Jointer Question

[Keith W]

I had always wondered why such a soft wood as cedar was so harsh on blades and knives, then when I found out why, it totally made sense.

What was the reason?

[hwgill]

Western Red is a water hog, and they like sandy soil. So, as the tree sucks up the water, it also pulls up small grains of sand with the water. These grains become part of the wood as it grows and are what causes so much damage to planer & jointer knives and saw blades...though saw blades are tougher than the knives.

[Keith W]

Interesting. Does that hold for all cedar wood?

[hwgill]

Originally Posted by Keith W

Interesting. Does that hold for all cedar wood?

I don't know, I just know it is true for the cedars that we have here on the coast.

[stevem]

i just built my deck with eastern white cedar, it was planned at the mill but the stuff for the railings and posts i ran through my planer using an old set of knives, and yes it is tough on blades too.

so an old set of knives and some sanding(easy on cedar)

[hwgill]

Originally Posted by stevem

i just built my deck with eastern white cedar, it was planned at the mill but the stuff for the railings and posts i ran through my planer using an old set of knives, and yes it is tough on blades too.

so an old set of knives and some sanding(easy on cedar)

Yeah, sanding cedar is really easy. I spent maybe an hour doing my 61" diameter table top taking it from 60 grit (to get rid of the little bit of glue that squeezed out when I glued the sections together), all the way up to 150 grit, and that included doing the circumference of the table.

[rgingerich]

Hi Everybody, regarding this problem, I have a Delta 6" jointer and I found I was getting the ripples, somebody had said if you go slow the ripples will disappear, will he was right.
So slow down when using your 6" jointer.

Robert
www.robertswoodproducts.com

[matt.mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Keith W

Interesting. Does that hold for all cedar wood?

That is why Teak is so brutal on your tools. It has an extreamly high amount of silica inside the wood. Silica is basicly part of quartz rock and is used to make glass.

Takes the edge off a HSS jointer blade in a few minutes flat.

Matt.