Craftsman Jointer Help

Most 6” Craftsman Jointers take a standard 6 1/8 X 5/8 X 1/8 blade such as this set from Freud.

Good Luck!

Be Careful!

Herb

-- Herb, Florida - Here's why I close most messages with "Be Careful!" http://lumberjocks.com/HerbC/blog/17090

You can download the Manuel for that jointer online.Just plug in the model #.
But don’t order the blades from Sears if they offer it.
They will be over priced.
Look for M2 or T1 high speed steel.
I’m glad your jointer has a adjustable outfeed table.Some of the early one didn’t and they a pain to set up.

Aj

-- Aj

My dad used one of those for years, and liked it very much. The limitation is the short length, which pretty much limits you to short boards.

Aj2 is right: don’t get knives (or any other parts, such as bearings) from Sears, as (1) they will be very expensive, (2) the probably won’t have them, and (3) if they do have them, they will take forever to arrive. I ordered some part or other years ago, and waited for weeks. Finally went in to check (fortunately we had a local service center), and they pulled them out from under the counter. They’d been there quite a while, but of course the employees couldn’t be bothered to let me know.

Was very pissed.

-- I admit to being an adrenaline junky; fortunately, I'm very easily frightened

According to the manual for that machine, the knives are sears part number 18112, which has been replaced with part number 2293. Sears still sells them online for about $40 a set. According to the OWWM Wiki, the 2293 knives are 6-1/8” x 11/16” x 1/8”. Based on that size, the Freud C400 set will work (about $30), as will these Powertec's for under $20.

You can also resharpen your existing knives if they haven’t been ground down too small, which usually takes a LOT of sharpening :)

Cheers,
Brad

-- Brad in FL - In Dog I trust... everything else is questionable

Agree with Brad…I have a craftsman jointer that I can only run smaller boards through, not going to replace the knives…just sharpening them in place.

There is a video by Fine woodworking on sharpening in place, also, there’s a jointer knife hone from Highland Woodworking that uses 400 grit diamond stone which will run you around $12.00.

-- - Craig

Wow, thanks everyone for the quick responses! I did get online and order those Freud blades through Amazon last night as I do not currently have the tools available to sharpen them my selves. Plus, the blades on there don’t look that great… I have seen a few posts on here about people restoring a similar model which has gotten me very excited to clean this baby up!

Now that the blades are on the way tomorrow, I need to figure out exactly how to replace them. I’ve changed the blades out on my planer before.. hoping its somewhat similar. Any tips, suggestions or how to’s on the upcoming change?

I think in the mean time i’ll start a project page on here for my current endeavors. Really enjoying this site so far and thank you all for the help!

-- We need more banjo!

I have the same jointer- picked it up at a garage sale for $45. It works OK, but you’ll quickly find its limitations as I have already done. Shorter, small width boards are OK on it, but anything over 3” it struggles with and the motor bogs down.

Knives aren’t difficult to replace, however its probably not as simple as on your planer. They have to be adjusted individually which requires a straight edge and some patience.

I find the fence setup to be a bit hokey. It works, but I quickly loose confidence that it holds the angle after a could of passes so I recheck it frequently. The knob on the left is not for the outfeed table, its for the fence.

Thanks for the input Tealetm! The price you paid made me cringe just a little… no matter though. It’s a good first step for me and luckily I do not do much on larger boards. Most of my projects are small so for now it should do what I need. For a first jointer to accompany my planer, it puts me in the right mindset of make everything flat and square. The knives will be my Saturday project if I don’t go and do some hunting. Hopefully it will be a valuable asset to my shop… starting to get a little worried lol!

-- We need more banjo!

I have the same jointer. Setting the cut depth for about 1/16 or less will allow you to joint 6” wide stock. Sharp blades help, too. Here is the setting jig I use.
Woodcraft has the same one for a few bucks less.
Follow the directions and, once you get it set up, it’s fairly easy to set the blades. Maybe 20 minutes for all three.
The outfeed table is not adjustable.
There are procedures for controlling the stock, that will make your jointing easier and safer. Please read this. The first thing is a couple pushers to keep the stock down tight and help move it along. Most of all, they keep your fingers safe. The other procedures are just body positioning and pressure on the stock.

-- Gene 'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Sorry scanner is broken so phone pics are all I have

-- Grayson - South Carolina