I find that the jointer is one of the most complex tools to calibrate. But if you ever used one that was out of shape, you know exactly why calibration is critical to your success. I hear from so many woodworkers who think their jointing problems are due to technique, when in reality, its the jointer itself that’s presenting the issues.

Its a two-part process that starts with leveling the infeed and outfeed tables and making them coplanar. Next, you need to adjust the knives in the cutterhead so that they are in line with the outfeed table. Neither process is fast, but I’ll take you through it step by step.

Hidden inside this video is actually a bit of a product review. There are many jigs on the market that will help you set up your jointer knives. I wanted to try a few of them so that I could give you a recommendation one way or the other. Here are my biased and opinionated findings:

Jointer Pal – ($27-$84) This is the jig I’ve been using for years. Its perfect for folks who don’t want to fuss around with dial indicators since the magnet does all the work. And it is fast and easy to use (about 3 minutes per blade). But since jointer blades tend to raise up when you tighten them in place, you have no way of knowing if your blades truly are level with the outfeed table. Mine showed a variance of .001-.005 across the length of the blade. All in all, that’s not to bad considering the quick setup time. But its far from perfect. And in order to use this jig properly, you have to find the top dead center of the blade’s path, which is usually easier said than done.

MLCS 9397 Jointer Planer Knife Setting Jig ($79) – By far, my biggest disappointment in the test. Like the Jointer Pal, this system works using magnets, only this one bridges the infeed and outfeed tables. It also has a nice dial that you turn to raise and lower the center magnet, which allows you to micro-adjust the blade. But I found that the blades still move when they are tightened down and the magnets didn’t provide enough force to prevent this from happening. This pretty much defeats the purpose of the micro adjustments. Furthermore, I don’t see how this would be useful as a standalone jig. You still need a dial indicator to tell you what the height of the blade is relative to the outfeed table. Otherwise, you are pretty much flying blind. And unlike the Jointer Pal, there is no built-in reference point. So I am going to recommend skipping this product.

OneWay Multi-Gauge ($94) – Essentially this is just a variation of the classic dial indicator jig. But holy moly is this thing awesome! The jig is incredibly heavy and has a nice wide foot-print. The dial indicator features a wide flat foot that is critical for setting the knives. The standard tapered tip that comes with most dial indicators just won’t do. The dial indicator itself is mounted in such a way that it faces you, which is incredibly convenient when setting knives. This unit is absolutely rock solid. But in my shop, its use will most likely be limited to setting up the jointer, the planer, and the drum sander.

Deluxe A-Line-It ($145) – This is another variation of the dial indicator system, only this unit does a bunch of other things too. It truly is a jack of all trades setup jig and will help you calibrate everything from the tablesaw, to the drill press, to the bandsaw! The dial indicator comes with numerous tips, including a flat one. So how does it compare to the ONEWAY? Its lighter and less stable due to the 3/4″ wide aluminum base. The foot on the dial indicator is not as wide as the ONEWAY, which is not a huge problem but that extra width is truly appreciated. And the dial on this unit faces the infeed table, instead of the user. Seems like a minor thing until you have to stand up to view the gauge head-on about 40-50 times.

So my final verdict? If you want cheap and simple with somewhat unpredictable results, go for the Jointer Pal. If you want a jack of all trades setup jig, go for the A-Line-It. And if you want the best jig for the job, get the ONEWAY. And if you don’t want to deal with any of this crap, get a helical head!

Egos aside, how wide do you really need your planer to be? If I have an 8″ jointer, do I really need a 20″ planer to flatten the other side of the board? Yes, I could glue two 8″ boards together and plane them together, but is the quality really that much better? I have searched extensively for the answer and turned up empty handed. I am not looking to save money, I want the best tool for the job. I am hoping you have the time to share a little of your wisdom.

As with most things woodworking, it really depends on your personal work habits and the kind of projects you build, so you’ll find a lot of differing opinions on this topic. Some believe you should get as much capacity as possible, and others think you shouldn’t go much wider than your jointer bed. But even the smallest planer on the market is going to be about 12″ wide, which is significantly wider that most of our jointers. Obviously this is very handy for planing down glued up panels and skip-planing extra wide boards.

But do you really need a 20″ planer? Absolutely not! It may come in handy someday if you want to plane a super wide panel, but that rarely ever happens in my shop. Most times, after the glueup, my panels receive a little sanding/scraping/hand planing to finish them off and that’s it. So for me, 20″ is more than I really need. In fact I recently downsized from a 20″ planer to a Powermatic 15″ unit. I wanted to upgrade to a helical head and I really liked the idea of something with a smaller footprint. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I had the 20″ model for over 5 years and never used more than 15″ of its capacity. So in my shop, the 15″ model makes good sense. Its been a year since the switch and I have yet to say to myself, “Boy I sure wish I had that 20″ planer!”

What do you guys think? Would a super wide planer be beneficial to your shop, or is it merely a “nice to have” item?

