I have been just bought a two new set of blades for both my 8″ jointer and 15″ planner. I am sick of using the old block of wood trick to get the blades in and out and have been wondering how everyone else does it and whether or not it would be of any benefit to go out and buy a magnetic knife setting jig. Just looking for ideas as of now.
The wife tells me that her New Years resolution is that I am not making an new tool purchases, I keep telling that is if she doesn’t want to buy any new tools than that is fine I will buy them for her. Funny thing is she didn’t laugh.
Scott C. Frankland
“This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control”
Replies
Scott,
I can't help you with your problem. My planer has a custom jig that I use to set the blades, but a bud of mine swears by the magnetic setting jigs.
An observation: Few women, in my experience, have a very good sense of humor. Judging by my own wife, when it comes to tools, wives have NO sense of humor at all.;-)
Hope this helps
Enery
Yes I have found that with women, and when I think I got it all figure out along comes FG and Wanda and they blow my whole idea out of the water. Go figure.
Anyway what type of jig does your buddy have is it the type that lays flat on the bed or the tyoe that sits on the cutter head?Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website"This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"
The one he has sits flat on the bed.
You'll notice I said "FEW" women have a sense of humor...
I'm convinced that all women are kin to one another. One of the reasons I'm so crazy is that half my ancestors are women... ;-))
My Old Man told me that the problem with women is that they think men can't live without them. The problem with men is that it's true. He was a wise man, but older than I am. :-))
Enery
Actually, my sweetie was out shopping and ran into the next-door neighbor who was out buying jewelry for his wife for Christmas. He bragged about the fact that he could come home with a new tool for me or for him (as long as it's a woodworking tool or something to work on MY truck with - hehehe!) and I would be happy as a clam.
On the subject of inheritable stuff - I tell all my friends that ALL men have a "jerk" gene - it's on the Y chromosome so us girls don't have it. EVEN though MANY men can successfully overcome the negative effects of this gene for very long periods of time - sooner or later it rears it's ugly head. Luckily my sweetie keeps his under control almost ALL the time.
BTW - don't know a dang thing about changing jointer/planer blades BUT I'm sure sooner or later I'm gonna' have to deal with 'em so I wandered into this post to see if I might learn something AND I did!
Robin, Molly & Sadie the "Wonder Labs" - "wonder if that's why mom's got only 'girl' dogs???"It's football time in Tennessee! Go Vols!!!!
I've heard good things about the magnetic jigs except for the prices, which I refuse to pay. I use a dial indicator w/ magnetic base to set jointer knives relative to the outfeed table. I use the same set up for setting the planer bed parallel to the cutter head. I made a base for the dial indicator that straddles the planer knives so they're set relative to the cutter head.
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
Scott,
Fine Woodworking, issue #142, May/June 2000, has an article on jointer tune up that shows shop made magnetic jigs for setting jointer knives and details on how to use them.
Thickness planers almost always have a factory supplied jig or setting tool for installing the knives, the owners manual should tell you what you need to know.
John W.
Scott -
I use the 'rocking ruler' method to set the knives on my 6" Jet jointer.
Bring the infeed table up to the height of the outfeed table.
Install a knife and position it just slightly lower than the tables. Slightly snug up the inside and outside bolts holding the knife in place. Using the jib screws slowly raise the knife until it will move an aluminum ruler less than 1/8" when the knife is rocked back and forth. You set the ruler, on edge, with about 9" hanging over the outfeed table. When checking, place the ruler over the two tightened bolts. When the ruler moves less than 1/8" over both bolts then tighten the two bolts and recheck. If still on, then tighten the remaining bolts. The aluminum ruler needs to be straight, of course.
That works for me and is quite accurate with each knife being between 0.001" - 0.002" above the oufeed table. Takes me about 10 minutes from start to end.
Being retired and having this small business, I get to decide what I need in the way of tools and when. That was one of the underlying reasons for the business. Also, all hand tools are 100% deductible, for tax purposes, in the year of purchase.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
I set my jointer blades now using the method you mentioned. I didn't mind it so much but I am running a lot of wood through it and Blade chances are getting to be a nightmare because of the time it takes. I just want to be able to take the olds one out and drop new ones in and that be it. I presently use a block with a feel gage to set my planer blades and that is even more time consuming.Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website"This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"
Scott -
The blades that came with my Jet are pretty soft. I've been thinking about making some out of A2 tool steel.
I use mine primarily for edge jointing 4/4 stuff so I just move the fence occasionally. Cocobolo really does a number on them.
Do you have any of the small button magnets? Get two perfectly flat sticks and glue 3 of them onto each stick. Put a 0.001" brass shim under the two that contact the outfeed table. I've thought about that but haven't done it. Or better yet, get two 1/2" square brass bars about 6" long. http://www.onlinemetals.com
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
Mike
Have you thought about TCT (carbide) cutters? They will cope with most things, only downside is the price. I have a set of four for my Casadei planer/thicknesser and they come out only for the really hard woods at which they excel. On hornbeam and box they seem to last about 6 to 8 times as long between sharpening sessions than M2 HSS (which should be available from saw doctors for your machine). I reckon you may find that A2 is a special order.
And the blade setting jig I use? - Panhans. This is a pair of magnetic jigs which clamp onto the cutter block and hold the cutter on magnets, too. They take a bit of messing around to start with (getting the initial settings, although the instructions are good and Panhans supply a set of calibration feelers) but then they hold the settings forever. Mine cost about $140 over here (UK), ridiculous for what they were, but they've probably saved me that in time and cut fingers. Similar models are now available as Chaiwanese knock-offs for little more than a 1/3 of what I paid 4 years back
Scrit
http://www.onlinemetals.com has the right size sticks of A2. Just have to cut them to length and grind the bevel before heat treating. A 36" stick costs something like $32.00.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
Scott,
I recall a review of tool adjustment devices and guages in a magazine within the past year (I think it was Wood) and they rated the Jointer Pal and Planner Pal tops. They are both the magnetic type. This is strictly from memory which isn't what it used to be so you might want to go by your local library to check it out.
JW
Local library? Now I couldn't even tell you were the nearest library is to my house. The last time I set foot in one was close to 20 years ago. Well I will have to see if I can dig up the issue you are talking about.
Thanks for the tip,
ScottScott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website"This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"
A2 tool steel is not a good idea for jointer blades because of the low wear resistence compared to high speed steels. High speed steel stock can be bought for comparable prices to A2, but it is more difficult to heat treat, especially in a home shop.
On an aside, I find it ludicrous when I see plane maker offer hand plane irons in high speed steel because it won't take as near a keen of an edge as A2 or 01 steel. High speed steel is meant to be used at high speeds.
I think I'd agree with you about using tool steel for machine planer blades, they simply won't hold an edge long enough, whereas the HSS ones in M2 (and I've seen some in M42) last a lot longer.
There are a couple of Aussie hand plane iron makers who've offered M2 plane irons in the past. They would seem to make sense on some of the native Australian hardwoods which cand be very hard on even A2 irons, but just how do they sharpen them? Waterstones or ceramics simply won't touch them.
Scrit
Scott,
In the short time I have had it I have found that the book written by John White, Care and Repair of Shop Machines, is worth it the $20.00 bucks. He shows you how to make all kinds of jigs to fine tune all the average shop's machines at a substantial savings. You should check it out. There is a section were he shows you how to make a magnetic jig for jointer knife alignment and one for the planer using a dial indicator.
Carlos
Thanks i will check that one out.Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website"This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled