Popular Woodworking 2001-02 № 120, страница 43

STRAIGHT WITH

wood

For some, the most simple machine in the shop is also the most misunderstood. Getting it right on your jointer is the first step to a trouble-free project.

my first lesson in a wood shop was humili-. ty. The instructor in the adult education class let us loose on the shop floor after grueling weeks of classroom work. I was anxious to start my project, smoothing the lumber that I purchased "rough and random" just like the pros, I thought. I headed straight for the big, cast iron planer.

I knew enough to start the board on the right end of the machine, and I figured out how to adjust the bed for the right amount of cut. Anxious as a cat in a cage I fed in one board, then another and another. I stopped to inspect

With the help of a 6" pinter, this pile of rough red oak boards was turned into perfectly flat lumber.

my work and saw the glorious results of rough cherry transformed into smooth wood. My moment of triumph, the feeling of being sent up to the "bigs," was quickly dashed when I realized that the boards, while smooth on one side, were coming out just as cupped, warped and twisted as when they went in.

"How come the boards aren't straight when they come out?" I asked the instructor passing by.

"Did you face joint them first?" he asked. I guess the sheepish look on my face was all the answer he needed. "Take it over to the jointer and I'll show you what to do." In the next 10 minutes I got the best firsthand instruction on how to flatten stock a fledgling woodworker might hope for. It has served me well surfacing thousands of board feet of lumber, and I'm going to give you that same lesson here. And I'll add a few tricks I've learned over the past 20 years as well.

Introduction to Jointers

While jointers are more versatile than most people realize, far and away their primary function is to

by Steve Shanesy

54 Popular Woodworking February 2001