Questions or Comments?You can get a hold of us by either dropping us an email at woodtalkonline@gmail.com or you can pick up the phone and leave us a message on our voice mail at 623-242-2450.

What’s on the Workbench?
Marc – Just finished the Wall-Hanging Tool Chest for the Guild.
Matt – installed his bandsaw riser block…wow that’s tall!

News:
Norm is retiring!! Woodworking Magazine interview with Russ Morash, producer of the New Yankee Workshop.

International Dress Like Norm Day
In honor of Norm Abram, the folks at Woodworking Magazine and Popular Woodworking are asking all Norm fans to dress like the man, take a photo of yourself in costume and send it to me by midnight Monday, Nov. 2, at chris.schwarz@fwmedia.com. The person who sends in the best photo (as determined by our staff), will win a great prize.

Magazine Roundup:
Matt’s Pick: A Woodworker’s Journal article on green finishing by Micael Dresdner.
Marc’s Picks: Fine Woodworking’s “How to Design Furniture” book/magazine thingie and The “Build or Buy” article in the latest issue of Popular Woodworking.

Around the Web:
A couple cool iPhone Apps to try out- ID Wood and Boardfeet
Official website for Splinter “the car”- check out the veneer loom and more
Skateboards from fallen limbs and axes

Holiday Project Templates at Eagle America – Get ‘em while they’re hot!

PBS’s The Router Workshop Video Series ($4.00 for each month)
You will receive one episode per week of the Router Workshop. There are 183 episodes in this video library.

An Interesting Scenario to ponder:
17yr old kid wants to be a woodworker. Already has some shop experience and is showing great potential. Does he aim for a woodworking school or business school?
Listen to the show to hear advice from your fellow woodworkers, as well as the staff of Popular Woodworking.

Magazine Website Roundup (Pt. 2):

WOOD-
User-generated videos
How to Videos from the Wood Magazine Editors
Free tool demos
Over 100 Pay-per Download titles
Forums
Free Weekly Newsletter (no sales pitches)
More than 1000 woodworking plans for sale in the Wood Store
A comprehensive index of every article that has appeared in WOOD magazine

Woodworker’s Journal Offerings (Rob Johnstone – Editor in Chief, and don’t you forget it!)
Homepage
eZine (an online woodworking magazine emailed every two weeks)
There’s also two other sites of interest: WomeninWoodworking and FreePlans.com.
In addition to these websites, they also offer a fully digital version of the print magazine with supplemental digital content.
Of course there’s also an online store selling back issues, downloadable digital plans, books, CDs.
And they also have a blog page with Chris Marshall as it’s main blogger. But all of the staff at one point or another use from time to time.

Sweet Deals:
FREE Super Saver Shipping on ANY SIZE ORDER at Eagle America! Use promo code WOODTALK61 at checkout and select Free Shipping as your shipping method. (Offer valid for two weeks only, now thru 11/9/2009).

20% off Sorby turning tools and free shipping on Jet Lathes now through Nov 1st at Woodcraft.com

It Came from the Forum:
Woodworking in the Cold

Voicemail:
Roberto has a great question concerning planer/jointer blades: to sharpen or to buy?

Tom’s Tip (TomsWorkbench.com): BBQ’s make great mobile carts?!?!
Village Carpenter’s Tip: (Village Carpenter): Dental tools, for more than just torture!

Well Marc I had an accident on my jointer on 04/25/09. I was milling maple for your cutting board design when the accident (carelessness) happened. I had just run the piece through on its face and pushed the piece through no problem. Well i didn’t push the piece all the way past the blade guard which left it propped open about two and a half inches (see pic) exposing the spinning blades. I reached for the end of the board closest to the blades and that’s when it happened.

My ring finger on my right hand came into the blades path. I heard a little hum and my hand immediately jerked back. I was scared to look down to see what happened to my hand. Marc I was lucky, I was bleeding moderately but my finger was all there. I hand cut a 1/16th inch deep flap about the size of your pinky nail (see pic). There is no room in woodworking for carelessness or lack of safety around machines. It could of been much much worse but safety will come first in my shop from now on.

Please let this serve on your site as a testament to safety especially for upcoming safety week.

One thing I do every time I approach a tool is think of the worst-case scenarios. Its a bit gruesome to let your imagination take you there, but there is a good reason for it. This simple mental exercise not only raises your awareness of the potential dangers, but essentially shows you exactly what you need to do to prevent injury.

