Thread: Bench top jointer

If all I had was a 12" benchtop thicknesser and a 6" benchtop jointer and some short handplanes used mostly for smoothing, I would be using the benchtop jointer on every single solid timber job I did. The majority of my jointing operations over the years have been 6" wide or under. Rarely do I buy 8" or wider boards, and if I do have wider stock, often it gets ripped down the guts before planing.

Thanks Kuffy. This bench top jointer only has a bed 730mm long, not 1170mm like the larger 6" units which is why I'm in two minds re the purchase.

It is much easier to flatten a board on a jointer if the infeed table is longer than the board. It actually makes the task a braindead 'shove it through' operation. But it doesn't mean you can't flatten boards to a usable level which are longer than the infeed. It just means you need to remove the wind and bow/spring to get the board somewhere close to flat and straight before taking a final full length pass, no different from flattening boards with hand planes. I wouldn't care one way or the other if my timber lengths were 1000mm or less, but at 2000mm or more I would probably let out a minor 'sigh' before commencing flattening with the shortbed benchtop jointer.

if I'm not too late -- Don't buy the bench top jointer.

In general they are too light and short to do much more than dance around.

I didn't end up ordering it. One reason was Kuffy and Ians responses and the other due to two experiences with retailers that left a bad taste in my mouth.

One was Carbatec - ordered some items online on a Tuesday morning, rang at 3:30pm this afternoon to find out where they were to find out they hadn't even been sent yet!!
Second was Dewalt - ordered a spare part for the thickly which is $8.48 in the USA to be told it is $22.99 in Australia.

Decided to build a sled for the tricky and use that instead of the jointer.