I’m getting close to springing for a jointer (and a bandsaw actually) and was looking at a couple of Delta models: one is the 37-195 and the other is the 37-275X X5. Both are 6″ with very similar spec sheets, weight, etc. Amazon has some good buys going with free freight (and no tax depending on where you are located). Price is similar also. Any comments, thanks (I have never owned a jointer so I am shooting in the dark here).
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I'll provide one answer to my own question as I just phoned Delta. After some confusion the person I spoke to determined that the 275X and the 195 were the same product with the 275X (X5 series) having more warranty priced into it (2 yrs vs 5 yrs) So I guess at a similar price point the 275X is the way to go. Anyone have any experience with either one? thanks
I've got an older 37-195 and have been quite happy with it's performance and accuracy - flat tables, smooth adjustments, good quaility of cut. As an entry level jointer it's been a very solid machine. However, the fence isn't my favorite. I think Delta is now using a more solid rack-and-pinion system for the fence - if that's true I'd say go for it, if not I'd say go lay your hands on one and decide on the functionality of the fence for yourself. Once mine is locked down at 90 it's fine, but the adjustment process is less than smooth.
Dear Ed,
A couple of suggestions:
1) Buy the widest jointer that you can afford. Ii never owned a jointer and I promptly grew out of the 6" that I have. 8" would of been a LOT better.
2) I have a personal bias against Delta, but I know a lot of people who are happy with their equipment, so what do I know.
3) You may want to check out Wlike machinery. Their "Yorkcraft" line seems very nice. http://www.wilkebargaincorner.com/SPECIALMAIN.html
4) I don't own any, but a LOT of people love Grizzly. Their 8" jointer is a steal.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=26
Best,
John
Ed,
I pretty much second John. I have very strong reservations about today's Delta quality. I don't have direct experience with their equipment, but have friends who do. I would simply not buy their equipment at this time.
However, I do have experience with Grizzly joiners and think they are an excellent value, period. They are better machines than others costing much more. The 8" parallelogram machine is more than twice the machine of any other 6" joiner. I was going to buy it until I made the decision to get a Hammer combo machine which includes a 12" joiner planer. Otherwise the Grizzly was my first choice.
Rich
edsea,
Please consider Grizzly instead of Delta.. I had terrible experiance with Delta and am really soured on them.. they all made in the same place but my Grizzly has had 40,000 + bd.ft. of hardwood across it and it's great.. No breakdowns at all inspite of virtaully no attention..
Go to grizzly.com for a catalog and prices. Nice people to work with..
Wow, thanks to you all for taking the time to share your experience. Based on your responses I am going to not jump at the free shipping offer on the Delta products and do some more checking --- and look again at Grizzly for both the jointer and the bandsaw. I have done a little woodworking for many years and have never owned a jointer or a bandsaw --- always worked around what I had in the way of tools. Now I want to try and move to a "higher" level of woodworking and have the time to do it as I am retired and the space in a shop building. I have a small 12" Makita planar. What is the advantage of having an 8" jointer (over a 6"), I have seen several comments that you should buy the largest jointer you can afford?? It seems to me that a 6" blade would handle about everything a home shop would need especially if you had a small planar for surfacing the face of boards. What am I missing? Thanks again to all of you, this forum is great for us amateurs. Ed
Edsea, From experence I would not go with anything new from Delta,I upgraded last year to the yorkcraft 8'' and use it every day with great results. Later Rickk
If you live east of the Mississippi River, check out Yorkcraft from Wilke Machinery. They have great sale and shipping prices right now and have an online catalog. Their jointers are almost exactly the same as Delta with rack-and-pinion fence controls. I have the YC-8J myself.I am quite satisfied with my Delta tools, too, especially their 14-inch bandsaw which has been copied by everybody and his brother. Check that out on Amazon.Cadiddlehopper
ed, If a 6" joiner is all you need, then get that. I used one for years and built many housefulls of furniture. The common experience, though, is that after using a 6 and getting proficient with it, one longs for an 8. Again, the Grizzly 6 inch joiners are the best machines, in my opinion at their size and price by a wide margin.
