Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | Jun 23, 2009 05:30pm | #1

   I do my 6" jointer knives, hand held on stones. I just slide them back and forth length ways. Like most any blade, it takes a while to flatten the backs and remove the grinder marks on the edge. Once that's done you can resharpen fairly easily. I like a straight stoned edge better than the coarse, serated edge from a grinder.

   Carbide knives don't have as sharp a cutting edge as other choices. The carbide can be brittle. They are better suited to a high production shop where finish isn't important.

   Some like the insert blades but they are a fairly expensive addition to something like a 6" jointer. In my experience, they leave little scallops, are more time consuming to change than straight blades.

   I'm a full time shop and my jointer blades can last months depending on the materials I'm running. I avoid knotty lumber and don't lay my wood on the floor where sand and debris can be picked up. I do a lot of edge glue ups and only need one pass to get a perfect fit. I don't typically use highly figured solid wood every day. Primarily, I'm running FAS hardwoods. With straight blades you always have the option of changing the bevel if you are always working with challenging lumber.

   I think there is a lot of hype about jointer and planer blades. I'm a 'keep it simple' type person. I've worked in a few large production shops and they all use straight blades, too. There isn't anything that rivals the quality of the cut, the ease of maintenance or the cost.

   Magazines need to fill their pages. They can make mountains out of mole hills as can many woodworkers. You have to decide if your goal is to have the prettiest shop with all the latest gizmos to impress your friends and sound like an expert or your goal is to do woodworking. I would advise staying with the simple, tried and true until that doesn't meet your needs. Then look for solutions to your problems rather than trying to anticipate or imagine things that are just theoretical, at best. The latest and greatest won't make up for improper set up or operator error.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Jun 24, 2009 08:00am | #2

   Sounds like we are of opposite ideas. I switched to a spiral carbide cutterhead for ease of changing. Also, I do have a diamond stone and can sharpen the carbide cutters if I like. I switched because it seems simpler to change knives - no resetting of tables or fussing with table height. That said, I haven't yet changed the cutters. Also, the stock 3-blade cutterhead that I replaced used the standard system (jack screws and a clamping bar) - a Tersa cutterhead would simplify knife changes.I don't rely on any of my power tools to provide me with a finished surface. Surfaces get refined later by hand.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com and now http://www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happiness.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

1. 
   Jammersix | Jun 24, 2009 11:01pm | #3

   That's what I was going to say-- a jointer is not a finish tool.But then I thought "maybe he has a way to use a jointer to make a finish... now that would be fast."But I don't rely on any power tool with the exception of an orbital sander to produce a finished surface.

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Jun 25, 2009 05:19am | #5

   Maybe if I drilled a series of holes in the cutterhead and hooked it up to an inverted bottle of shellac...Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com and now http://www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happiness.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

1. 
   Jammersix | Jul 01, 2009 03:00am | #11

   You'd want to make sure it applied the shellac AFTER the cut, though.Otherwise, you'd have shellac on the ceiling, the walls, in your hair and a soft, thin coat on the windows, and then the cutter would take back off the one place you wanted it.At least, that's how it would go if I were doing it...Gotta give credit where it's due, though-- you could make one HELL of a mess, with a bare minimum of effort.I suppose, though, then you could just replace the bottle with a bottle of shellac thinner, and clean it all up.The mind boggles.

2. 
   RalphBarker | Jun 25, 2009 12:40am | #4

   Doesn't everyone have coarse, medium, fine and super-fine jointers? ;-)

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Jun 25, 2009 05:19am | #6

   Mine is super-fine, just like me.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com and now http://www.flairwoodworks.com)

    - Success is not the key to happiness.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

3. 
   hammer1 | Jun 25, 2009 04:18pm | #9

   When the time comes that you have to change all the cutters, clean up the gunk and get everything back together, it will be quite a job. Carbide is also available in straight knives but they are like router bits, not something you can shave with and prone to chipping.I'm doing a bunch of drawers right now. They are 8" deep and I've had to glue up 2 or 3 pieces for each side and back x 36 drawers. Being able to make one or two edge passes on the jointer to mate the glue ups is a real time saver. When I straighten out the edge and rip to final width, the jointer pass goes on the bottom, the ripped edge gets shaped, another time saver that results in a clean straight edge, devoid of any tooling marks. These are just a couple of examples where a great edge, that doesn't need any extra work, can go directly into a project.I'm hesitant to say it out loud but the drawer parts came out of the planer so nicely, they didn't need any sanding. Straight blades on the planer. When you are talking about a few hundred passes and many parts, being able to accomplish your goal without any extra work makes the difference between profit and loss. Same is true for just a couple of parts. Nothing does a quicker, easier and more precise job than a well set up jointer, time after time. With sharp, straight knives and the appropriate feed rate, there are no tooling marks visible to the naked eye.Another issue on this particular project is that I'm using sliding dovetail construction on the drawers. If I had to do any additional work that might change the equal thickness of the parts, the fit of this joint could be effected. Since I cut the tail from each face, any discrepancy is doubled. 1/32" makes a difference on this particular joint.It seldom matters what level the finish cut is when you are flattening a face before going in the planer, it doesn't even have to be completely surfaced. It's another story when you are doing edges. No doubt companies like Grizzly sell a lot of jointers with insert cutterheads. The question is, do you really need them, are there any drawbacks, are they worth the extra cost for what you do. If you are running a 16" RJ42 that sounds like a 747, surfacing faces, by all means, consider a spiral insert head. For a 6" jointer in a small shop doing edges, maybe not.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

2. 
   JulianBE | Jun 25, 2009 08:43pm | #10

   Thanks for everybody's helpful answers. I should have made it clearer that I meant straight carbide blades rather than the insert heads, but I got some good answers about both types. It does seem like the straight HSS blades will suit me best. Thanks!

2. 
   wchips | Jun 25, 2009 05:24am | #7

   HI

      to sharpen my jointer and planer knives I use a mekits wet stone grinder Cannot recall the modle # but the grinding stone  lays flat and there is a guide i clamp the knives inand move them across the rotating stone. Works real well. I have been using it for about 20 years now.will have to buy a new stone in the near future.

             Have a nice day Lee 

3. 
   stevemorris | Jun 25, 2009 02:01pm | #8

   i use the leevalley honeing jig regularly for my jointer knives also using their micro abrasives and glass plate

   im a small production shop and runn a few hundred bdft a month so honing those knives is a once every two month job or on freshly ground or new knives