Does a wooden jointer need a tight mouth?

[overland]

I'm rehabbing a wooden jointer and was thinking of installing an insert in the sole to close up the mouth a little. Then I thought, what's the point? Does a jointer really need a tight mouth?

[Rob Young]

Helpful but not required. I don't expect to get a finished surface from a jointer plane. You can always follow up with a light pass from a smoother if you need a finished surface.

All my jointers are iron bodies but I've made no effort to close up the mouth by shifting forward the frog. Plenty of room for a robust shaving if needed. Or back off the iron and re-set the cap iron and be happy with the results.

[bandit571]

Jointer?  No, it doesn't need a tight mouth...too much trouble to get them thick shavings through.    Save the tight mouth for the smoothers.

[Admiral]

Not really, but I've seen some with a 3/4" mouth resulting from repeated truing of the sole over the years, and if it is that far gone or more, I've always thought of a re-sole, but never did that with a jointer, only with transitional smoothers.

[Bibliophile 13]

Use it as-is with the chipbreaker set closely. If it performs to your satisfaction, then don't fix what's not broken. But if the chipbreaker alone doesn't prevent tearout as much as you'd like, then the situation calls for a mouth repair.

[blackhat]

You asked the wrong question. The correct question would have been " Does my wooden jointer need a tighter mouth?"  You would learn the answer through use.