jet 708475 12" planer / jointer

[ChuckC]

Anybody Have Any Experience With One Of These ?

Thinking Of One And Would Like Your Thoughts.
chuckc

[fujimo]

not that model- but i have a jointer- great for squaring up riser blocks, trimming fingernails etc etc
ask bert frelink about jointers- he was using one to thin some bamboo- skinned his hand up some- so be careful- still a handy machine!!!

[red hill]

Chuck, I use a Wilton 6.5" jointer/planer. Wayne is right! Be careful! Doesn't take but a moment to mess up a finger, hand, or whatever.

[wood carver 2]

Wayne, as a lifelong woodworker, nothing makes me cringe like talking about or even thinking about touching a jointer blade.
Mine is old and 10 inches wide and doesn't have a guard, but that's fine as long as I don't wear loose clothing and use push blocks for everything I plane.
Dave.

[Roy from Pa]

They scare the crap out of me...

[fujimo]

pretty high speed hamburger grinder!!    
ol'Big Bert was outta action for quite a while!!

[Roy from Pa]

Buddy of mine lost his index finger tip down to the first joint. The block of wood he was using for a push block broke and his hand flew into the blades. He had used a jointer for years. I don't even use mine anymore since I got the drum and edge sander. When you turn on a jointer, it's saying I want to eat your fingers. I hated it every time I turned it on!

[ChuckC]

Yup, they scare me too, but they sure can be handy for making things square.  Prepping a piece of wood to be a handle or laminations is something that must be done from time to time.

This unit is big, so I can use it for other projects as well, but it is not cheap, so, anyone that has knowledge of it, please yell out some advice.

Half the tools in my workshop scare me and most can cut or mangle an unobservant person really quickly.   Why do I like sharp things ?

Thanks
ChuckC

[Roy from Pa]

A jointer will not make things square and flat, all it does is take off an even amount of wood. Now a drum sander will make things square and even. Of all the tools in my shop, the jointer is the most dangerous. And it's for sale..  

[ChuckC]

Have a drum sander,  you gotta start with a good flat side, square or not.  

ChuckC

[Roy from Pa]

Yes you do Chuck. And the drum sander will make the surface flat. As will the jointer. But the drum sander will take off the higher edge, leaving the board flat and even, where as the jointer will just take off and even amount across the board, still leaving it an uneven thickness.

[fujimo]

shuwa Roy- but how does one get a 90 degree using the sander- thats my fear- cos i then have to use the jointer, cos if the block is pushed up hard against the fence, the bottom face will be cut square to it- - i just dont know how to do that with the sander- please help me- so i can toss the jointer!!   :D

[Roy from Pa]

Turn the board on it's edge..    I get both flat sides even, then the band saw with the fence. But I don't worry about the edges as they get cut off when the bow is cut out.

[Crooked Stic]

Yep like Roy said. Get two sides parallel with each other thru the sander them use one of the sanded sides down and run it thru the table or bandsaw on both other sides and it is square.

[wood carver 2]

There's more than one way to skin a cat. For me the jointer is indispensable. If I did my planning by hand, it would take too long to build furniture. When I have more space, I'm moving up to a 7 foot long, 12 inch with a spiral cutter head. I wish I still had my Dad's old 4 inch jointer. It would be ideal for bamboo.
Whatever tools you use, safety and being totally focused are the keys. I cut my hand on the bandsaw (the safest tool in the shop) because I had a pretty face on my mind rather than the block of wood I was cutting. At least the scar looks like a Nike logo.      
Dave.

[fujimo]

[ChuckC]

I guess I'm not quite following the thought.  Both the jointer and the drum (thickness) sander remove wood from a side.  They do it in much the same way, albeit one uses blades to cut, the other used sharp particles embedded onto a cloth to abrade.

One cuts from the bottom, one cuts from the top.
How is that any different in outcome ?

Both have their place in a shop.
ChuckC

[Roy from Pa]

Yes Chuck, they both are great tools.

The drum is mounted on a shaft and the board passes underneath it. If one side of the board is thicker than the other side, the drum is only going to contact the high side. With repeated passes and raising the belt higher, the high side keeps getting taken off till the drum contacts the entire width of the board.

With a jointer, the board lays flat on the table and contacts the blade evenly, so all the jointer will do is make the board thinner, it won't make it level flat thickness wise. So if one edge of the board is 1/8th thicker than the opposite edge, repeated passes through the jointer will not make the board an even thickness from edge to edge. It will make the board thinner, but one edge will still be 1/8th thicker than the opposite edge. Hope that makes sense.

[ChuckC]

It does,  thanks,  but that is what the planer portion of this gizmo is for, once you have the flat side.

I agree, with some exceptions, the drum sander can do most of what a jointer / planer can do.  just slower.

However, I am not even gonna try running a .030 lamination thru a planer.  It MIGHT be OK, but I am not counting on it.
ChuckC

[Roy from Pa]

Yes the planer portion will suffice. I used my jointer for years and it did what I needed, but now that I have the drum sander, I use it. Much safer and more precise. And yes a planer would destroy .030 lams..