Old Jointer...Blade Replacement

[Scoly2803]

I have struggled several times trying to set the Knives on a 60's model Craftsman Jointer. Problem is that the screws are placed where you have to rotate the head in order to tighten them and setting just the right tension to hold the blade in place, adjusting, then turning the head to tighten is just troublesome.
As I was fooling with it this weekend and idea was spawned. I pulled out two small rare earth magnets and placed one at each end of the blade which held the blades firmly. Used a HF digital caliper mounted to a stirrup type assemble that rested a foot on each table with the caliper slide sticking down. I had set the caliper to .005 above the outfeed table and was able to just move the blades up to just touch the slide. Was able to rotate the head and tighten the screws without any movement. Made setting the blades relatively easy.
Hope this helps someone else.
Steve

[SARGE..g-47]

I purchased a Craftsman 6" jointer in 1972, Steve. And yeah.. I could have used that idea back then as the blade change was about as hairy as walkine through a mine field even though I would perfer changing the blades. That should make your life simplier with that jointer and can be adapted for others with jack screws.

Life got simplier for me with the addition of a Steel City 8" as it has double sided knives with cut-outs in the center. The cut-outs align with index pins made in the cuttter-head. You just loosen 5 screws.. turn the blade over and drop on the index pins.. Tighten the screws and get back to work. It takes around 9 minutes from start to finish.

Very clever... very clever indeed and welcome to the forum...

[cgallery]

Hey Sarge, are those knives disposable? Or can they be sharpened?

[SARGE..g-47]

Hey Sarge, are those knives disposable? Or can they be sharpened?

I have 3 sets of them.. One that was on the jointer when I purchased it and two I purchased. I made the first switch to the new side of the original knife set about a month ago after shoving around 5000 linear feet through it. But.. with that said I cannot tell you how much of that was edge jointed and how much was surface jointed. I do know that I ran 2000 linear feet of hickory through that was both edge jointed and surface jointed.

About ever 600 linear feet I honed the edge and finally decided to change as I jointed a piece of re-cycle that I missed a nail in. Took a gap about .020 and in the case of the inserts you cannot just shift the blade to accomodate for it.

So.. bottom line is I as far as I know they can be re-sharpened but.. I paid $30 for a set and is $15.00 for a one side change. My local sharpener charges $12.50 (or did two years ago) for one side of the set. At $15... in this case it is just as economical to dispose (of course I will throw them in a 33 oz plastic coffee can for a rainy day) of them and put new on.