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How useful is a jointer in this area of woodworking? Who has one and uses it often?

Mike

Hi Mike;

Having a jointer helps in many areas of wood preparation, I resaw a lot of my own materials so straight-lining one or all sides of stock is important in order to saw small materials accurately. I also use it for joining back and top plates for glue up, cleaning up or straightening neck scarfs and shaping and leveling necks and fret boards.
It's not essential to instrument building but takes a lot of work out of some tasks. Not having one would cause me to sweat a little more, very useful tools.
I have a 60" General and a 36" Craftsman, the Craftsman is really all you would need for guitars, etc.. and they are not very expensive.
In my shop I would have to rate it as one of the tools I "must" have.
Thickness planer
Drumsander
Table saw
Router table
Jointer
Band saw
Drill press
Miter saw, I have to stop, this could go on a while.

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

Mike,

I have a 6" Jointer and I use it all the time, but not for joining plates. I do use it to clean up edges, square up neck blocks, bracing stock and braces, and the list goes on and on.

Now all of these chores could be done by hand but the jointer makes quick work of it. I also have a 13" finishing planer that I find very useful to take the plate halves close to thickness before joining, plus it also performs a lot of planing chores that also could be done by hand if you're so inclined.

Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

For 5 years, I used various hand planes for all of the chores required for accurate material preparation. I don't regret a minute of the extra time required since it forced me to learn some valuable lessons about how different woods work and react to being dimensioned. I recently acquired a 6" jointer to square and prepare billets for resawing. It makes short work of the milling but the lessons learned from hand tools still apply.

Having begun guitarmaking without any power tools at all made me learn more about wood than I ever could have had I had the equipment from the beginning. In each of the past 3 years I have acquired one major power tool and allowed myself a year to learn how to use them...bandsaw, table saw and now jointer.

I addition to using the jointer for resaw prep, I also was amazed at how much faster I can make and dimension neck blanks. I am still more comfortable in jointing tops and backs with a jack plane and shooting board, however.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

In my shop the jointer is used more for prepping. I do have a good 6 inch jointer but you don't need one. Most of the tasks are used to square in billets for resaw or finish sanding.
I use a granite plate for all my trueing . A good table saw and flat plate will do well as will a good hand plane. Power tools are fine but I would look at my process if I were you and make a list of needed equipment. As a builder I would most likely rate tooling this way
table saw
Granite plate
Binding jig
6 by 48 belt sander
thickness sander
drill press
just my 2 cents
john hall

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

In my shop I have a early 1960's 4" wide jointer. Its extremely well built and much nicer than todays 4" jointers. I have yet to find anything for guitar building that I can not do on the 4" jointer. My dad's shop has the same jointer but 6" knifes. It is an awesome machine and gets a lot of use during the initial stages of guitar building.

If your somewhat mechanical, you can buy used Jointers for next to nothing. You will probably have to build a stand, add a motor and make a shavings-shoot. But thats easy compared to guitar building. I bought my 4" Craftsman for less than $50 including shipping from ebay. It was still in the original 1960's box.

If you have not worked on one before, I recomend having someone walk you thru it the first few times. Remember: never try and joint/plane short pieces of wood. That is the quickest way to pull your hands into the blades.

Joe

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Joe

If you get a Delta, make sure the tables can be adjusted to parallel. My son bought a new one, and the tables would not get parallel within the adjustment specs. He returned it and bought a Powermatic, which was a bigger machine, overall, but, at least the tables would adjust to be parallel.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

OH MY!!!!!,
I will never look at my minimax the same way again now,
Thanks

Joel.

I love my jointer, it's one of my "must have" tools...I might not use it a lot but when I need it it sure is effective.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Yeah, I'm pretty freaked now about the hamburger thing.

Mike

good to be reminded. I use my jointer almost every visit to the shop. I am much more afraid of my table saw.

For me as a woodworker a jointer is one of the cornerstones of the shop. Most all operations start here. If you have a straight square edge and one surface you can do most anything from that. It makes the table saw much safer as well when you have a nice straight edge to put against the fence.
I really love JJ's take and approach on this one.

Todd, while I have a huge amount of respect for your knowlege I will repectfully disagree with you on the dangers of the jointer. I should say modern jointer. A lot of those guys with the stubs from jonter accidents got them on square cutter head big jointers. Huge gap between the beds and no guard. While I am not denying that a jointer is dangerous I wouldn't rate a modern smallish jointer ahead of such tools as a radial arm saw, chop saw, circular saw, router, nail gun. I do agree that the shaper is # 1. A modern 4" or 6 jointer with a guard and used with the appropiate attention is quite safe. It is easy to use push sticks with one and it doesn't have much of a tendency to grab and throw body parts into the blades. (It can of course but misuse of any tool can cause harm to oneself ) It is easy to understand the forces involved and take the right actions when using to avoid problems. The shaper however can be very unpredictable as well as the table saw. I know, I know but the average table saw doesn't have a splitter and a lot of people take the blade guards off a table saw but most everyone I have seen leave their jointer guards on. Plus let some stock wander on the jointer, no problem, let it wander on the table saw, trouble.
All woodworking tools can be dangerous from a screwdriver to a shaper. They all deserve great respect but I don't think it is helpful or accurate to portray the jointer as being a inherently dangerous tool in comparision to other common shop tools. I have never (knock on wood) had a close call with a jointer. I can't say that of a table saw, nail gun, chop saw, router, bandsaw, chisel, screwdriver, hand saw, knife, drill press, electric drill. All have nailed me except the table saw but I have been lucky a couple of times. (Of course this is a sample size of one ) Being afraid of a tool is not a good answer to safety.
To anyone, you should not use a tool that you are afraid of. This means you don't understand the right way to use it and the forces that are at work when using it. Being afraid it telling you that you are not prepared. You will be tenitive and make a wrong move. (This is why even after 34 years of woodworking I don't use a shaper for a lot of things. I quite frankly am afraid of it and don't have a complete understanding of the tool ) You need to get help from someone who knows to show you the right and safe way to use a tool. (As Todd said ) When you understand how these things work and the forces involved you won't be afraid but will have a healthy respect for the tool and what you are doing. Sorry, I got carried away. end of safety rant.

You know thinking about this it doesn't really matter what tool is more dangerous than another. The one that bites you is the most dangerous. They all have the potential to be nasty. Please be safe everyone.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I have a big, old jointer, but compared to my other stationary machines (table saw, bans saws, long belt sander, belt / disc sander, drill press, drum sander) I use is very little for guitar work. I use it to square up neck blanks or laminates and billets for resawing, but those things could easily be done in not much more time with hand tools. I would not buy one just for guitar making. For other woodworking tasks however, it is a gem.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Well, I got it. Its a 6" Jet, cabinet style. Rarely used. $375. Based on on-line prices, that apears to be a deal.

Mike