I started looking into jointers again, and have been juggling some thoughts about them.
I’m eager to make a few small benchtops from maple and other hardwood stock, and a jointer will make quick work of straightening the edges. Also, some of the hardwood I’ve been working with – even planed from the lumber supplier – isn’t quite flat. Quick work with a jointer should give me a parallel face that can reference a planer bed for thickness milling.
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If you look at woodworking forums, the common consensus seems to be that portable 6″ benchtop jointers just plain suck. You’ll hear how they’re not easily adjustable, the fences and tables might be made of lightweight materials, the fence and tables might not be flat, and how the tables are too short to be of any practical use.
Still, I figure that a jointer with 30″ table length might be better than not having a jointer at all and having to flatten all stock by hand. Which I’m willing to do, just not for all of my upcoming projects.
There are a few remarks on woodworking forums that a small jointer isn’t any better than not having one, but I take those with a grain of salt.
Larger jointers cost more, they take up a large footprint, and often require a full-sized dust collector.
So I started looking at 6″ jointers again, looking for a model that user reviews seem to complain least about. I came across the Cutech brand on Amazon, a brand I’m not at all familiar with.
The Cutech jointer shown above, model 40160H-CT seems to have decent reviews. And it looks identical to one marketed by Rikon at a higher price.
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The Cutech jointer has a 6-inch spiral blade, with (12) 2-sided HSS inserts arranged in a pattern around the blade. From images of the blade I can find, only 2 of the HSS cutting inserts engage in the wood at any given time.
There is also a carbide model, 40160HC-CT, which comes with (12) carbide inserts. Replacement inserts of both kinds are available, in packs of 10. If a single insert is nicked or chipped, you can rotate it to reveal a fresh cutting edge. If that blade wears or is nicked, you can replace just that insert.
You might be able to buy replacement inserts from elsewhere – these look like they might be a standard size.
After digging into the company a bit, I learned from the owner/manager’s various woodworking forum posts that they launched the company to sell spiral cutterhead planers and jointers after Steel City Tool closed their business.
Looking at 6″ benchtop jointers specifically, I see that these come out of the same factory as other brands’ 6″ benchtop jointers.
Doug, the owner/manager, mentioned aiming for exceptional customer service, which is optimistic. I also noticed that they have a huge selection of spare parts on their website.
Let’s say I buy the jointer and I’m not happy with the tables. I’ve read that the aluminum tables are rigid from the factor flattening process. So let’s say I try to flatten the tables and screw them up. It’s good to know that I can order replacement parts as needed.
There are also some other parts that can be of other use, such as the dust port.
Porter Cable’s 6″ jointer looks to be the same machine, but with an intake grill, chip blower, no dust port, and straight blades instead of a spiral one.
This older Delta is identical to the Porter Cable.
Rikon’s 6″ jointer looks to be identical to Cutech’s HSS spiral blade model, but more expensive.
Price: $290 to $340 plus shipping
Buy Now(Cutech with HSS Blades)
Buy Now(Carbide Model via Cutech)
I emailed Cutech to see if they’ll have a Father’s Day promo or similar. Their prices are lower than through their distributors (makes sense), and if they also offer free shipping I might give their carbide-toothed model a try.
If you’ve heard of Cutech, has it been good? Have you purchased anything from them before?
Specifications
- 10A motor
- 11,000 RPM
- 2″ wide cutterhead
- 12 2-sided inserts (HSS or carbide)
- 1/8″ max cutting depth
- 30″ x 6-3/16″ table
- 2-1/2″ dust port
- Dimensions: 32″ x 12-1/4″ x 11″
- Weighs 40 lbs
I’m also considered Wen, Delta, and Grizzly cast iron table models. The Wen is ~$255 on Amazon, the Delta is $314 on Amazon, and the Grizzly $274 with shipping.
The next step up is ~$600 for a larger floor-standing model with straight blades. And beyond that, floor-standing models with spiral blades for $800+. The larger models with spiral blades have more inserts.
