I am looking at buying a jointer. Price range to be under $1000. Things I like are: parallelogram, built in wheel base, and spiral cutterheads. So, do I trick out a 6″ jointer or buy a scaled down 8″ jointer?
Models I am looking at are: Grizzly GO604zx, Grizzly 593, Jet 708466DXK, and Jet 708458K
Replies
Wider is better. If you're buying rough sawn wood, you'll need to flatten one face on the jointer before running the opposite side through the planer.
You can answer your own question by determining how wide the lumber is that you purchase.
It took me all of 60 days 15 or so years ago to know that I'd made a mistake buying a 6" jointer. I now have a 12" jointer, and wished it was 16".
My recommendation to you would be to look at wider used models for the price range you're in. In the long run, you'll be happy that you did.
Jeff
Dear Jig,
I agree with Jeff. Go with the largest you can afford. Width can not be duplicated. If the jointer is a bit short, you can add rollers, but there is no way to add width. Consider my mistake:
Six inch jointer:
If I am milling from rough stock, then I am limited to stock not exceeding six inches. Not terrible, but what I end up with is 5 3/4" or less. Not terribly useful. Not wide enough for larger drawer fronts or doors and certainly not wide enough for table glue ups. One 5 1/2" board in a table top may be OK, but a bunch looks like IKEA.
Am eight inch jointer will get you to 7 1/2" or so which is better, and so on.
Buy the widest that you can afford.............. maybe wider.
Best,
John
Have you seen the new thing? That is a combination planer and jointer and both are 12" +- and in one unit. Sweet! The price is too much on one hand but the system has so much to offer. Space for one and having a 12 jointer too. I have a planner, so will focus more on the 8" jointer for now.
jm
Dear JM,
Oh yes, I saw it. It is tempting, in particular with the indexed head. The beds are short, but overall it looks very nice. It would appear to be a Minimax clone, in fact, I think that I remember reading that Grizzly's founder or somebody took a Minimax apart and based the machine upon that. So which 8" are you looking at?1) G0586 8" Jointer w/2 HP Motor for $595.00
2) G0490 8" Jointer with Parallelogram Beds for $725.00
3) G0593 8" Jointer w/ Spiral Cutterhead for $925.00 (Nice Deal!)
4) G0490X 8" Jointer w/ Spiral Cutterhead for $1,195.00I guess if it were me I'd go for the one @ $925.00. Then again, for another grand you would get a 12" jointer AND planer. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...................Best,John
Edited 11/21/2007 10:08 pm ET by Jmartinsky
That's the one I got about a year ago. The grizzly G0953. That spiral cutterhead is fantastic. The tables are dead flat. Fit and finish are great. Very excellent tool. Super value IMO. I use it daily in my production cabinet shop and haven't had to mess with it at all. Still working on the first edge of the inserts.
Paul
Grizzly GO593 with the spiral and Shop Fox wheels. Everone leans towards bigger is better, so there goes the 6". You are right about the jointer/planner combo. A 12" jointer should make all concerned happy. And the footprint is excellent for a small shop. I might just save up for it.
Between now and then, I am thinking there must be a way to jig my planner. I recently shimmed up a really bad piece of wood. The shims kept the board from rocking as it went through the planner. A couple of passes and turn overs and then it went to the sander. I wouldn't say it was of FWW quality but I am still thinking about the jig I am going to make. I am new at this but it looks to me like a planner is just an upside down jointer. So, if a planner is an upside down jointer, there must be away to jig it into doing the job of a jointer.
Hmmmmmmmm!
jm
Dear JM,
FWW did a piece a while ago about a "sled" for using a planer as a jointer. Do a search and you ill find it.Best,John
Don't Settle! If you have to save wait a little longer. Many (many) years ago I settled for a 6" jointer regretted it ever since. I'm looking for a new jointer (have for some time), and I keep putting a few dollars back till I get enough. I have to have the spiral cutter head with the index carbide inserts. I just can't decide if the parallel tables is truly worth it. I wonder if it's a coincidence that I received my grizzly wish book yesterday in the mail!
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
check out Grizzlies web site.........it's brutal!.........I feel the money I set aside for the wife this Christmas slipping away.........maybe my first project will be a dog house.
jm
Ditto what ethey said. I hace an 8" with long beds and occasionally wish it were wider. The length though is what drove my decision. The shorter bed lengths found on 6" jointers just won't let it joint long boards. It might be possible to find a deal at a woodworking show that would bring an 8" model closer to your budget.
