[Cherryville Chuck]

I try to keep pressure right at the knives or more precisely about two inches back so that my fingers aren't directly over the knives. If I'm having that problem I haven't noticed it.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

I was looking at my jointer and thinking maybe check the knives with a gauge. They could be too low which would make the table seem to be too high. I think the knives should be the same height as the outfeed table at the highest point of the knives all across.

All the gauge does is set the exposure of the blades relative to the head and hopefully keep them level. There is no fixed relationship between that and the out feed height. The out feed must be set independently of the blades to the head.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

I set my knives by holding a piece of hardwood down on the out feed table and let the knife springs push the knife against it. Assuming that I haven't moved the table much from its neutral position then the exposure relative to the head is close enough. As you rotate the head back and forth it should just touch the board. If it doesn't touch or lifts the board then start over. A very fine adjustment of the out feed may be necessary to be perfect.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

The jointer problems I was having seem to be cured, but I tried to manually hone the knives and I'm guessing I didn't do a great job...I'm just going to replace them now (maybe also get the existing ones professionally sharpened...:x

Derek Willis posted a very simple home made jig years ago that claimed worked very well. It would take me a while to find it using my phone.