From what I’ve seen, the larger models can require tinkering, even from more premium brands. If I’ve got to tune a machine right out of the box, I’d be okay starting smaller. A 30″ table might be enough for smaller workpieces. For longer ones, I figure I can break out my hand planes or build a board-flattening router sled.
fred
Never heard of this brand
Probably about 30 years ago, I bought a portable Delta 37-070 planer that looks very similar to this one. I already had a 8 inch long bed Delta stationary planer in my home shop – but wanted something to be able to throw in the truck and take to a second home. Over the years I’ve used it that way – more recently transporting it to the kids homes. If I had to do it again I would have bought an even larger stationary machine – not so much because of the extra width (I seldom work on single-piece 10 or 12 inch wide stock) – but because of the extra length. Of course if shop space is not available – “extra length” is a moot point. I don’t know what brand I’d buy today – but Oliver would be on the list to compare.
Jeff
You bought a jointer, not a planer. A planer runs the wood between the table and the blades and is measured by maximum width, 12″, 13″, 15″, etc. A jointer has the blades between a fixed and adjustable table. And is specified by cutter width and table length that might be 30 or 60″.
fred
I ran across this online comparison of bigger stationary machines:
http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/8-in-jointer-reviews/
Stuart
The downside is that all of those are 9-10X the cost, and probably even more of a multiplyer larger.
I won’t have a dedicated woodworking workshop, and so I can’t justify such large equipment. I have been looking at 6″ planers with maybe 4-foot tables, but even those are too large for me to easily justify. Some might require a large “real” dust collector, as opposed to my Festool vac.
fred
I understand – we all have to make compromises.
BTW – my large planer is connected via a 6 inch duct and even the small planer spews debris faster than a small shopvac can handle. When I use it – it has been generally outside on a jobsite – with cleanup after the fact.
Brian
I have the planer they make and it’s great have no complaints
William
I recently purchased the 6″ Jet with Helical head, it’s pretty narrow and I can store boxes under each end. My Festool CT 48 fits nicely under one end.
Was thinking about a benchtop unit, but I like to make larger projects occasionally so the longer table makes more sense.
Stuart
Thanks! How has it been working out for you?
William
Overall I am satisfied, but not extatic.
I’ve on used 1 other jointer before this, so I don’t have allot to compare, but that one was a larger and much more powerful unit. The Jet 6″ cuts much slower, and doesn’t leave as clean of a finish, but some sanding takes care of it.
The Jet wasn’t too bad to set up, and I’m not very mechanically inclined. I didn’t make myself crazy with feeler gauges, if the board came out square that was good enough for me.
I wish I had space for an 8″ Jointer, but having a jointer is way better than making yourself crazy with dimensioned lumber.
Mike
I would recommend trying a straight edge jig for the table saw first. Only a few bucks to build so you aren’t really out anything if you hate it.
Chance
If all you need to do is straighten lumber this works great, in fact I do it all the time on the job-site with long levels, no jig required. However Stuart is looking to be able to flatten boards as well.
Stuart
A lot of the wood has a straight edge rip for nominal added cost, but that won’t help with flattening a face.
Ideally, a face would be jointed, possibly referenced off of the straight ripped edge to save a step, and then to a portable thickness planer to get 2 flat and parallel faces. The other edge can be cut on a table saw or straightened by any number of quick and relatively means.
Garrick
I found that a long bed 6 inch was most practical for my needs. A 4 inch would have left me scrambling about 4 times as often as I do from not having an 8 inch. and since 8 inch jointers cost twice as much as 6 inch, the amount of time I have to work around the 6 inch is worth the savings in both time and floor space.
There are a lot of old jointers for sale. The ones from the 50’s were built to last forever, and so that is what I bought (a Canadian made Beaver 3800). It did require tuning to meet my exacting requirements (wants), but I did get it to .001″ per foot. Blade changing requires some religious effort to set them, but it can be learned. Nowadays, it is possible I would have used a helical head though.
Paul
Not to be completely negative, but many of these brands were duplicated/farmed out to Chinese manufactures and I’ll bet the manufacturer itself is trying to market the item now.
Tablesaws, planer, miter saws, etc. It they look alike – just a different color they are most likely coming out of the same factory.
Be careful, where a good brand like Delta will use ball bearings and good motors, the inexpensive brands will use bushings and cheap or lower powered motors. In other words, even though it looks the same, if it 20-50% less than there is a reason.
Stuart
I’ve seen similarities in benchtop power tools for years, with different brands’ tools seemingly coming from the same factory.
