Why do they call it a jointer when it planes wood?

for a lot of new woodworkers and some who have been at this for a while the jointer is a mysterious machine they wonder if they need one and they don't fully understand how to use it a while back we made a video that spoke generally about jointers and planers helping to explain which you may need and which you may not i'll link to that video below if you want to check it out a lot of folks found that little tutorial very helpful but i thought it would be even more helpful to make another tutorial that focuses just on the jointer discussing what you can do with it how to use it safely and effectively and whether you need a big one like this or if a little one might do the job just so we're on the same page a jointer is a milling machine its primary use is to flatten boards and produce smooth straight edges that can be glued together seamlessly that second operation creating edge joints is why we call this a jointer in the u.s i understand they call it a planar in europe but for our purposes in this video this is a jointer and this is a thickness planer a jointer is intended to be used in conjunction with the thickness planer in a table saw because while a jointer can flatten a surface and it can straighten an edge it cannot make two surfaces or two edges parallel to each other so you will use a jointer to flatten one face and to straighten one edge then you will run the board through a thickness planer to bring the second face parallel to the jointed face and through a table saw to cut the final edge parallel to your jointed edge that's how you get four flat straight square sides on a board a jointer thickness planer table saw why can't you do all four sides with the jointer because the jointer relies upon the flat table as a reference whatever portion of the board is touching the table will be cut if the board is cupped or it's warped not all of it will be touching the jointer table during the first few passes that means some parts of the board's surface will be shaved away more than other parts until the entire surface of the board becomes as flat as the bed of the jointer the result is likely to be a board that is slightly wedge-shaped thinner along one edge than the other or thicker on one end than the other if you flip that board over the jointer will then treat that opposite face independently of the one you just flattened it will make it flat as well but it cannot make the two faces parallel this is hard for some people to wrap their head around because they imagine a jointer shaving off an even slice from each side of a board that may technically be possible if the board is already a perfect rectangle but jointers are rarely used with perfect stock they're used to mill rough stock and that's why you must use a jointer in conjunction with other machines to flatten the surface of the board you begin on the infeed side on the right and then you move the board left across the cutter head onto the outfeed table the depth of the cut is controlled by the position of the infeed table for a deeper cut you might lower the infeed table for a shallower cut you might raise it how deep you may cut with a single pass depends on the power of the machine the width of your board and the hardness of the wood itself i almost never take more than an eighth of an inch off a board with a single pass with a lower power jointer i may reduce that to 1 16 of an inch or even less especially if i'm using the full width of the cutter head which would obviously be more taxing on the motor this is an eight inch jointer that means the cutter head is eight inches long and it will therefore mill boards up to eight inches wide that extra width is a real luxury but for years i used a smaller six inch joiner the smaller cutter head occasionally forced me to rip my boards a bit narrower than i wanted to if i needed to flatten a wide board i would rip it into two joint those pieces individually and then glue them back together after milling it's not ideal but a six inch jointer is significantly less expensive than an eight inch jointer i've never used a four inch joiner while it may be possible to flatten narrow project parts on such a small machine its real purpose is for creating straight edges for panel glue ups therefore a four inch jointer only provides half the function of a larger machine so i wouldn't buy one i would instead use a router or a hand plane for edge jointing until i could save up for a larger joiner one of the biggest benefits of a larger machine is the bed length my six inch jointer has a four foot long bed my eight inch joiner has a six foot long bed the longer the bed the easier it is to straighten or flatten narrow boards with fewer passes removing less material just as a short hand plane will follow the contour of a surface a jointer will do the same thing only in reverse this doesn't mean a shorter jointer won't straighten a board but it may take more passes to do so as i said the jointing process begins on the infeed table and the work piece is fed to the left across the cutter onto the outfeed table that outfeed table should be set even with the cutters at their apex or highest point this is an important setting if the outfeed table is lower than the cutter head you'll get what is called snipe at the end of the board as it drops down off the infeed table and onto the cutter head jointing a board especially the face requires some technique but it's not difficult with practice first you must determine which face of the board to flatten it's always best to put the cupped side down because the board is less likely to rock or shift during the cut if the board also has a slight twist in it meaning it will rock from corner to corner when laying on a flat surface you'll have to find a position which is most stable and then try to maintain that through the first pass or two as the machine begins to shave away wood from the points that are touching the table these points will become flat reference surfaces which will make the board more stable through the following passes as soon as the leading edge of the board crosses over the cutter head begin putting the bulk of the pressure on the out feed table this is important if you mill half the board while pushing down on the in feet table