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Do your Jointer Knives need honing?
From Gary L. Johnson of Houston, TX:
I’ve been trying to make tapered table legs with my jointer as shown in Shopsmith’s “Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone” textbook. I’ve used the proper speed setting… made multiple shallow cuts…checked my blades for proper height…yet each leg ends up with splinters torn out. The knives should be sharp, as they’re new. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
New knives are never as sharp as newly honed knives. Your Shopsmith Jointer Knives came to you precision ground…but NOT yet honed. There’s no way for us to do anywhere near as good a job of honing them by machine as you can do, when you hone them yourself, by hand.
When you purchase new Jointer (or molder or shaper) Knives, we recommend that you touch them up with a whetstone prior to using them. Only by doing this will you get the cleanest possible cuts.
One more tip to help you prevent splintering on the Jointer -- When working with hardwoods, try increasing your MARK V’s speed setting to “T” and slowing down your rate of feed , producing an increased number of cuts-per-inch. If your splintering still persists, try flipping your stock end-for-end and running it back through your Jointer in the reverse direction. Continue . . . |
