[Lloyd James]

• I bought a used 6"Delta joiner model 37-190 with regular blades. I do not have any experience running a joiner.
• I would like to know what depth of cut you should use
• to cut hardwood such as bloodwood.
• I might as well ask the same question for pine too.

 

[Dave Paine]

I have the same model jointer. It was very popular at the time.

I do not know if there are hard and fast rules.

I set my jointer to be a light pass, about 1/64in. I do not change for the wood species.

I prefer a light pass since it will take less power for the motor, waste less wood and above all, should minimize tearout.

I also use light passes on my lunchbox planer. Just my personal preference.

 

[sawdustfactory]

I'm with Dave, light passes all around. However, my jointer stays set at 1/32".

 

[RogerInColorado]

I agree with taking off as little as you can get away with. A jointer is for flattening a board or for putting a "glue-up quality" edge on a board or getting rid of tool (saw) marks. The thinner the cut, the more passes you have available to fix your mistakes.

 

[Steve Neul]

The depth of the cut would largely depend on how hard the wood was and if you needed to take off a lot of wood per cut. I sometimes take off about 1/4" on soft wood when I'm jointing a long board that is crooked. For the most part I keep the jointer set to take off a 1/16" or less. There's no point turning a board into shavings if it wasn't necessary.