and then you switch to the outfeed table you'll follow any bow that may be in the board and you'll never make it straight as soon as you can put your pressure on the outfeed table put it there and keep it there that doesn't mean you have to remove all pressure from the infeed table if the board is warped so that only two of the four corners are touching you may still have to maintain some pressure on the infeed side to keep the board from rocking but concentrate on the outfeed side as soon as you've milled enough of a flat area to keep that board stable note how paddles are used to feed the wood over the cutter head i insist that paddles be used in my shop for a couple reasons first you cannot trust that the wood between your hands and the cutter will stay there boards can split and break the cutter can catch and kick wood from your hands you don't want to be applying downward pressure over the cutter with your bare hands if something happens to that wood second you may be tempted to hook your fingers or the heel of your hand on the end of the board especially if the table is a bit sticky from resin you can guess how this is a bad idea right use two paddles one in each hand to ensure that you never put your hands in the wrong place and you always have something between your hands and the cutter if something goes wrong most paddles have a grippy material on the bottom if you keep the bed of your jointer waxed either with an occasional scribble with a block of beeswax or a candle or by spreading and buffing off a film of paste wax then the board should always slide easily and these petals should grip the surface enough to feed your wood without problems however sometimes i do need something that hooks on the end of the board so i've switched to these pedals with automatically retracting hooks because they work in both positions on the face of the board or hooking on the end i'll link to them below this video i also like to use a paddle when edge jointing to be sure i don't inadvertently get my hand too close to the cutter as i am applying pressure against the fence speaking of edge jointing that process is similar to face jointing and that you begin on the infeed side and you feed to the left across the cutter shifting the downward pressure to the out feed table as you cross over the cutter head but in this case you must also apply pressure against the fence to ensure the edge is not only made straight but also square to the face of the board for this reason edge jointing is done after one face of the board has already been flattened that new flat face may then be placed against the jointer's fence don't assume that your fence is square to the table check it every time you use your jointer for edges you may also wish to move the fence forward especially if you're doing a lot of edge jointing to spread the wear to different points of the cutter head i don't mean changing the fence position with each pass i just mean moving it every time or two that you use the machine and whenever you do move it double check the alignment with the square sometimes after passing a board over the jointer you may see nicks where bits of fibers have been torn away from the surface sometimes you can even feel the cutters tearing at the fibers as you move the board across the machine the problem is likely that you're cutting against the grain wood fibers lay down much like hair if you pet a cat in the wrong direction somebody's going to have a bad day likewise if the jointer's cutters are moving against the grain they can lever up the fibers away from the board's surface and even tear little bits of wood away you should always try to move the board in the proper direction with the grain look at the edge of the board and try to determine which way the fibers are running you want them to run downhill toward the infeed side of the jointer unfortunately it's not always easy to see which way the grain runs if you aren't sure you may set your machine to take a very light pass and look for a little bit of tear out if the cut was shallow the tear out should be as well which will give you a chance to correct the board's position and remove any damage as you complete the flattening process sometimes the grain will change directions on you it will flow one way at one end of the board and the other way from the other end of the board or the grain might be highly figured could run all over the place and even rise and fall along the surface of the board in these cases you may experience tear out no matter your feed direction you can try taking very light passes but standard straight joiner knives just struggle with tricky grain it's one of the many benefits of a helical cutter head which shears the wood fibers away at an angle and is therefore less likely to tear the fibers not to mention carbide cutter heads also last a much longer time many many times longer than steel knives and the helical head reduces noise and improves dust collection i'll put a link to a video below about helical cutter heads if you wish to learn more besides for flattening and straightening boards a jointer may also be able to be used for more advanced functions such as chamfering edges or cutting rabbets but in my opinion a router table or a table saw is a much better tool for these tasks i have however used a jointer to taper table legs and it is surprisingly efficient for that purpose i'll link to a video about that below we'll see you next time mywoodcutters.com is the sort of small business i like to support stefan is a great guy and he can find you knives and cutters for almost any joiner planer shaper or molding machine and his are the best prices if you're planning to upgrade to a helical carbide cutter head please use the link below this video to check with him before you buy somewhere else some small businesses are just worth supporting wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell i would really appreciate that give us a thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment i always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpynub's woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 248,659

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe

Id: z8ey0z3bkUo

Length: 12min 32sec (752 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021