Jointer Safety

Function:

To straighten and smooth an edge or a face of a board.

Why we use it:

After boards are cut at the sawmill, they are dried out. Once a board had been dried, it is usually no longer perfectly straight. Before we can use many of our tools, the board we are using must be perfectly straight. The Jointer is the tool we use to straighten out a twisted board. We can also use the jointer to smooth out a board which is not perfectly smooth.

Safety Concerns:

-The safety guard must always be in place, it must swing freely, and it must cover the entire cutter head. When you push a board through the jointer, the orange safety guard moves out of the way as your board contacts it. If it doesn't move freely, or if it doesn't swing back over the cutter head after your passes through, it would be very dangerous.

-When jointing a board, you must stand next to the infeed table. Never stand at the end of the infeed table, as there is a risk with this tool that the board you are jointing could kick-back, or be thrown backwards off the tool. You don't want to be in the path of that board if that were to happen.

-Your board must be 12" long to be safely fed through the jointer. If it is shorter, it could tilt into the cutter head and be violently thrown back. When this happens, it could also drag your fingers into the cutter head, resulting in a very bloody injury.

-Your hands and fingers must always be at least 4" away from the cutter head. If this is not possible when holding your board with your hands, use a push stick or push block. If it is still not possible, you may not use the jointer for that piece of wood.

-Always make sure the fence is securely locked in position before using the jointer. If it is not securely locked, it could move while you are jointing a board. That would be very dangerous.

-As with the planer, never joint a board which has any nails or screws in it, never joint a board which has any paint or varnish on it, and never joint a board with loose knot holes in it.

-When jointing the edge of a board, your board must be as tall as the fence to joint it without a push stick. If the top edge of the board is lower than the fence, use a push stick.

-When jointing the face of a board, you will always use a push block.

-You will NEVER joint the end of a board. It is unsafe and it will produce terrible results. If you need to straighten the end of a board, you will use the miter saw.