-My favorite jointer paddles: amzn.to/3eOSC8C -When you use this link to visit our sponsor, you support us► MyWoodCutters HELICAL HEADS: mywoodcutters.com/ -Video about helical heads: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i9uidNxytMzed6c.html -Video about tapering legs on a jointer: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bbeAit112c7bgWg.html (We may get a small commission if you use one of the above affiliate links.)

The number one rule dad taught me about working with power tools in general - "Never think about anything else when woodworking. Always remain focused only on the task at hand."

These videos are getting more and more excellent. The format is so perfect. There is no time wasting filler in the vids and the explanations are always focused on the big picture and not catered towards your specific tools and projects. Science focused without getting overly technical. The visuals help make the points. And just the right amount of humor. I wasted more time sitting in academic courses than any human being should be subjected to and your lectures rival very best at any university and any subject I’ve studied.

"If you pet a cat in the wrong direction, somebody's going to have a bad day." Truer words were never spoken.

I heard it works well on 👍

Here's a little common sense reminder that I was taught in shop class in school. The instructor explained how knives fit in the cutter head on the jointer. Pointing to a straight 6 inch gash in the ceiling, he said that is what happens if the screws aren't tightened properly. That lesson was more years ago than many of you have been alive, but it always stuck in my mind.

Just a helpful tip regarding tearout: you can often see tearout on rough lumber from when it was processed at the mill. Just run the board in the opposite direction and you should be good to go. Saves the step of having to do a test cut.

I want to thank you for never forgetting safety in all your videos. I started watching your channel just before your incident (we never say accident, there's no such thing). I used to know a man who owned a small crane service company. He would not hire a crane operator who had never tipped over a crane. He believed that a person could not fully understand how important it is to work safely unless they've been involved with how bad it can be to not work safely. Something you said in this video, really stuck with me. It was that you "insist that paddles are used in my shop". There's no one in my shop, except me to insist that I do anything safely. No one is going to shake their head in disbelief or try to stop me from doing something risky. Anytime I do something I know I shouldn't, and get away with it, it just reinforces how "good" I am and emboldens me to take more shortcuts. This weekend I built a push block for my jointer to replace the one I misplaced weeks ago. Then I cut a slot and glued in a Walnut riving knife for my table saw zero-clearance insert. I just want to thank toy for putting a bug in my ear.

I spend allot of time (farrrrr tooo much!), watching carpentry related videos on KZfaq. I learn so much more from your videos (per minute), than anyone else, BY FAR! I am eternally grateful to you for your perfectly pitched, clear, concise and yet richly informative videos. You cover so much in such a short space of time in a way that is so easily digestible. I've been reflecting on it, you make it look easy and effortless. I'm guessing much thought goes into these "offerings". In my humble opinion you've achieved "mastery" in this aspect of what you do.

Solid Gold Content! Not condescending, but easy enough for anyone to grasp. Anyone who can't follow along probably shouldn't have access to sharp instruments.

Another Fantastic Video! . Nobody on KZfaq, comes close to "Stumpy's content per minute ratio," yet surprisingly, all of Stumpy's top-level content, is explained very simplistically, as such I always leave learning so much- thank you ! /// I Love It! "If you pet a cat in the wrong direction, somebody's going to have a bad day!"

Great video, as usual. Loved the line related to cutting with the grain: "If you pet a cat in the wrong direction, someone is going to have a bad day."

I have owned a jointer for about 4 years. And until now I was not using it to its full potential until after watching this video. Now I will not be throwing away as much wood to the burn pile as much. Thankyou for the great tip. Keep them coming brother.😊👍

Probably the best video on KZfaq explaining jointers. Much appreciated!

Learned a lot from this video. Everything makes practically sense, but sometimes just need someone to point it out for you.

I have watched several of your videos and you are an incredible instructor and I appreciate you. Thank you for explaining everything in detail. It also helps you have a voice for it too. Thanks again.

BEST explanation! I've been searching for 2 hours to learn "how to confirm a milled plank is square on all sides". Lo and behold, this tutorial explains how a jointer performs that function. Thank you!!! 🙏🏽😊

In Europe a jointer is a very different thing. For example in Amsterdam coffee shops they have a jointer that doesn’t plane but rolls.

Best jointer tips I have seen to date. Thanks James!

In germany we call it Richthobel and Dickenhobel. Hobel for planing, Richt for right angle, Dicke for thickness :P

That temptation to hook your fingers over the end is exactly why I started using paddles. This was back when I had an underpowered jointer, and tried to ask too much of it.

