Low cost easy setup jointer

most new jointers will be more than HF but you might take a look at grizzly and see what they have. The spiral head jointers are the easiest to change blades on.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

As Jim said, look for one that has a spiral cutterhead, Shelix is a brand name. I put on in my planer and am considering getting one for my jointer. They are pricey but in the long run cheaper to use. They don’t have blades they have carbide inserts, and each has 4 cutting edges. When it gets dull or nicked you rotate it 90 degrees and it’s sharp again. You’d have to nick it four times in the exact same spot before you would have to replace any of the carbide inserts and then, last time I checked, it might cost you $10 to replace the 3 that got nicked in that spot. And the Shelix I got for my planer came with 10 spare carbide inserts.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

That one at HF is pretty nice. I bet Grizzly has the same model.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

The HF is a work horse. High quality, powerful, easy to use. It is being discontinued and is in stores only at $199 Use a 20% coupon and get it for peanuts. No jointer on the market does anything differently of better. It’s worth tracking down. I’ve had mine allmost 5 years and no problems. Won’t do without it.

Steve

-- Steve in KY. 44 years so far with my lovely bride. Think I'll keep her.

Hi Steve, how is the tuning of the HF one? My craftsman works good but it’s too small and too long to tune, plus it’s about 15 years old time to update anyway.

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.

Martin,

It’s been several years, but to the best of my recollection, it was pretty simple. The instructions were clear, fit and finish was good, and assembly simple. It cut well out of the box and still does; with the ORIGINAL blades. I just hone them now and again with an impossibly cheap looking two stone plastic tool that is very effective, no longer available at HF (natch), but is available at more than twice the price (still worth it, maybe) at Woodcrap.

The one problem I had, other than breaking the spring holder for the porkchop (my bad) and the switch box filling with sawdust and jamming the switch (5 min fix), was my fault. I tried to joint 8’ + pieces, never a good idea, and of course was chewing up too much lumber. Instead of thinking about it, I did what so many on here do and blamed the machine. I tried to adjust the tables to fix a non-existant problem, made it worse, and learned about my jointer the hard way trying to get it back where it was. I did and haven’t messed with the tables again. Just wax the bed periodically, keep the fence square to the table. and be careful. It cuts almost as well as my DW735 planer and that’s saying something.

Steve

-- Steve in KY. 44 years so far with my lovely bride. Think I'll keep her.

Thanks Steve, I have the dewalt 734 and it is the best planer I’ve ever owned, I will most likely take a trip to HF today or tomorrow and pick that up. I have the 20% coupon and your advice was very helpful.

Thanks again

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.