By the way, I added the Byrd Shelix cutterhead last year and don't know how I lived without it.
Quickstep,
Does the Shelix head leave a fairly smooth surface, or is it sort of scalloped? I heard it takes less effort to run wood over it. What's your take? Thanks.
SteveThere are two secrets to keeping one's wife happy.
1. Let her think she's having her own way.
2. Let her have her own way. President Lyndon Baines Johnson
I don't notice any scalloping. I did initially have a spot where there was a ridge, but I found the offending cutter, rotated it 90° (per Byrd's instructions) and I was good to go. Seems like my old cutters always had a nick in them, so from that perspecitve alone, the cut from the Byrd cutter is far superior; it's smooth as glass. The feeling when running wood over it is certainly different than with the straight knives, but I'm not sure I'd say it takes less effort, it's just a different effort. With the straight knives, even though I got a smooth cut, it always felt like it was chattering on the way through. Not suprisingly, the Shelix really does feel like it's shearing as it cuts and the motion feels much smoother.
Quickstep,
Thanks my friend. Sounds as if I need to save my shekels (I have about 100 pounds sterling--mayhap Lataxe could arrange a trade?) and try one. You're right- I get a smooth cut (when there's no nicks) cut it feels as I'm being beaten. Plus noisy.
Thanks
SteveThere are two secrets to keeping one's wife happy.
1. Let her think she's having her own way.
2. Let her have her own way. President Lyndon Baines Johnson
Dear Jigman,
While we're spending your money I wanted to chime in as well about the carbide indexed heads. I upgraded my PM 54A (6") to a Byrd "Shelix" cutterhead and let me agree with the other postings by stating that I would never EVER buy a jointer with straight blades again. I REALY like the byrd head, but I might settle for a Grizzly or similar indexed head. Reasons:
1) NO KNIFE SETTINGS........... For REAL! Set it and ..... Forget it!...... (I've heard that somewhere before)
2) The carbide inserts seem to hang in there forever.
3) It is quieter.
Best,
John
J -You already said you thought it was worth it, so I won't ask you to reiterate. But I am curious, as I own the same jointer. A $300 accessory for an $800 tool seems a bit excessive to me. Wait a minute...I think I might have just called a tool purchase excessive. Okay, what I really mean is, what was the reason you didn't wait and upgrade to a model with the better cutterhead, and instead opted for the upgrade? Was it pure dollars and cents, as in less overall dollars, or did you just really want to hang on to that machine?Joe
Dear Joe,
Good question. I work commercially as a contractor who sometimes builds cabinets. When I was shopping for jointer I wasn't really convinced that I needed one. I have worked for years without one and really only envisioned edge jointing for glue ups at best. As a PM66 owner, I liked what Powermatic had to offer and went for the 6" as the 8" was very pricey at the time and I wasn't ready to take a chance on Grizzly. For me, time is money. If I KNOW or am reasonably certain that the Powermatic product will work, without a whole lot of fussing, then it was worth it to me to pay the premium. That being said, I knew that I was going to swap out the cutterhead, for the same reason. A $300.00 cutterhead that has cost me less than hour in maintenance (minus the install) over the past, what ........ five years, is WELL worth it. I may of had to rotate ten indexes, and I am not exactly kind to my jointer. There is NO way I am going to be messing around with knife setting, or nicks and what not when I don't have to. Again, the time is money thing. So yes, a $300.00 upgrade on an $800.00 ($750.00) tool is a bit dumb, and if I had to do it again, I would opt for a 12" with the shelix head, but I was in the position where I had already committed to a machine and for the extra $300.00, it has been WELL worth it. I never even attempted to change the knives in the original cutterhead, which I still have. Want a back up?Best,John
Just to throw it out there -I don't have a jointer. I use 2 of the only 3 planes I own and then my thicknesser (when it's working - but save that for another thread!)I rough-flatten one face with my No. 5 plane diagonally across the board, then smooth along the grain with my Lie-Nielsen 4 1/2 plane to remove some of the larger knicks. It's not perfect but it's better than I started with.Then I flip the board and thickness one face, flip back to the first and thickness that one. Works ok for me, but yeah - I want a jointer too!Hopefully next wood show I go to I will be able to afford a no. 6 or 7 plane, but the cost of a good hand plane at that size is almost the same as a cheap jointer!
