TonyF
Member
I'm a British-born Kiwi, and a novice at powered woodworking. I recently posted a question on the above on the US hobby woodworking forum "WoodNet". As might be expected, most North American folk have jointers with the US-style guard, a "swinging arm" type of device commonly referred to as a 'pork chop".
I'm assuming most members of this site might be more used to the "Euro-style" guard ... and I'd appreciate your guidance.
My original post was as follows:
"My apologies if this is a well-worn topic of the past ... but an hour of searching the forum has left me little the wiser. If there is an old thread or article someone can point me at, then I'd be grateful, if not, then this is where I'm at:
I'm a jointer novice. I have an older model cast-iron jointer. The company that made it is no longer in business. It is fitted with a shopmade guard that I understand is "in the European style".
I've gotten a lot of satisfaction (and a great deal of fine shavings!) out of a "learner" project whereby I laminated up 3 layers of hardwood decking and milled them into small beams with finished dimensions of 3" by 2" and about 5-6 feet long (I'll use these to construct a closed in mobile base for the jointer ... pics and story on another occasion - I mention the dimensions only in case they are relevant to the origin of the question).
The "European guard" is a slotted heavy flat steel plate that is adjustable for height and horizontal position, and the piece to be milled passes beneath it. I use a pair of the "press down and move from right to left" push-blocks. In terms of keeping one's hands off the cutters, it seems quite effective.
However, as the piece being milled is relatively heavy and of moderate length, the piece itself feels not completely in control when one has to lift off the piece and transfer a push-block from the in-feed side to the outfeed ... and at the same time, I find it hard to keep the piece moving at a constant speed across the cutter-head.
It seems to me that the "swing pork chop" kind of device might make it easier to keep both hands on the piece more of the time and keep the motion steady, but increases the risk of passing one's hands directly over the cutter-head, notwithstanding the lumber and the push-blocks are between hands and cutters.
So ... it seems to me that neither guard variant is perfect, but for different reasons. Intuitively, the "European style" feels to offer less chance of losing flesh and blood, but, given the control and hand-transfer question, is it indeed so?
I imagine other folk have weighed up these factors and made their choices - I'd be grateful to learn of their experiences and their thinking.
--------------------
TonyF
"Tony, woodwork, sawdust, internal access to garage ... tracking inside - "Deal with It!!" - SWMBO"
There has been some helpful suggestions to my original question, and I've subsequently done a little more to refine my technique with some success - but would still appreciate guidance from your part of the world.
(If anyone would like to view the discussion on the WoodNet forum, the address is www.woodnet.net - select "forums". My member name on that site is also TonyF)
With thanks
I'm assuming most members of this site might be more used to the "Euro-style" guard ... and I'd appreciate your guidance.
My original post was as follows:
"My apologies if this is a well-worn topic of the past ... but an hour of searching the forum has left me little the wiser. If there is an old thread or article someone can point me at, then I'd be grateful, if not, then this is where I'm at:
I'm a jointer novice. I have an older model cast-iron jointer. The company that made it is no longer in business. It is fitted with a shopmade guard that I understand is "in the European style".
I've gotten a lot of satisfaction (and a great deal of fine shavings!) out of a "learner" project whereby I laminated up 3 layers of hardwood decking and milled them into small beams with finished dimensions of 3" by 2" and about 5-6 feet long (I'll use these to construct a closed in mobile base for the jointer ... pics and story on another occasion - I mention the dimensions only in case they are relevant to the origin of the question).
The "European guard" is a slotted heavy flat steel plate that is adjustable for height and horizontal position, and the piece to be milled passes beneath it. I use a pair of the "press down and move from right to left" push-blocks. In terms of keeping one's hands off the cutters, it seems quite effective.
However, as the piece being milled is relatively heavy and of moderate length, the piece itself feels not completely in control when one has to lift off the piece and transfer a push-block from the in-feed side to the outfeed ... and at the same time, I find it hard to keep the piece moving at a constant speed across the cutter-head.
It seems to me that the "swing pork chop" kind of device might make it easier to keep both hands on the piece more of the time and keep the motion steady, but increases the risk of passing one's hands directly over the cutter-head, notwithstanding the lumber and the push-blocks are between hands and cutters.
So ... it seems to me that neither guard variant is perfect, but for different reasons. Intuitively, the "European style" feels to offer less chance of losing flesh and blood, but, given the control and hand-transfer question, is it indeed so?
I imagine other folk have weighed up these factors and made their choices - I'd be grateful to learn of their experiences and their thinking.
--------------------
TonyF
"Tony, woodwork, sawdust, internal access to garage ... tracking inside - "Deal with It!!" - SWMBO"
There has been some helpful suggestions to my original question, and I've subsequently done a little more to refine my technique with some success - but would still appreciate guidance from your part of the world.
(If anyone would like to view the discussion on the WoodNet forum, the address is www.woodnet.net - select "forums". My member name on that site is also TonyF)
With thanks
