Newbie jointer question

Hi Mike—

You can live a full and meaningful woodworking life with a straight-knife jointer.

Is a four knife head 1/3 better than a three? Is a three knife cutterhead 25% less effective than a four? Small difference. This needn’t be a factor in making a decision when you’re shopping used.

This puts us back to the question which is asked so often that the answer could reasonably be required in everyone’s signature line: What kind of woodworking are you going to do?

If it’s centered around exploring exotic woods and building lots of furniture from highly figured examples, the spiral cutterhead would be an excellent investment.

If you’re going to build cabinets for yourself and your children and their children, not so much.

As for upgrading a used unit, Byrd Shelix makes some convincing claims about the long term financial advantage on the same site as this list of jointers which they can retrofit.

It looks like in general terms adding a Shelix head to a used 8” tool could about double your investment. If it’s a sound tool, and you’re young and quilted tiger ray fiddleback petrified stumpwood gets your pulse rate up to the temperature on a summer day, there’s no question in my mind that it’s worth pungling up the money for one.

If you’re retired, minding your quarters and dimes, you may opt for postponing the retrofit until the next time you get your cholesterol numbers back from your GP.

Happy hunting. And I hope you get a green Powermatic or an old Delta. They have soul.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

I doubt Lee’s response can be improved upon. Worth reading twice.

-- John, BC, Canada

I would add that the cost of a spiral cutterhead upgrade is significant. You may find that you would spend almost as much on a used jointer plus a Byrd spiral cutterhead as you would buying a new jointer that has a spiral cutterhead to start with.

Either way you go, you are making the right decision by getting at least an 8” wide jointer. Having a large jointer with a spiral cutterhead will keep you in the habit of face jointing your material, which will make a huge improvement in your woodworking.

-- Kelby

Thanks for the great advice everyone. I ended up buying a mint condition Rockwell 6” this morning for under $100. I’ll. spend some time learning on this machine and it allows me the time to find the right 8”.

Excellent move, Mike. The Rockwell (which should have been on the soul list) will not depreciate in your shop, you can get to doing stuff, and the right 8 will show up on your front porch in the near future.

(Thanks for the compliment, John. Much appreciated,)

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

That was a quick move Mike, and as Lee already very eloquently stated, the right one.

-- There is nothing like the sound of a well tuned hand plane. - http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com (timetestedtools at hotmail dot c0m)

Yeah. I bought it on the spot. At the price he was asking, I was afraid that I would miss the opportunity if I hesitated. I just tried it out, and it runs perfectly.