09-04-2024, 08:20 AM
I've had straight knives in both my planer and jointer in the past. The planer, which I still have is a 13" Ridgid (the original model) and the knives are double-sided and automatically registered. Makes it easy to swap sides and/or knives. I still use it for milling very rough material occasionally. Don't (and haven't) sharpened knives and have no desire to start.
Jointer knives, at least for me were and are an entirely different animal. Even with a jig they were a PIA to adjust and get just right. Not to mention the problems caused when one gets "nicked" and they have to be slid over to remove the resultant raised streak.
When I decided to upgrade to a larger planer and jointer, it was a no-brainer to go to the carbide cutterhead on both. As John mentioned, it's much quieter on both machines, the finish is very good and chipout almost non existent in most material. I tend to take light cuts on both to dial in the final thickness. My jointer stays set to take a 32nd cut on each pass. At that rate it is a breeze to run the material through the cutterhead. After several years of usage I rotated the inserts on my jointer for the first time earlier this year; have not needed to rotate them on the planer, as yet.
As I said earlier, would NEVER go back to straight knives. It's a totally different world when it comes to material preparation IMO - YMMV.
Doug
Jointer knives, at least for me were and are an entirely different animal. Even with a jig they were a PIA to adjust and get just right. Not to mention the problems caused when one gets "nicked" and they have to be slid over to remove the resultant raised streak.
When I decided to upgrade to a larger planer and jointer, it was a no-brainer to go to the carbide cutterhead on both. As John mentioned, it's much quieter on both machines, the finish is very good and chipout almost non existent in most material. I tend to take light cuts on both to dial in the final thickness. My jointer stays set to take a 32nd cut on each pass. At that rate it is a breeze to run the material through the cutterhead. After several years of usage I rotated the inserts on my jointer for the first time earlier this year; have not needed to rotate them on the planer, as yet.
As I said earlier, would NEVER go back to straight knives. It's a totally different world when it comes to material preparation IMO - YMMV.
Doug