Carbatec 6 inch Benchtop Jointer Review

[davewicks28]

Will be very keen to hear follow-up. I am in a similar market

Only had the Sherwood thicknesser for a couple of days but I've used it a lot and all I can say is that it is an excellent machine. The finish quality is at least what I would say is 120 grit quality. No tearout on anything I've thrown at it and it's been awesome so far.

There is definitely snipe going on and I've adjusted the table as best as I could but it was still occuring. I find lifting the timber slightly up on entering under the cutter head and lifting slightly on exit works perfectly and I have 0 snipe at all using that method.

Very happy and can recommend it for sure to anyone who's thinking about it.

[riverbuilder]

Holding the stock up on entry and exit is standard on any thicknesser, until it’s held down by both feed rollers it will naturally want to rise up into the cutterblock. Normal practice to hold the ends up.

[davewicks28]

I figured it might be! I have access to a 20 inch Carbatec industrial thicknesser at a relatives workshop and I have to do the same on that to reduce the snipe. I have actually found the snipe on that machine is worse than mine!

I'm very happy with the thicknesser and am having excellent results with next to 0 snipe. I'll continue using it for another week and give a full review to make sure I don't have any additional things to report on! One thing I can say is that the finish from the helical head in the Sherwood is so good that it would barely need sanding before applying a finish. It's seriously that good!

[Treecycle]

Is it very noisy like most other bench top thicknessers? I assume the 20" one you have access to is quiet.

[davewicks28]

Hey mate,

It is noisy yes, but I would say it's no louder than my Bosch GTS10J table saw. I would say it's actually a little quieter.

I think it's quieter than the 20 inch planer when cutting though. When the 20 inch planer is running it's quiet, but chuck some wood through and it's loud as heck, whereas the benchtop one whilst still loud, doesn't make heaps of volume when cutting the timber.
Definitely an ear muffs required machine though!

[Treecycle]

Could it be that the blades are blunt on the 20" Planer as I find that they make less noise when freshly sharpened and get noisier as they loose that super sharp edge.

[davewicks28]

I think they could be due for a sharpen, my father in law makes kitchens as 99% of his business so he rarely uses it these days, I think I use his jointer and thicknesser more than he does these days!

The finish is still quite good from the 20" so I'd say they're still acceptably sharp, but could certainly do with a sharpen at some stage! I wish sometimes I had a larger workshop with 3 phase power as when he retires in a couple of years he's offered me a great deal on his thicknesser and Laguna 12" jointer. Unfortunately they're way out of my league so I'll just take advantage of them while he's still operating!