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I saving up for a jointer and I would like feedback on brands you use. I'm working with a lot of rough lumber that I need to surface before I can cut it up on the bandsaw. I could just cut the joints on the table or band saw, but I would like to keep the waste to a minimum. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Doug,

I have an 8 inch General (Canadian Made) but they are expensive (In excess of $2000). I would like a 12 inch to flatten out faces before I resaw but they are too much money for now so I use a sliding table to square my blocks. There are 8 inch imports and I have read that the grizzly s pretty good. I did have a 6 inch import for about 15 years that served me well for fine woodworking stuff I was doing.

Hope this is of some help!

Shane

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Canada

You're not saying how much you can spend, so this may be out of the
question, but the 12" spiral cutter head Grizzly is quite a machine. By the
time
you get it delivered it'll run you about $4K.
Once you go spiral, you'll never go back.
-CChas Freeborn38683.9560416667

_________________
Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

I've had a 6" Jet for nearly 20 years and have not done a thing to it other than sharpen the blades. I have often wished for an 8" ONLY for the longer bed BUT the 6" has done all I have ever asked of it.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I have been happy with my Delta DJ-20 for the past four years or so. The
fence has to be squared to the tables when it is moved, but no other
complaints. It has a unique table adjustment mechanism that combines the
sensitivity of handwheels with the speed of lever rods. Tables have stayed
flat and parallel. I think there is a 6 inch version called DJ-15. A
trustworthy jointer is a fine thing to have in the shop.Howard Klepper38684.1796296296

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Doug save for the grizzly spiral 12" and just go pick it up from the showroom in bellingham. We did and it's great. We use it for the same thing you will

_________________
CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the imput.

Jason,
That Griz sounds good. Arn't those spiral cutters the little squares you can rotate 4 times and then even sharpen them?
And I forgot I could pick it up. I need to look into that one.
Thanks!

I have a 6" Jet, also and am very pleased with it.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Ya the spirals have the little blades you can rotate 4 times.. you could probably sharpen them but I wouldnt recommend it unless you had a jig that sharpened every blade to the exact same size/shape.. you could be opening yourself up for a real headache. I've run.. at least 600 billets of flamed maple through ours so far.. probably closer to 7 or 800.. We haven't even had to turn the blades yet. I have one tiny chip in a blade but it's not big enough to justify turning them.

I think another major selling point for these things is how quiet they are. It makes less noise than the dual bag dust collector hooked to it.

_________________
CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Fine woodworking just had a review of the new Grizzley 8" that was positively glowing. The spiral head machine sounds great. I recently upgraded from a 6" Jet to a 8" Delta. It would be nice to be able to surface guitar sized wood.

We just got the new Grizzly spiral at the school and it is SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!! I think the 8inch grizzly like the one written about in the latest issue of Fine Woodworking is a great deal but I would definitely upgrade it to the spiral head.