I have a Rigid 6" jointer that I am pleased with but If I had a 1000 dollar budget I would go with a 8" jointer, you might consider a used model. If you can find an older American made model they are very good. The other posts are right wider is better and I would rather have a plane Jane 8" jointer than a tricked out 6 inch model.
Good luck
Troy
I will be selling my DJ-20 soon inorder to up grade to a 12".
It has one set of carbide cutters and 7 sets if HSS of which 3 sets are new. Along with a roller base and magnetic knife setting tool. here in So California.
I wish I could buy it, maybe the original poster would like it. Have fun with your 12 inch jointer. Which one did you get.ThanksTroy
Still shopping I am looking at the Grizzly 12" G0609X Or The G9860ZX
I know that this probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but here I go...
I own a 6" jointer and have been, at times, quite dissappointed with it. I, like others, wished I bought an 8". I often ended up ripping boards just to joint them and then reglue. I would also buy stock knowing what my limits were. This is not ideal. I couldn't face anything greater than 6". I wanted a bigger one.
To make a long description shorter, I eventually started inititially facing my boards with hand planes and then just ran them through the planer, flipped it over and ran it through again. Getting a single flat face on a board 12" wide and 8 feet long takes me 10-15 minutes. I only used my jointer for squaring the edge, which is never greater than 4". It's quick (not as quick) and it's easy.
What's my point? you're always going to want a jointer at least as wide as your planer, guaranteed. Your options are limitless with hand planes. Hand planes will make you want a larger planer but happy with a 6" jointer. Please consider...
I thought I was the only one doing that. I bought a #7 just to deal with the 6" delima. I however dimension my pieces smaller prior to flattening that first face. I found that I had a hard time with boards over 4'. I bought Rob Causmans Rough to ready DVD and I can get a board flat pretty quick. Its sweat equity, but I get it done. I still plan on upgrading to the 8" (10" if I could swing it). Take care. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Matt,
when you hand plane your boards before putting them through the planer, do you just get them flat but rough, or do you smooth them out some. What works best? In other words, what sequence of hand planes do you use before going to the planer?
Thanks,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
scrub followed by 7. if there are low spots I don't care as long as they are much smaller than the bed of my lunchbox planer and not on the ends. The surface quality doesn't matter in these cases because once the opposite side is flat you can flip it over and get rid of any significant low spots like gouges left the the saw from the sawmill that I often seem to get. Like another poster suggested, I don't usually do this to an 8 ft board. I usually dimenion it first. but the process is the same.
I'm not trying to say hand tools are the be all/end all. What I am trying to say is what's obvious from this thread. If you get the 6" you will want the 8", when you get the 8" you will want to upgrade to either a 10 or 12". I would like to hear from somebody that has a 24" planer and 12" jointer, they are probably dissappointed with their jointer decision. If you aren't doing this as a profession, a 6" jointer seems to be enough. But I do wish I had an 8"... jointer.
Matt,
Thanks for the info on which handplanes to use. Your original post was very thought provoking. One last question. You said that you dimension a board before you take the scrub and the #7 to it. Give me some idea. What size boards to you dimension down to to use the hand planes? When you say "dimension", do you mean that you use the table saw to rip a wide board to make two narrower boards?If these questions sound naive, they are. I have not yet done handplaning on rough boards, but I will retire in a month, and that is one of the things that I want to add to my repertoire. I appreciate the advice.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
I wouldn't run a rough board through the table saw, no. If I have 30 inch leg I use a chop saw or hand saw to cross cut it. If I want to take the width down I would use a band saw. It depends on the board dimensions.
I am open to all incoming! Jet has an 8" 2hp, 1Ph,230v on sale for less 1k. I am thinking though that whatever I go with, I will upgrade to the helical head. I also like the parallelogram and built in wheels which Grissly can produce, but again, Grissly?
And, powermatic is on sale too. 54A with helical is going for +- 1k
Thanks for the input.
jm
I recently bought the steel city 6" jointer and I was very pleased with it, especially the long bed. Overall it does what it is suppose to and My budget dictated Under $1000.00. However had I had the time to wait, I would have definetely gone to the 8" model.
Carpenter5
Buy a used one. For a $1k you will find a very nice unit on the woodweb or exfactory. Most there are used only by professionals, so you dont have to worrry about them being in poor condition. The biggest problem is to find one that is single phase power, but they pop up occasionally. I had a 6", went to a 12" combined jointer/planer and still sometimes wish I had waited to buy a 16".
Good luck
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled