of their surface planer, yes? After all, it can be said quite correctly of thickness planers, "Banana in. Banana out. But it is thinner."
The one Powermatic 8" capacity surface planer I used had two weaknesses. There is a detent in the fence adjustment mechanism into which a spring loaded pin drops to lock the fence at 90° to the tables. The stud was a sloppy fit into the detent, so 90° was never automatically achieved. I can't recall if there were detents for other angles, such as 45°. It was also underpowered and would cough it up if asked to really work on stuff like wide hard maple or white oak. Slainte, RJ.Do I work really hard, or do I hardly really work?
I believe a 12" jointer to be the perfect size. Most all of my hardwood never exceeds 12" in width, most cabinet work I do is either 12" 18" or 24" deep, if you do the math that's less edge gluing to obtain say an 18" deep case, 2 - 9" boards or 3 - 6" boards. Of course a Martin 4 sided planer wouldn't hurt
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