6-Inch Benchtop Jointer
If portability is key and you don’t have the room or muscle to lug around a full-size jointer, your best option may be a 6-inch benchtop jointer like the Delta JT160. This tool is 30 inches long and weighs only 35 pounds. Its bed and fence are aluminum (rather than cast iron, as on the full-size machines). Its 10-amp universal motor has a variable-speed dial for speeds of 12,000 to 22,000 cuts per minute with a two-blade cutter head. The old rule of thumb would have this jointer straighten boards no longer than 5 feet long, but cleaning up longer sawn edges is a good use for a benchtop tool. One complaint is that the thin aluminum bed surface isn’t very flat and smooth; the deep machining grooves on the surface add a lot of feed friction. (Delta JT160, $270.)
Infeed Adjustment
Cutting depth is set by adjusting the height of the machines’ infeed tables. The Delta ( left), Craftsman, and Grizzly use long levers that move the table quickly but are difficult to set with great accuracy. The Delta lever has the added advantage of being bent forward for easier reach and has a trigger device that stops the table in roughly 1/32-inch increments.
Crank adjusters are our preferred style because of their greater accuracy. They’re found on the Jet (center), Ridgid, and Rikon. Cranks move the tables much more slowly; the larger cranks of the Rikon are the fastest to operate.
Cutting-depth gauges should be used only as a rough guide; we visually set each tool at 1/16 (.0625) inch and ended up with measurements ranging from .0530 inch (-15 percent) to .0835 inch (+33 percent). For repeatable settings the Craftsman, Delta, and Grizzly have top and bottom table-travel stops that can be custom set by the user.
All of the machines have lockouts that require a manual override to set the depth of cut greater than 1/8 inch. Since infeed tables have to be moved upward into position to avoid inaccuracy caused by gear lash, these lockouts often engage even when you are setting finer cuts. The spring-loaded pins of the Craftsman, Jet, and Rikon are especially annoying, since they totally immobilize the table – like hitting the tilt function of a pinball machine – but the friendlier design of the Ridgid (righ) has a pin that moves in a slot and allows free adjustment back up from the 1/8-inch mark. The pivoting-plate lockouts of the Delta and Grizzly also allow this free movement, and they – like those of the Craftsman and Ridgid – are located on the front of the machine for much easier reach, especially for right-handed users.
Knife Setting
Changing out knives is an important part of jointer use: Some busy users sharpen and replace them every week. Light honing can be done with a flat stone from the infeed table, but sharpening the knives requires removal. All of the jointers in our test have very similar knife-setting adjustments consisting of a knife-clamping bar called a gib with four tensioning bolts, and two recessed blade-height adjustment screws that the back of the knife sits on called jackscrews. The Rikon (right) also includes knife-raising springs that can be used instead of the jackscrews, but the certain action of the jackscrews makes them more reliable (in our experience). We preferred the captive jackscrews of the Jet, Ridgid, and Rikon over the loose ones of the Craftsman, Delta, and Grizzly, which fall into the tool’s dust-collection chute whenever the cutter head is rotated. We also preferred the four-sided heads on the gib bolts of the former three machines; the hex heads of the latter were not as easy to reach and tighten. Rikon also has unique spindle-locking holes to pin the cutter head in place for easier knife maintenance. Setting the outfeed table so the locked position is top dead center for the knives helps with fast and accurate knife setting.
Setting the knives flush with the outfeed table is important for even cutting, and since no machine’s cutter head measured exactly flat with its outfeed table, we recommend against using setting jigs that reference off the cutter head. Instead you should set the top dead center of each knife so it just touches a lightweight straightedge – or zeros out a dial indicator – cantilevered over from the outfeed table. You’ll know the knives are set correctly when each knife makes a faint scraping sound as it’s rotated backward against the straightedge, which shouldn’t move or lift.
After painstaking work setting knives this way, we took the recommendation of one of our testers and tried out a magnetic jig called a Jointer Pal. This tool has two flat beams with strong magnets that hold the jig flat to the outfeed table and lift the knife up flush with the beams. After a little practice, the method proved to be very accurate, and it saved us a lot of time-consuming trial and error during knife setting. (Woodstock Intl., Jointer Pal W1211, $48.)
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Dust Collection
All of the tools have 4-inch dust ports for use with a dust collector. Some shavings will come out of the top or side of the jointers, but airborne sawdust is completely brought under control for all of these tools with the use of a competent dust collector. When jointing without dust collection, the dust ports have to be removed to keep the gravity-fed discharge chutes from clogging. Shavings flying out of the tool by the cutter head means a clog. With the machine off, reach all the way up the chute with a yardstick or scrap of wood to dislodge the shavings up inside the body of the tool. Only use wood for this, not anything metal, because your probe will likely contact the exposed knives on the bottom of the cutter head.
Shop Mobility
The built-in mobile base on the Grizzly is a great feature that every other manufacturer has overlooked. The ability to easily move a 257-pound tool around the shop or job site unaided is very useful, and saves unnecessary stress on the jointer’s bed and ways that happens when it is lifted by the end of its tables. Even if the machine never leaves your shop, there will be times when you have to move it to the center of the room to handle extra-long boards or even to clean or rearrange the shop. When the swivelling caster is disengaged, two levelling feet on the same end of the cabinet can be adjusted to stabilize the machine.
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Fence
The Craftsman’s fence design was less substantial and therefore less stable than the rest. The short fence support bracket, loose-fitting keyway, and odd cam-locking lever all added to its shortcomings
Switches
A jointer’s switch should be easy to reach, protected against accidental starts, and easy to turn off without looking. The Craftsman (below left), Delta, Grizzly, and Rikon (below right) have switches elevated well above table height to be within closer reach. All of these machines have shielded On buttons with holes that can be pinned or padlocked through to lock them off. Only the small Off button of the Rikon requires a glance to pinpoint, the others have large panic-button type Off switches you can just hit at. The elevated switch of the Rikon can be mounted above either the infeed or outfeed table. We chose the outfeed side; it makes sense to have it as close as possible to where your hands end up when you finish a pass.
The Jet (below right) and Ridgid(below left) tools have switches mounted low on their stands. Jet’s shielded On button has a lock out hole and its Off button was our least favorite because it requires you to look and reach way down. Ridgid has a single switch lever that you pull out to turn on and push in to stop. Switching the machine off can easily be done with your right leg without looking or taking either hand off your work. Locking out the switch is done with a removable key. This simple switch provides great ergonomic design while keeping machine dimensions more compact.
Thanks to Precision Knife and Tool in Fort Collins, Colo., for providing the professional knife-sharpening needed for our test. (970-419-3327)