I'm new at woodworking and i was having really serious sniping problems with my jointer. Thanks to your simple video I was able to fix it completely and I was so proud of my little accomplishment. I can't thank you enough, you're an incredibly competent teacher

I use a 4 3/8" Craftsman rabbeting jointer mostly because I got it cheap but I like using "classic" tools. Properly set up, even a small jointer can be very useful (& it fits the room i've got for it). I also upgraded the bearings, went from a 1/2 to 3/4 hp motor & sped up the cutter head. It requires almost no sanding on single pieces. Very good video. Most people know so little about jointers.

I like to use a hand plane to knock off the high spots and to make the downward face more stable, especially for removing the rocking between the infeed and outfeed tables.

Just picked up a 6” jointer and your video was very informative. Thanks for the clear and informative content!

My long bed six inch jointer with shelix cutter head does everything I need to build furniture in my one-man shop. When I need to joint a wider piece I use an MDF sled with an array of screws that can be set to support the uneven underside of a board up to 12" x 48". In effect, the planer becomes an overhead jointer. Once that side is flattened, I hang up the sled, flip the board, and plane as usual. The sled needs to have a stop on the front end to keep the workpiece secure as the feed rollers of the planer pull sled and workpiece forward.

Fantastic educational video yet again James. Your videos just get better and you're a natural teacher. I really appreciate your channel.

This guy seems too young to have this much wisdom and knowledge, but stumpy speaks to the wannabes like me and surely to some experienced craftmen who just didn't notice some of these profoundly simple things that could have saved woodworkers a ton of dust and Home Depot runs. Great podcast

Definitely agree on the paddles! When you hook a finger over the trailing edge of the board, there's nothing left for the doctor to stitch closed..... Yup, did that.

Thanks for the video. I just purchased a jointer and a planer and I would have really messed things up had I not watched your video.

Great information. I bought a rusty old 6” Central Machinery jointer that had been left out under a shed structure. The price was right so I bought it. I cleaned off the rust and replaced the worn out blades with new blades from My Wood Cutters. The quality and thickness of the steel was so much better than what was in the router originally. I’m very happy with my purchase.

Stumpy Nubs THANK YOU for this video, it’s exactly the info I needed with pictures and everything for cavemen like me. Thank you!

There’s only one word to describe the content and production of this video: Excellent. Learning has definitely been achieved.

ThankYou for your time!!! I’m relatively new to woodworking but not to power tools or technique. I was a machinist/ toolmaker for 40 years till I retired. I appreciate your willingness to give tips and ideas that a newbie like me can appreciate!! It wasn’t like that in the trades when I started!!! Older journeyman weren’t as willing or quick to give up their lifelong learning experiences, you had to ‘earn’ it for lack of a better word!!! Believe me, a humble attitude went a long way 🙂 You and others are willing to show and teach and I find that a credit to your person. I’ve made an edge planer by just inverting a hand planer and adding a entrance and exit table and attaching it accordingly. It’s ok for edges but after your tutorial I see the benefit of using the tools in sequence ad you’ve directed!!! Thanks again

Going out to play with the Jointer now that I know where to place pressure. Had been confounded why I could not get anything but curved boards off the darn thing. Great explanation as always. 5 hours later..... Yep it worked. Loads of flat and jointed cherry waiting for the planer and table saw. Thanks James.... I mean Stumpy... no James.

I’m a novice woodworker. This was by far the best information about jointers that I have found. Thank you!

Norm Abrams used a 6” jointer for years. He did upgrade to a 8” at some point but he built a lot of projects with a 6” Delta jointer! I have had both the 6” and 8” Delta. My preference is the 6” because it matches the re-saw capacity of my bandsaw and takes up less floor space. The 8” did have a nice long bed but since I don’t often joint 8’-0’ stock the shorter bed on the 6” jointer has never disappointed . The money gained from selling the 8” jointer bought an excellent used 6” Delta jointer and 14” Delta bandsaw with enclosed stand and fence. A friend of mine bought the helical cutting head - nice but three straight knives works fine for anything material you are going to buy at a big box store.

Thanks for the tutorial... One flat face and one square edge that works for me a place to start..I can make an entire table top.....Square edge to the fence of the table saw do the cut as parallel as can be..do a spring joint with biscuits... clamp it tight and do that again until you get to your desired width...easy peasey no wasting lumber..That is how my high school teacher taught me... Thank you Marvin Henrey. I am 60 years old, that man taught me a trade that has served me well and kept food on my table all of this time. I can not thank that man enough... Started us as kids sharpening our chisels on the bench grinder..absolutely, square ..no nicks no burns ..one face... then to the stones..until you picked it up just a bit when you used the hard arkansas stone to do the last little bevel....if he could not shave his arm with it... back to the stone you went...Honestly for me it is faster for me to buy a new chisel than it is to take the time required to do that...However I do know how it is done...I guess when I retire I will gather all of my good steel and sharpen them by hand...Old school...Thank you Mr Henrey...Jim (I am sure you get such letters all of the time might be a good idea for an episode..to honor those who taught us..Jim)

Absolutely outstanding, benchmark video on the use of a jointer. Clear and concise.

Great video. Here in NZ, we don’t call them “jointers”. You are more likely to hear people them call a “Buzzer” or “planer”, since it planes a surface. What you would call a planer in the US we would call a thicknesser in NZ, since it gets the board a certain thickness. Calling them a jointer here and people will ask what the hell are you talking about? :-) keep your videos coming, you’re doing a great job explaining things and I always learn something.

Watched a few other videos on jointers and was more confused than when I started. Watching this one explained it perfectly. Thank you!

Stumpy, an instructor of mine said never pass your hands across the blades but just lift them when they get to the blades so that if the board disappears your hands are safe. Tiling floats cheap paddles. Another instructor said only plane until 60% clear and head to the planer. This keeps thickness and the board can be flipped to finish up.

Thank you! I did all four sides on my jointer and it did not work out and came on here to find out the reason and I got it! Thank you!

Great info on the jointer. Glad you don't try to impress us with all your knowledge. You just tell us what we need to know and why we should do things in a certain way! Thanks for the tutorials without all the thumping of your own chest!

Here in U.K. and Europe in general we favour combination Planer/ thicknesser (Jointer/Planer) which have the following advantages :- they plane and thickness to the full width capacity of the thicknesser and thus avoid having to saw the boards into a smaller sizes to flatten them and glue them back together again to thickness them, they take up less workshop space, they are cheaper than two separate machines. The often quoted disadvantage, the complication and time taken to change modes has been greatly reduced by all manufactures in their latest models and does not outweigh the advantages for the hobby woodworker. For the production shop separate machines may be advantageous but only if a jointer is of the same width as the thickesser . Twelve inch and above jointers are very expensive.

This is so illustrative. Excellent shot towards the end: of the board flowing from infeed in an uneven state, over the cutter head, and then totally flat onto outfeed. More of THAT please. "a picture is worth a thousand words," but a shot like that is worth ALL the words.

I need to see this video once a year to fresh my memories 😉

Professor S. Nubs is the best!

There's so many channels that recommend what tools "to set up your shop", it's nice to see one that instead explains what the tools are actually for and gives you enough info to decide what you need for yourself. Keep up the great work!

Hi James, thanks for the refresher. My paddles are shop made, using kitchen drawer waffle pads for gripping and include two dowels on one end that can be pushed down to hook the end of a board. Thanks always for sharing!

Your channel is the best resource on the net conveying comprehensive basic information so often ignored. Very concise guide on the use of jointers, thank you

Here’s a technique I have developed to deal with twisted, wonky boards. It works well for flattening and edge jointing. I have a Makita brand handheld, carpenter style jointer that hardly ever gets used. By marking the high edges of a rocking board with a pencil, and then rough planing with the Makita, little by little, sighting as I go, I get the board RELATIVELY FLAT (to the eye). Then I use the jointer. If I am edge jointing a board with a large bow or concavity in the edge, I use the same technique to get the board relatively flat to the eye. This technique works especially well when you don’t have a lot of thickness to play with. It allows you to get to the end result very quickly with minimum of wasted time or material. Obviously, a hand tool like a scrub plane would work as well just not as quickly.

The quality of the information in these videos is quite astonishing

1:39 - Excellent explanation.

Really enjoy your tutorials. Simple, straightforward and most of all relevant! Thanks again.

This was very clear and helpful to a novice such as myself. Although I don’t have a jointer, a friend just bought a 16 inch and is offering to sell me his Delta 8 inch so I have to think hard about this.

Now I get it. Best explanation I have heard for this tool.

I have to say the concept of squaring wood was for some reason so complicated to understand, but you did a fantastic job explaining, almost as if your answering my question directly.

I bought that same grizzly jointer with a spiral cutter about a year ago, been very happy with it since. I've never regretted spending money on a good tool.

Thank you so much for such an in depth video that’s easy to understand for a beginner!

Dear Stumpy, this is a great video. As a professional cabinet maker, I have been using a jointer for more years than I care to remember. The use of a jointer requires far more skill than your examples would suggest. The reason I mention this is because some of your viewers may not realize that a monkey could joint a board that is shorter than the the in feed table. The real skill comes when your board is long. One should always joint crown down. The skill comes in by being able to sight the board and make a flat that when the crown is removed you are skiming the heal and the toe of the board evenly. That way you maximize the thickness of the board. Nothing worse than to come into the shop and find out that all of the material that you needed for 8 ft face frames had been jointed wrong and now the best you can do is 1/2" boards. In an 8 ft run a 1/4 inch of material is not that much.

7:28 Even though the machine is not running, you gave me the shivers right there. I bought my jointer second hand. The owner had only used it for edge jointing so the paddles were long gone. The absolute first thing I did when I got home was make some paddles. To me, the jointer is scarier than the table saw.

Thank you James. I bought an old 6 inch jointer that has been fighting me ever since I got it. Your diagram made me realize that the blades are installed with the bevel facing the wrong direction.

Nubs, that was one of, if not, the best explanation on the use of a jointer. Thank you for filming it.

I occasionally use a magnetic feather board on the outfeed side when edge jointing wide boards. Just gives a little extra assurance the board is tight against the fence.

Best instructions on using a jointer I've seen to date. Thanks so much for this.

I've watched this video two days after setting up the first jointer I've owned since getting rid of my old one over 30 years ago. I had the space in my new shop, so there I went. Thanks so much for how this is so timely for me!

You are a fountain of knowledge Sir, your meticulous attention to detail is admirable. I enjoy all your videos because I learn so much. Thanks for all the great work that you and your teams do, and I especially like that you introduce other people as you did in this video. Keep up the good work, stay safe and well.

Keep the videos coming. As a novice woodworker these videos have saved countless board feet from being sacrificed into sawdust. You have the gift of being an excellent communicator. 👍

Great video The final step of using a table saw to cut the final edge is isn't obvious. Why not just use the jointer for that edge as well. Thinking about it you have the same problem with the edges as the top and bottom - they wouldn't be parallel. So it makes sense to use a table saw to make that final cut so it's parallel with the other edge.

In German, we call it a "Abrichthobelmaschine" which literal translated "abrichten" means "to dress" or "trueing" and "hobel" is the word we use for the hand planer. The last part "maschine" you can probably guess, machine. Similar we call a thickness planer "Dickenhobelmaschine"... "dicke" = thickness and again "hobel" and "maschine". So in German, all those machines are "planers" which create a flat surface, in case of a jointer on one side and then at a angle to the first side a second. In case of a thickness planer it creates a flat surface opposite to one side.

Love the video. I knew I wanted a jointer but that's all I ever knew, very helpful and thanks for explaining the Helical head too. I kept hearing about them "They are the best", well why?

good stuff! I'm looking to add a jointer to my shop. I'm sure that it will be one of those tools that I wonder how I ever lived without

I bought a Craftsman jointer a while back. Each time I use it, I get a wedged board. After watching this video I understand why. However, I try to stay away from this tool I seem to mess up my lumber when I use it. Recently I started working on a shadow box. After cutting the boards to length, I noticed one of the boards has a noticeable twist to it. I decided it would be helpful to use the jointer on all the pieces. The first board I picked was almost perfect as it was. There was just a small twist to it. I thought only a few passes would do the trick before taking it to the planer. However, after running the board over the jointer several times, I could never get a flat side. Eventually I noticed the right end of the board (back end) wasn't even close to sitting flat on the table. When I look down the length of the board, I see a noticeable change in angle halfway down the jointed side. The left side of the board is wedged but sites completely flat. However, the right side of the board picks up off the jointer and does not get touched at all. Do you know what I am doing incorrectly?

I've got 9 pieces of oak furniture in my living room that taught me the use of the Planer/jointer, thickness planer and my Dewalt table saw.

As a wannabe woodworker a friend of mine very recently asked me why I need both a jointer and a planer since they seem to do the same thing. Then I thought about it a while...that's a good question. I don't know, that's just everyone I watch does. Coincidental it seems you came out with this great instructional video. I sent it to my friend. Thanks!

Contemplating buying a jointer, never used one before. Thank you for making this highly informative instructional video.

Goddam I love how he puts his referenced vids in the description

Really well-done, comprehensive video on the jointer. Excellent content. Thank you.

Thanks for including the translations.

You made a point about the differences between a jointer, and a thickness planer, but there are ways to use a thickness planer as a jointer. My favorite is to use a sled with a generous layer of drywall mud between the sled and your work piece, Jonathan Katz Moses did a great video about it.

In England in the 70's the jointer was called an overhand planer, in New Zealand it is still called a Buzzer. When I was younger I was shown how to raise the outfeed table very slightly higher than the cutting circle of the blades, this resulted in a concave bow on the edge of the board to be jointed.When the joint was assembled only one cramp was needed to cramp the boards together,this was known as hollow jointing and was useful when a lot of boards needed cramping and only a limited number of cramps were available.

Absolute best explanation ever

My first woodworking project was to build a workbench out of 2x6 boards. All I had at the time the only power tools I had were a Miter Saw and an Electric Drill. Now I have more tools (including a thickness planer, a table saw, and a biscuit jointer) and my skills have improved so I took the flattest board and made a sled the jointed one face and made the other side parallel (both using my planer). After that, I trued and edge then made the other edge parallel (both using my table saw). Next I biscuit jointed everything to bring one side co-planar and glued everything up. Not the top of my bench is a (almost) perfectly flat slab. I did a lot of this based on your previous videos. Would a jointer have been nice? Sure, but for how often I do this, I would rather spend that space and money on something else - maybe a lathe.

I forget the channel, but one youtube woodworking channel did a very candid video on the jointer accident that led to a loss of 4 fingers. ... something brothers, which probably doesn't help much. It only takes a split second for it all to go wrong.

thanks again for another great video i just purchased the Wen JT833H 8 inch spiral head jointer, Lowes had a special 20% off your first purchase i dont like credit cards but after my cash down, 2 gift cards and 20% it went from 410 plus tax to 177 after tax i have a planner and table saw so after your videos it can help my woodworking which im still a little new at, about a year or so thanks again

I am impressed with your knowledge for such a young man. Good job!

Woah! That made my butt tense up when you pushed the board through with your fingers haha, couldn't tell if it was on or off :D

James - I just bought a Jointer and wish I had watched this video before I tried to use it today. There are other videos out there about how to use Jointers, but none of them came close to this one. I was pushing down on my workpiece today and asking myself if it made more sense to push on the outfeed side or not, but I wasn't sure. One question, the manual for the Grizzly benchtop jointer I bought says to make the infeed and outfeed tables level right to left. The manual actually says to make the outfeed table level with the body of the cutterhead - which is spiral (I'd call it semi-helical) and not the blades - and then make that level with the infeed table. There are 4 screws per table so I'm now back to adjusting all of them which is frustruating. This Grizzly jointer looks like a great machine, but one of the screws seems to be stuck so I'm close to sending the whole thing back. Anyhow - maybe I should have just left the tables at the factory settings. A video about this would be great. As you say, these machines are a bit mysterious.

I was hoping you'd cover the one piece of info that I rarely see mentioned but I believe is critical for getting flat boards: the majority of the pressure should be applied to moving the board forward, ie lateral. Downward pressure should be enough to keep the board stable on the table but not much more. I've found many to put too much downward pressure which will bow the board and not get you flat.

Fantastic information. Thank you for sharing this with us from Henrico County Virginia

Another great lesson at Stumpy School. A perfect refresher for safety and efficiency for me and my jointer.

just found this channel, but man, this guy gives me so much information. These videos are so helpful for us newbies.

I've been woodworking for almost 60 years, and still enjoy listening to James talking about how to use a jointer. Do I need help?

I'm starting off with woodworking, building up my workshop. Your video was super informative and I've learnt more by watching this than watching a ton of other videos on the topic! Thanks and keep it up

Your knowledge has helped me in my shop on numerous occasions. My oldest son said he enjoys the way you explain how things are done. I agree with him.

super informative, where im from, ive never seen carpenters using or even owning a jointer as we use pure plywood and laminates for all builds.

Hi James, I'm about to get my first jointer so this video is extremely useful and one I'm keeping. Keep up the great tutorials. Take care James. Cheers, Huw

dude, so educational. thank you for your work.

I feel so empowered after watching this. For the time of the video the knowledge is ten fold. Thanks.