Chip-Free Jointing
George VondriskaUsing a jointer isn’t as simple as pushing a piece through and hoping for the best, especially when you’re working with pretty, highly figured woods such as birdseye maple, curly maple, and flame birch. There are lots of species that fall into this category, primarily woods that have a lot of figure to them. The figure makes them gorgeous, but they can also be prone to chipping out when the edges are being jointed.
What goes wrong?
It isn’t uncommon for the exit end of the board to chip as it’s passed over the jointer head. Will every highly figured board chip out? There’s no telling. It’s very hard to predict, board by board, which will or won’t chip. This can be very frustrating, and can cost you what would have otherwise been an amazing piece of wood.
What to do?
There’s a very simple solution to this problem. It simply entails making a very short preliminary cut before doing your final pass. No need to leave the board extra long and trip chipped ends off later. The approach you’ll learn in this video will work every time.
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Tips like the one in this video can be the difference between success and failure on your projects. Our staff has MANY cumulative years of woodworking experience, and they love passing that experience along to help you out. As a result WoodWorkers Guild has more shop tips that are sure to help you be a better woodworker, and realize more success in your shop and on your projects.
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Great idea George! Can't believe I hadn't figured that one out myself. Thanks a super tip.