Jointing

[ninoman123]

So I got some really nice mahogany from this shop thinking they already had it nicely jointed and planed. Turns out it wasnt. I called up everywhere I know around St. Louis and got NOTHING. There are no shops here that will do it. So what should I do because I want to use this wood. How can I get it nicely jointed? I tried a search and came up empty. Maybe Im just searching incorrectly. Thanks for the help

-Steve

[Sugaree23663]

Find a local cabinet shop and go down there in person. On the phone, these folks seem to be a little less receptive.

Or do like me, buy a jointer!

[ninoman123]

I havent tried any cabinet shops. I called up all the hardwood and lumber stores though. Geeze I might have to buy a jointer. $250 isnt much but for what it does...it doesnt seem that worth it. I mean two passes of 20" wood doesnt seem worth $250. Ah who knows. What a pain.

Are they any good hand methods? Or methods that use other power tools?

Thanks for your response. Ill try some cabinet makers.

[ninoman123]

Found a guy here in St Louis that will do it. Rock Hill Woodworking Co

if anyone around here is interested. The guy said hes done it for other guys who are building guitars too. Thanks for suggestion. I would have never thought to try a cabinet maker.

[SawDust_Junkie]

I have not used nor seen this tool used, but Dremel does have a new attachment for the Dremel 400 series XPR tool that does planing/jointing. As I said, I do not know the quality or performance of this tool, but if you already have the 400 series XPR dremel tool, the attachment is only about $20.00 at Lowe's I think. If you don't have this series of Dremel tool, the 400 series XPR tool with attachment runs about $100.00 I think. That might be a cheaper alternative for you, and would have the added benefit of a tool with multiple uses after your initial need is satisfied.

Here's a link to some information:

http://www.dremel.com/HTML/home_fr.html

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...4/55&lpage=none

[Mattia]

Uh, where? I don't see any jointing attachments there.

Besides, quite honestly, a dremel is way, way, way too underpowered to do anything like jointing a body blank, or even a neck blank. Heck, I wouldn't even use it for cutting bindings, and it's borderline as to whether it can hack routing for inlay, in terms of power.

[Guitarfrenzy]

Ah.. the dreaded Jointer, yeah I remember my first experience with this tool.. lol I had no concept of how it should be adjusted. Like has been previously mentioned by thegarehanman, there are certain things you need to have properly setup on it before you can get good results. Your jointer blades need to be aligned properly and the fastest, most accurate way is with a tool. You can get a Jointer Blade Alignment Jig from Woodcraft.com. Here's an article on setting up the blades without the use of one though. Either way, they must be aligned properly. Adjust your outfeed table level with your infeed table, use a straight edge and see if they are level. If they are not level then you will have to adjust the tables until they are. Then you need to adjust the outfeed table properly. If you do a search on Google you can find way more information than I can give you here. Good luck.

[SawDust_Junkie]

mattia, I tried to copy th elink to the actual page where the planer attachment is shown, but the link won't copy. You have to go to the link I provided and then click on the link for attachments. If I recall correctly, I stated in my original post, that I could not vouch for the quality or performance of this tool. It was simply something I was throwing out there and offering as an option.

For a one time use which the orignal poster of this thead stated he was interested in, I thought it might work for him. While I agree that a Dremel would not have nearly enough muscle to "plane' a body blank, Looking at the description of this tool, I see that they state 35,000 rpm, which is comparable to most routers. I would think that it might work for simply jointing the edges of a body blank for gluing.

Edited January 20, 2006 by SawDust_Junkie

[Mattia]

Found it. That's a planer type setup, and I don't really see how it could be jigged up to ensure a good, flat joint. It's not meant for that purpose.