Fay and Egan jointer

[JayhawkCRNA]

On 8/30/2018 at 6:21 PM, Tom King said:

Do a google search for your closest large city.  There are sharpening services all over.

I took the knives to be sharpened this morning and was able to take a look at the jack screws. It seems like only 2 of 6 are long enough to engage with the blades to help set the height. I attached a picture. Any idea how to get replacements or how to fix it? It sure would help with setting the heights

[wdwerker]

If only 2 per knife then those belong at each end to set the height , especially if there are other screws to tighten & hold the blade .

[Tom King]

I never use jack screws.  I want to push the knife down, not lift it up.   I use a narrow strip of very hard wood, and push the knife down while moving the head back and forth.   The trick is being able to tighten the gib screws just enough to hold the knife in place, but still allow it to be moved.   That's just barely taking the slack out of the gib screws.   You need to know how to do that regardless of what method you use.

I check the points over the end gib screws.   When you can swing the head back and forth with the wrench on one of the middle screws, and feel it barely touch the bottom of the strip of wood, but not lifting it, tighten the screw that the wrench is on.  Check again after that screw is tightened, but I don't remember the last time a knife moved in doing so.

Takes about 20 seconds per knife.  If you keep the strip of wood tail end always on the outfeed table, and never lift it, it's not possible to push a knife down too far.

I have micrometers too, but it takes too much time hunting for TDC.  This way, it doesn't matter where TDC is, you will feel it.

[JayhawkCRNA]

1 hour ago, wdwerker said:

If only 2 per knife then those belong at each end to set the height , especially if there are other screws to tighten & hold the blade .

There are 2 per knife, total 6. Only 2 of the 6 screws are long. When I received the jointer the 2 long screws were on the same blade which made setting the height of that blade pretty easy. 

[JayhawkCRNA]

42 minutes ago, Tom King said:

I never use jack screws.  I want to push the knife down, not lift it up.   I use a narrow strip of very hard wood, and push the knife down while moving the head back and forth.   The trick is being able to tighten the gib screws just enough to hold the knife in place, but still allow it to be moved.   That's just barely taking the slack out of the gib screws.   You need to know how to do that regardless of what method you use.

I check the points over the end gib screws.   When you can swing the head back and forth with the wrench on one of the middle screws, and feel it barely touch the bottom of the strip of wood, but not lifting it, tighten the screw that the wrench is on.  Check again after that screw is tightened, but I don't remember the last time a knife moved in doing so.

Takes about 20 seconds per knife.  If you keep the strip of wood tail end always on the outfeed table, and never lift it, it's not possible to push a knife down too far.

I have micrometers too, but it takes too much time hunting for TDC.  This way, it doesn't matter where TDC is, you will feel it.

Thanks for the tips

[Tom King]

I use Boxwood, which is about three times as hard as Hard Maple.  Any hard wood will work, but the softer it is, the more often you have to move along the length because a sharp knife can take out little scallops, so you need to keep moving to a fresh, untouched part of the wood.   The "strip" is anything 5 or 6 inches long, an inch and a half or so wide, and maybe 3/16" thick.   I used to use Corian before I accumulated a stash of Boxwood. The harder the wood the better.

You can feel less than a thousandth of an inch.   Everything needs to be clean though, but I change mine so often, because I sharpen the knives fairly often myself,  that cleaning is not necessary.  Clean lets the knife slide, but still maintain its position.  It's so simple once you do it.

I never worry about projecting above the outfeed table.  That's really so the jointer will remain usable as the knives dull, but if it becomes so easy to change the knives, it's no big deal to whet them if they start to get dull.  I hone mine on my waterstone setup, but 12" ones might require a little more ingenuity.  I go to finished surface off the jointer. 

[JayhawkCRNA]

I just ordered a new set of blades off Woodworker tool works and they say the blades are 1 1/2” and mine are 1 1/4” only. I am guessing the new knives will engage with the shorter jack screws we will see. I am still going to use the other knives and just have this extra set on hand.