Dear Ed,
For me, a six inch jointer is a bit of a restriction because it only allows be to work with rough material that is six inches wide or less. I face one side first. Once a flat surface has been established, then I will run it on edge. There are plenty of times that I get rough material that is wider than six inched, so I am forced to rip a perfectly good board, before it can be jointed. Take drawer faces. Unless I am going to have all of my drawer faces end up at 5 1/2" or less, I need a wider jointer. I work with a six inch, but I think that an eight inch would offer me some flexibility, that I don't have now.Best,John
John, educate me, I would have thought that if you had a planar you could surface the drawer front in the planar (e.g. up to 12") and then true up the edges in the jointer. I haven't done any of this yet so I am sure I am missing some important points. If you had a planar would you still have the same requirements for the 8" jointer. Thanks for your patience. Ed
Dear Ed,
You are correct, to a point, about the drawer fronts, as I chose a poor analogy. Forgive me as instruction comes tough to me. A planer, for all practical purposes, flattens a board across its width only. It cuts a surface that is parallel to the underside of the board. If you put a cupped and twisted board through a planer, you will get a flat and twisted board out. (Banana in, banana out) It will not remove a twist or a bow along the length of a board, nor will it square an edge.A jointer flattens a board across its width and along its length. A properly jointed board will be straight, and flat on one side and then squared to one edge. Then the board is typically ripped and then planed. A jointer is essentially a plane that is upside down. Perhaps someone who is a more gifted teacher will chime in.John
Ed and John,It's a Joiner, not a jointer. But when you pass the edge of a piece of wood over its blades, you are jointing the edge.A joiner makes an edge or a face of a board flat. It takes out any curvature (warp, cup, wind). This is a necessary first step in the perparation of wood for quality woodworking. Wood must be straight and all surfaces square or parallel to others.The joiner can also make the opposite edge and face flat, but it can't make those surfaces parallel to the first. That's what a planer does. The surfaces flattened by the joiner are the reference surfaces for the planer to make the opposite surfaces flat and parallel to the first. A planer CAN act as a joiner for faces of boards, not edges, by using a special bed to carry the stock.Rich
Edited 1/6/2007 6:44 pm ET by Rich14
On what do you base this pronouncement?
I have always heard it was a jointer.
My Webster's says it's a jointer, Random House also says jointer and even Wikipedia says it's a jointer.
I had never in my life heard it called a joiner until I saw it on this forum. I had assumed I saw it here for the same reason I see planar.------------------------------------
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer (1891)
dgreen, Well, according to those sources AND my Grizzly catalog, its a JOINTER. You're right. I have always known it as a joiner and have been corrected when I misused the term. So it's both? Rich
And a further Google search comes up will ALL references to the machine only as JOINTER. OK I can learn. Rich
John/Rich, Thanks for the explanations---I think I understand. I think I have been spending many moons adapting my projects to my limited knowledge and machinery. Hopefully I can soon move on.
Ed
Dear Ed,
"I have been spending many moons adapting my projects to my limited knowledge and machinery" We all do, that's the learning process.Best,John
Dear Rich,
Oops! Piled on too early! I see that you corrected yourself, no offense intended.Best,John
None taken. Others here have also called it a "joiner," and I have been so corrected when I once typed "jointer." But now it seems, the universe has turned upside down again. So now I'll stop calling it joiner. Although I'm sure someone is going to say it IS. It's ok, though. At least this got me called away from some inconsequential things like the conference call I was on to the White House regarding planning for additional troop deployments. Rich
Dear Rich,
When you get back on that conferance call, tell them to send nukes, not troops!Best,John
maybe a joiner uses a jointer to make tight joints.
Yeah. But if a guy who uses a jointer in his every day work to prepare boards by jointing them, also gets a membership in a social organization, is he then a joiner joiner?
And if he gets angry, is he a joiner joiner with his nose out of joint?
How about if he is a joiner, 'cause he uses a jointer, but is antisocial and wont join a club. Does the first instance of being a joiner get cancelled by the fact that he's a non-joiner, so now he's *nothing*?
This joinery stuff makes my brain hurt.
Rich
Up in the forest lands of north western Calif a jointer (as opposed to a joiner) is one who occassionaly fires up a joint. Opps maybe we are straying off the topic at hand :)
So a guy who smokes pot with his friends while preparing boards for glue-up is a jointer joiner joiner.
just have a joint, and it will all go away.
Uttered after deeply inhaling and holding breath, "Oh wow, man!"
So!!! What's your point????
Dear Rich,"It's a Joiner, not a jointer"1) Grizzly lists it as a jointer.
2) Wilke Machinery lists it as a jointer.
3) Coastal Tool lists it as a jointer.
4) Tools Plus lists it as a jointer.
5) Delta lists it as a jointer.
6) Powermatic lists it as a jointer.
7) Minmax lists it as a jointer. (The Europeans can't be wrong)As much as I enjoy my Rebel status, I'm going to call it a jointer.Best,John
Never heard of a joiner. Sixty years ago the exact term was jointer/planer. Rapid speech buffs shortened its name over the years until we have a generation that may have never heard the original term. The machine does both operations: it planes boards flat on a broad side and it produces square, straight, smooth edges for joining with glue.It is dangerous to consult dictionaries less than 50 years old.Cadiddlehopper
Personally I'am not a big fan of jointers that have the lever action to raise and lower the infeed table. I prefer the hand wheeled models. The problems to me is the extra pieces parts, cable, trigger that can mess up or break. KISS Kiss works for me.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Why are you not looking at the 8" JD 20? I have one and love it. It is not that much more expensive that the 6". What ever you choose, get a rolling base for it.
Hi Railyn, thks for the advice, I'm not familiar with JD or the JD 20, what brand/company is it? I have a John Deere tractor :) . Ed
The JD 20 is an 8" Delta.
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