Most of my machinery has been purchased at auction and over the last few months it has been arriving from all corners of the country; a sander from Georgia, a 1965 jointer from Oxford, PA (pictured here) and a shaper from Northern Vermont. Periodically, I’ll be highlighting various pieces of machinery I use in my trade.

So, what’s a jointer used for? The machine is used for flattening the first face of a board, then squaring the first edge to that face. These become the control surfaces from which all other work to the board is tied to, and is ultimately influential in the final look and design of hand-made piece. My jointer came from William Kerfoot in Oxford PA, a respected dealer in used and vintage equipment. As you can see, this is a sizable piece of equipment, and with help of a few ready neighbors, we were able to smoothly unload and set up. (Not like the sander from Georgia which is another story!) I had to do some work to square of the fence to the table, but it is in amazing shape for it’s age, and a welcome addition to my Vermont workshop.

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