# Can you some how use a 6 inch jointer to cut 12 wood?



## Bsigns (Jun 30, 2012)

Looking to buy a jointer but i will be needing to use 12 in wood most of the time. The 12 version seem to cost way more then i can afford.

Can you use a 6 inch wide jointer for 12 inch wood some how?

Thanks i am new to a lot of this.


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## LepelstatCrafts (Jan 16, 2011)

yes you can. What you do is remove the guard and joint one side of the board as far as the jointer rabbet will allow. Then take the jointed face and place it on an already planed board with the rabbet face down. Attach it will double sided tape. Run the un-jointed side of the board through your planer so that one side becomes flat. Flip the board over and plane the rabbeted side.

Here is a great video of how to do it: video


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## MonteCristo (May 29, 2012)

I watched the video Mike mentions and it is indeed a slick way to handle wider boards. I am not so sure about going all the way to twice your jointer's width. I think I would check the surface that first gets planed by the PLANER (ie after the initial jointer work) to make sure the board didn't bow when it went thru, given that it is only 1/2 supported below by the part of the board that was first jointed. This would be especially true for thinner boards.

Also, this technique probably doesn't do quite as well on boards with complex grain and which don't plane as freely, although in that case it might just mean an extra pass thru the planer once both sides are flattened.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

You can do it but it's easy to miss the forest for the trees…
because (A) you'll lose some good thickness by jointing cup
out of wide boards instead of ripping and jointing them,
(B) You'll probably have to work your boards with hand
planes anyway, (C) such surfacing increases the already
considerable learning curve of jointer use and (D) you 
can flatten boards in several other ways.


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