Thread: 8" Jointer Surfacing

Too bad OP's machine is on the opposite coast.
Since you figure it is un-usable as is, and by inference "nothing to lose"..........
I'd be interested in strapping something like that down to the planer and having a go at it. The issue I've never resolved in my mind, is what to do with the steel lips? Plane them as well? or find & drill out the rivets, put some backers against the edges, plane the tables, and then grind the lips and re-install? That would be a lot of work; and some risk.

smt

With proper setup could you grind the lips and then plane the bed to the surfaces of the lips?
Joe

Originally Posted by Joe Rogers

It wouldn’t make a bit of difference to me. Some woodworkers have a preference but I probably would live with the small with out a quibble. BTW do you plan on keeping all three? I couldn’t afford one now , just retired and getting stabilized, but other needy people...
Joe

I am not sure if I will keep any. I am going to mount one to my bench, and my father is mounting one to his bench. If he or I don't find it useful, I will sell. If I like it, I will keep one. I can't see needing 2, but want to confirm before I sell. I bought the three for 80, and am far too cheap to pay what they go for on Ebay. I am guessing this is a once in a lifetime buy. I will not be hording them though.
Joe

From my start in the early 70's until now, I've bought/sold and used a lot of equipment. Rockwell/Delta was never very good. My first jointer was a 6" PM, green castings warped like crazy. Bought a used 8" PM that stayed straight and the extra size helped a lot, pretty good machine. I now have an old Crescent 16". Pretty good machine but a bear to setup with 8 wedges to adjust. Mostly used to face bad boards as opposed to edging, since that is all done on a SL rip saw.

My last 2 jointer restorations both needed to be reground. They were both trainwrecks when purchased by me, with a lot of deep pitting. Both Yates American #1's. First is a 24" jointer, and the 2nd is a 16" jointer. Pictures to follow of the Mattison grinder doing the work. Both cost me $200 each for the complete work, including the fence on the 24"er.









All the grinding work was done in Rockford, Illinois. I still use Dave, as he is awesome at what he does.

Originally Posted by beckerkumm

I agree that the old PM were good for a light duty jointer. Oliver and northfield both made 8" machines that were a solid step up but the better deal is in the 12" size. Believe it or not, most of the guys who want old industrial jointers want 16-24" so 12" can be found. Oliver 166, American, Yates, Clement, Fay and Egan, Newman, and my favorite, the Porter 300cm, are the really great jointers. Fine grain cast iron, planed to within a couple thou and often still close to that. 5" cutterheads give a better cut and the mass of the machine and head, take out the vibration. Dave

PS: A wedgebed three toed jointer was the pick of the design litter but the tables bolted to the wedge. Your Delta, like almost all jointers that are not parallelogram cast the top part of the wedge with the table. Cheap idea but bad in real life. If the tables droop or are concave, you need to shim the wedges which is a pain and doesn't work all that well. The old jointers could shim the table to correct any problem with the wedges.

Beckerkumm, the Porter has always been my favorite, too. That adjustable tilting cutterhead, in combination with the sensible location of patternmaking table tilt in the infeed, not outfeed end is nearly the culmination of design evolution. Now, if only they had the cored boxed tables of Northfield machines, I couldn't ask for anything else, helical heads notwithstanding!

Lee Haelters

Hi guys. I'm looking for a good jointer, to be honest, I don't even know how much it might cost.

Originally Posted by StewartMorrisonv

Hi guys. I'm looking for a good jointer, to be honest, I don't even know how much it might cost.

What's "a good jointer"? Some people are ok with a 6" benchtop, others don't want anything under 12" and 1000 lb.

Look for tables that are flat and co planar to within a few thou from end to end and no dip in the middle or hump right behind the lip on the outfeed side. You want the largest highest fence that locks square to the table without fiddling, and in a perfect world a 4.5-5" diameter head. The longer the tables the better. Dave

Thanks for your feedback, guys! If we talk about me, I'm an office worker and I can't call myself a handyman, so I decided to take a woodworking course for beginners to master these skills and learn a new craft. Well, I grew up without a father, so no one could teach me this..During the search, I found a buying guide with benchtop jointer reviews on https://mitersawjudge.com/best-benchtop-jointer-reviews-and-buying-guide/ and I want you to help me choose the best one. I really want to buy a quality jointer that'll make wood perfectly straight so it can fit together with other pieces without any problems.

Most woodworking can be self taught. first lesson is to not believe much from reviews. Avoid benchtop jointers unless you are making miniature jewelry boxes. If you are working with wood up to 8-12' in length, you want tables in the 65-96" range. I'm a CPA in real life and mainly self taught. I started with a 6" jointer, went to 8", then 12", 16" and now have a 25" but the 12-16" range is my favorite. An 8" Delta DJ 20 is not the most precision machine on the planet but a used one is a decent starter machine. Dave

A 8" DJ20 from 30 years ago was a good machine. Are they still as good today?

The first DJ 20 were Invicta machines made in Brazil and they are generally considered the pick of the litter. The blue ones were Taiwan and the last gray ones were China. The stands were labeled made in America but the tables were cast and planed somewhere that didn't get too deeply into precision. Each of my Taiwan tables is off .008 . My 60 years old Oliver and Porter are more like .002 over the total of the two. New jointers are spec'd more like the DJ 20 and depending on where the flaws are determines how well they seem to joint. Dave

Interesting that the Brazilian machines were superior. I was never sure what to make of the Invicta machines, stayed away from them, referred old usa iron. On the other hand, the SCM Invincible machines Delta imported early on were pretty nice, have an S50 planer that has been very good for me

Originally Posted by StewartMorrisonv

Thanks for your feedback, guys! If we talk about me, I'm an office worker and I can't call myself a handyman, so I decided to take a woodworking course for beginners to master these skills and learn a new craft. Well, I grew up without a father, so no one could teach me this..During the search, I found a buying guide with benchtop jointer reviews on https://mitersawjudge.com/best-benchtop-jointer-reviews-and-buying-guide/ and I want you to help me choose the best one. I really want to buy a quality jointer that'll make wood perfectly straight so it can fit together with other pieces without any problems.

If you are just starting out, don't spend money a new jointer at this stage. While you might not be satisfied for more than a year or two with an older 4" or 6" jointer, buying one used will let you play around with a machine that isn't too unwieldy and when you are done, they are easy to re-sell in the $75-$150 range. If you buy a new one and decide it's not what you want or need, you have to figure on losing at least 25% of your purchase price to re-sell it.