Taper Legs with a Jointer?

Taper Legs with a Jointer?

This woodworker is trying to taper legs with his jointer. It goes Ok until he gets to the end of the leg. He gets the opposite of snipe (wood not take off) and he’s checked both tables twice. They are level and parallel. What’s up?

Michael Dresdner: I find that it is not uncommon to get bumps both at the start and end of jointer tapering. In our shop, we always plan for one final straight (non-tapering) jointer pass on the tapered face to remove them after the tapering operation.

Ian Kirby: The jointer isn’t the machine to use to taper parts. Since we don’t know how he’s trying to cause the taper, I can’t be much help. Chances are the jointer is Ok. In the absence of a shaper and a template to make the taper, the next best thing is to cut the taper on a table saw and then make a clean up pass on the jointer. Better still, use a hand plane to clean up the table saw surface.

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