Here is Brent’s story:

“I was in my garage and working on a project for a family member. I had worked all day at my job and decided to get some shop time in because this project was taking me forever to complete. The amount of time this was taking was way longer than I originally thought. I just finished gluing up some boards and should of called it quits for the night. I was exhausted and hungry. Instead of shutting the lights out and going inside I decided to use the jointer and flatten some boards for the next step. This would give me a head start for the next day. As I passed the boards over the jointer (not using a push block), I noticed I was getting a large amount of snipe. I don’t know what I was thinking or what I was not thinking due to being tired but I adjusted the out feed table. When I did this adjustment I lowered it a little too much. The next board I ran across started to bounce and I instinctively pushed the board down to control it. The board then shot out and my hand came down on the blades. This accident sent me to the emergency room. When I arrived they stuck a needle in my palm about seven times to numb it. I also received an IV and tetanus shot. I then had to hold my hand under running water for fifteen minutes. The surgeon then came in only to tell me they were shipping me to another hospital where a specialist could work on me. The plastic surgeon operated on me the next day. I received a skin graft from my arm to my palm that resulted in twelve staples and fifteen stitches. Lessons learned: 1) Don’t woodwork when you are hungry and tired. 2) Know your equipment and its correct operation. 3) Push sticks and safety equipment are less expensive than hospital bills (by far). 4) When you rush to meet a deadline it can cost you dearly. The photos are from the day the bandage, staples, and stitches were removed. This was about seven days after the accident. The one good thing I got from this accident was it taught me to respect the equipment and never work without the use of safety equipment. I am now recovering fine and have full use of my hand. I was very lucky it could have been a lot worse.”

WARNING!!! The photos below depict the results of a serious power tool injury.

Ouch 1, Ouch 2, Ouch 3, Ouch 4

Hi Marc. I only have the money to buy one tool at a time with months in between purchases. If you were going to choose between a planer and jointer, which one would come first?

And here was my reply:
Hey Doug. Excellent question. If I had to pick only one, I would get the planer first. That way you can at least get your lumber pretty darn close to flat and parallel. Furthermore, you can resize your lumber when necessary. And for jointing tasks, you can always do a few tricks at the tablesaw, or use a router and a straight edge. Or just invest in a nice long jointer plane. I’ll tell ya, these days, I would be lost without both the jointer AND the planer. So sad.

But that’s just my opinion. I think Doug would be best served hearing everyone’s opinions about this question. So what would you find most useful on it’s own, the planer or the jointer?

Our first voicemail was from Wilbur. His question involved power jointer vs. jointing with hand planes. Skee called in, he was curious about the use of different wood species within the same project and how you balance that. Are there rules or guidelines that you use? Matt thought it was a matter of matching up the grain pattern. Marc thought it was a personal choice and that exotics were very good for accents. Marc and Matt received a comment from J.T. concerning his new purchase of the Leigh FMT mortise and tenon jig. He has had outstanding results-makes for a perfect joint. A definite time saver. Marc and Matt welcome any comments on the FMT. They would love to see any projects from their viewers.

First email from Mike who has a moisture issue on his cast iron tool tops. His question was how do I remove rust from cast iron and prevent it from happening again. What can I coat the cast iron with and where can I buy it? The guys suggested checking out the forums and Marc also explained his technique to remove rust. A novice in fine woodworking wrote in to ask if the guys had any suggestions or tips on how to deal with twisted or cupped stock. Matt suggested cutting into smaller pieces and working around the defect. If a board is going to twist it will. Marc also mentioned, don’t be afraid to scrap a piece. Skee had a question of structure versus weight. How do you know how much weight the stucture you build can take? Are there common rules of thumb about size and span that they can cover? Matt suggested woodbin.com, the project design and furniture standard section. The second part to question was a concern on driveway. What can I do to clean up material? Marc recommends TSP and wire brush.
Daryl wanted to know what they would recommend to use for dovetails? The guys agreed that everyone has a different opinion on this. Daryl’s second part to his question involved needing help tuning a old Bailey jack plane and a Stanley smoothing plane? Matt directed him to check out the video podcast at mattsbasementworkshop.com. The Basics of tuning up planes.

Their next question was a request to provide a source or list of wood species and their toxicity. Matt recommended staying away from holly. Marc suggested that there is no good dust. You should always wear a respirator. Here are some helpful links:
Health Hazards in Woodworking
Botanical Database

Ty’s question was, how do you pay for downloads? Marc mentioned that there are a lot of free resources out there. The standard upkeep of the site is where the cost comes in. Roberto had a question that dealt with a Norm Abrams show where Norm dealt with loose mortise and tenon joints. Scott wrote in with a question for Marc. He wanted to know more details about working with David Marks, and if Marc would ever consider giving the same opportunity. Marc recommended checking out djmarks.com.

Also an email from a serious hobbyist asking for a suggestion for a planer. Matt suggests a Rigid lunchbox planer. But as always, it depends on a person’s budget. Then we have Louis who is working on a bed for his baby daughter. He wanted to ask the guys on their experiences with shellac. Marc and Matt agreed that the shellac would work well in this application. Recommended spraying it on. Then finally, we have Kevin who wanted to know what the guys thought about a combo jointer planer. He purchased the 6″ versus the 8″ joiner and currently has a lunch box planer. Neither Marc or Matt are fans of the combo. An 8″ jointer would save time and trouble.