Maximum length of board on a 6" jointer

[lcm1947]

Thanks for the reply Sarge and the infomation. Well that makes sense and I'll note all that. Good ideas to know. Thanks

[eddy merckx]

Alex-
You might want to take a look at Shopnotes #48. There is a complete plan for adding extension wings to bench top jointers. The infeed does move with the table and you end up with around 48" table length. I did the conversion to mine a few months ago and it works great. Still would like a really big jointer but.....

Eddy

[LarryG]

Hey, Alex, it's not MY rule ... I'm just quoting it.

Still, you raise a good point, one that illustrates why any rule-of-thumb has to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. I would guess that this particular rule of thumb is built around the 6" or 8" floor-standing models that are commonly found in small woodshops. The little benchtop guys have the same width cutterhead as a "full-size" 6" jointer but are obviously miniaturized in every other way, and that must be taken into account.