Jointer technique help needed

[rcp612]

I finally got into the shop today and started getting ready to glue up a panel. I've done this before, before I had a jointer, and was looking forward to a better looking glue joint. Now here's my dilemma.
The board was 21 1/2 " long 5 17/32" wide. First pass on the jointer I decided to measure (in 5 places). From the leading edge I had:
5 1/2"-5 1/2"->5 1/2"-5 17/32"-5 17/32". Went for the second pass and:
<5 1/2"-5 1/2"->5 1/2"->5 1/2"-5 17/32". Third pass :
5 15/32'-5 1/2"-5 1/2"-5 1/2"-5 17/32". O K. Time for the forth pass:
5 7/16"-5 1/2"-5 1/2"-5 1/2"-5 17.32". I quit there. Figured I'm making a wedge. What am I doing wrong??? I've checked the infeed-outfeed tables, they are level to each other. The blade height is right. Am I just jointer-challanged? Maybe measurement discreption? though I think not.
I'm putting my left hand on top of the board about midways of the length, making sure to keep down pressure on the outfeed table. I can't put down pressure on the back end of the board and from what I've read and watched on videos, I shouldn't. Help!!
I am confident that you guys can straighten me out (no pun intended).
And I'm more than willing to be made to feel stupid.
Thank you all in advance for the help.

[gary]

You said the "blade height is right". Are the blades even with the outfeed table height?

Also, are the edges straight? Do two boards sit together with no gaps?

[rcp612]

You said the "blade height is right". Are the blades even with the outfeed table height?

Also, are the edges straight? Do two boards sit together with no gaps?

Yes, that's what I meant, the blades are even to the outfeed table.
No 2 boards do not fit with no gaps. The gap opens at either end, depending on where you hold them tight together at. Sort of rocks in the middle........but more one way than the other.

[LCHIEN]

in my experience, whe you get wegde shaped cuts its because the outfeed table needs adjustment to the top of the blades. this can make the cut concave or convex giving the appearance of a wedge (one end too wide).

First you need to adjust the jointer to make an absoltutely straight edge.
Then to make the other side parallel and equal width, rip on a TS.

[charliex]

I feel your pain. I had the same trouble when I first used my jointer, a small Sears bench top. If the blades are set higher than the outfeed table and you move pressure to the OF side to soon you will get a wedge. This is not all bad. Joint one edge and then rip the other edge on the TS and they will be parallel.
I got some scrap wood and practiced until it came out right. Caution: Don't use ancient oak with lots of knots or you will ruin the blades . DAMHIKT It does depend a lot on technique.
Chas

[rcp612]

I had the same trouble when I first used my jointer, a small Sears bench top.
Chas

I have the Palmgren. I think it's the same as the Craftsman.

[Tom Slick]

I agree with the others, your outfeed table is a bit low.

[eddy merckx]

Hold on there. Your Palmgen doesn't have an adjustable outfeed table. You would actually have to lower all the knives. That would not be fun. If you have the stock set up, I doubt you'll need to do that anyway. I would try a few things, in order of easiness:

1) Check your technique. You should be applying very little pressure to the board. Just let the weight of the board do the work. If you press down too much, you'll definitely make shingles. If you use light pressure on the wood and it bounces, you may be taking too big a bite.

2) Did you check your tables for parallelism? When I owned a Palmgren, I had to adjust mine to get a flat edge. I think Anna did also. Oops--just realized you said you did check yours!

BTW, are you aware that a jointer won't make parallel faces? You probably already know this, bit I'll say it anyway. You use it to make one face and one edge flat. The other face you make parallel with a planer. The other edge you make parallel with a table saw.

Eddy

[Uncle Cracker]

BTW, are you aware that a jointer won't make parallel faces? You probably already know this, bit I'll say it anyway. You use it to make one face and one edge flat. The other face you make parallel with a planer. The other edge you make parallel with a table saw.

Well put... I'd bet we'd all be surprised how many don't know that...

[Pappy]

Set up is probably more critical on a jointer than any other machine.

Other than triple checking the machine set up, Chas hit the key to solving your problem. For such a simple machine to operate, the learning curve is unbelievable. Lots of scraps and practice, practice, practice. At some point you will hit the right combination of feed rate, hand location, and pressure. You won't believe how simple it is when that happens.

[mpc]

Set up is probably more critical on a jointer than any other machine.

Agreed. I have the Craftsman benchtop jointer (don't laugh, bought it eons ago before I knew anything useful about woodworking... haven't added a whole lot to the brain bank since) and basically I was getting similar results - bowed edges, wedges, etc. No matter what I did with the setup, pressing here, there, hard, not so hard, etc. I tried every alignment trick I could find/read about (before the Internet). With this jointer, I took boards with fairly straight edges and made much less straight edges on them. I eventually gave up and put the jointer deep in the back of the storage closet and ignored it... BT3000 rips with a Freud blade gave me far far better glue-up edges.

Not long ago, Woodcraft had a sale on their jointer knife setting tool - basically those little magnets that hold the blades even with the outfeed table. That sat on a shelf for months until just a couple weeks ago... finally decided to give the old boat anchor jointer a second chance at life. I thought I had set the knives correctly eons ago but with this little tool I found they were not properly adjusted. I spent about 3 minutes tuning the knives. Ran a couple boards through and whaddya know, they came out straighter than they went in! I dug around for a real piece of crap scrap and tried to clean it up and it was easy.

I always believed my jointer had non-parallel tables based on its early performance; and I couldn't find any way to adjust them. They "checked out" as parallel but the performance of the tool made me believe they were not... nope, it was improperly adjusted knives. They "checked out" as even with the outfeed table too but the Woodcraft tool proved that was the problem all along. If you don't have a knife setting tool, use the metal rule of a carpenters square, speed square, etc. Make sure it has a LOT of contact with the outfeed table and adjust the knives to just barely "tick" it as you rotate the cutter head by hand. You'll need a couple metal rules... to adjust both ends of the knives. Actually 3 is even better. That's where the Woodcraft tool earns its stripes: it is continuous, aligning the whole knife at once.

mpc

[HarmsWay]

I'm siding with the technique opinion. It took me awhile before I stopped making wedges.

Bob