# Oh, for an 8" Jointer!



## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

Today is the day I wish that I had an 8" jointer.

Don't get me wrong … I love my Grizzly G0452, but it is only a 6" machine.

I am building a Christmas present (yeah, I know Christmas is over … that's another story) with drawers that are 7 1/2" deep.

I used to buy maple drawer stock (kiln-dried, milled to any width/thickness I needed, and flat) from a cabinet shop near the town where we used to live. I figured I would be able to buy similar stock where we live now, but no dice. The closest I could come was 4/4 stock, and none of it was flat … slight twists and cups.

With an 8" jointer, I would have been in like a porch-climber, but without one, I was looking at either a lot of hand-plane work, or s work-around using a sled on my DW733 planer. I opted for the planer. I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood 12 1/2" wide and 43" long, and glued a 3/8" cleat on one end.

I cut about 20 door shims down to 3" or so in length to use as wedges between the sled and the workpiece.

I put the first board on the sled and tacked down the leading edge with hot glue. I then hot-glued wedges into anyplace along the length of the board where there was a gap and hot-glued plywood scraps along the liner edges of the board to keep it stable. I chalked up the face of the board, then we were off to the planer where I took off light cuts (1/64" at a time) until I got the planed surface of the boards flat. That gives me one flat surface for the next few passes through the planer to get down to the thickness I want (1/2").

It took me close to 4 hours to get all of the raw stock for my drawers … with an 8" jointer it would have taken me maybe 15 minutes.

I have already started my 2014 Christmas Wish List!


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## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

The year I bought my vintage 8" powermatic, I also bought a load of cherry and all of it was 9-12". That's just the way it works out. If you bought a 12" jointer then rest assured your neighbor would show up the next day with a 15" slab of some exotic he dug out of the shed.
On the bright side - that's a great jig/workaround for surfacing wide stock and next time you need to do it you'll have the process down pat.


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## JoeLyddon (Apr 22, 2007)

Nice Workaround!

I've seen a few jigs for the Thickness Planer that work like what you did…
... Looks like they would work good!
COOL on using Hot Glue!

Thank you!


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

I have a 400mm or 16in over/under and yes I often need a 20in for glued up panels .


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## rasp (Mar 20, 2012)

try this?

http://woodgears.ca/jointer/wide_boards.html


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

JustJoe-There you go again … looking for silver lining in every cloud!

Joe Lyddon-Without the hot glue (or maybe double-face tape), there is a risk the planer will grab the board and gouge the h### out of it. Don't ask me how I know!

rasp-I thought about doing what Matthias Wandel did in the video, but these boards had too much linear twist. To me, his method works better if the lumber is cupped but not twisted.


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

*TheDane*...would this technique have worked for you? Forward the video about half through to see the jointer trick. The first half covers hand plane work

http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/milling-wide-boards/


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Gerry, I use my planer like you did only I just tack the wedges to the sled with a few brad nails using my pneumatic gun. Seems quicker and stronger than the hot glue in my hands.


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## BentheViking (May 19, 2011)

if you really wanna get fancy schmancy try this one from FWW


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

kdc68-I wish I would have thought of doing what Marc Spagnoulo did in his video. I may give that as hot the next time the need arises.

BentheViking-Actually, a jig like the one in the FWW video might be worth building depending on how much of this kind of problem I run into. Thanks!


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

*TheDane*...I own a 6" jointer as well. I stumbled upon Marc's video at a perfect time as I was in a similar situation as you were for a project. I tried his technique with 7 and 8 inch wide boards and it worked like a charm. Glad I could pass this great jointer trick along


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

I used Marc's method before I purchased my 8" jointer. It is a good technique, and with a 6" jointer you can mill stock up to 8-9" wide.


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## HillbillyShooter (Feb 15, 2012)

JustJoe hits it on the head the best IMHO. Sounds like you've developed a great work around that we all would be wise to keep in mind-especially for that 8-1/2" board. Congratulations.


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## levan (Mar 30, 2010)

Here's the answer to the problem 

http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=25064&acctid=226


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

levan-Yup, that's what I need … I'd just have to build an addition onto the shop to make room for it.

The cabinet shop at a tech school where I took some classes a couple of years ago had two of these babies … Northfield makes darned fine machines.


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