But as with Seig mini mills and lathes, I’d assume that different brands have slightly different build specs and customer service. I’ve read many accounts that with some Seig-made machines machines, buying from one brand might result in slightly different fine-tuning requirements, or minor features might be different.
One tool might cost more and be nearly ready to go right out of the box, another brand’s might skip a few final polish steps and require extra tuning and upgrading on the user’s part.
Even if 10 brands sell the same tool under their colors, there might be reasons to buy one brand’s version of another’s.
Chance
I’ve had a few of these portable machines over the years, but I tend to not use them on the job site anymore because unless you’re doing shorter materials it can get kind of frustrating trying to straighten eight or 10 foot long boards. If I need to straighten lumber I will do it in the way I mentioned above, but if I have a bunch of material to flatten I’ll just take it back to the shop.
The only problem I see with this Cutech (I really want to read it as cute-tech when I look at that little machine lol) is that depending on where you have the fence set and how thick your material is it’s only taking one caught per revolution of the cutterhead. The miter does spin a thousand RPMs faster than the Delta, but the delta is taking twice as many cuts. I can’t imagine how slow you’d have to fees material to get a smooth chatter-free cut. My shop jointer is taking 5 cuts per revolution of the head and sometimes I feel that’s too slow.
If I had to choose between the machines you listed I would do the Delta. I had that machine and it was pretty decent. I liked the variable speed and I would take that cast fence over the extruded one on the Cutech all day long. I’m a big fan of the helical cutterheads, just not the one on that Cutech, but who knows, maybe it’s better in application than I think it is. . . . . .
RKA
I see this machine being an exercise in frustration for all the reasons you’ve read about. If you’re buying milled material that just needs final dimensioning, I would look into building a sled where you can use the planer to level the face. For jointing, use your tracksaw.
Mark
+1 on the sled.
Machines in this class are probably good for doing small projects like boxes.
If cheap floor machines are $1000+, this machine will probably have toy-like build quality.
Given the amount of futzing around to make this small machine work for 4ft boards, I think you’d have similar amounts of futzing to use a planer with a sled, and you’d get better results, and can go to 12″ wide.
What I do is hand plane one side until somewhat flat and doesn’t rock (slightly hollow), plane the other side, flip, repeat.
If you’re not set up with hand planes, a harborfreight electric hand planer will work (the blue and yellow one), with this technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK0DB63Tg3U
There’s also the router sled thing, but that looks really not fun
Brian Auerbach
Consider this, the infeed table on this saw is likely ~15″ long, (32″ total, subtrace a smidge for the cutter head)
So if you have a board longer than 15″ it will not “see” the whole length of the board, meaning that a 48″ board that has a warp across its legnth will slowly “ride up” the table, keeping the curve in the product.
Ive heard rules of thumb that a jointer can roughly handle wood 2x its infeed lenth. Personally, it seems like 1x would be ideal, but alas, thats not going to ever happen. Still, 15″ is quite limiting…
then there is the issue of power… does the cutech have an induction motor?
Stuart
I’ve heard the 2x rule as well, and figured the 30″ table should be okay handling 4-foot boards. Larger than that would be rare, and probably a one-off project I could take a hand plane to.
The downside to a larger jointer is that the tables will take up a lot of horizontal space.
David
The folks over at Stumpy Nubs talked about different helical head layouts, and talk a bit about why this type of layout isn’t as nice as the truly spiral layouts. If I recall, it’s about halfway through this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UurAyAOfzGs
I have an ancient Sprunger 6″ that is on my eventual upgrade list – hopefully at an 8″ helical, or an old Delta/Rockwell with the Shelix upgrade after reading similar “just get an 8 inch” posts for years. I’ll be interested to see what you think of this if you buy it.
Bolt
I wish there was a higher quality version of the jet bench top combos because those would be perfect for a small shop.
toolPathy
I had the bench top Porter Cable and was surprised by how capable it was for its miniscule footprint. It was fantastic for boards under 36″. If the return policy was good, I’d probably buy the Cutech.
With that said, the outfield and infield tables can never be too long. I wish my current Grizzly jointer had the longer tables of a Powermatic 6″ jointer. If not length, then the 8″ capacity using 120V of a Delta DJ-20.
avi
I didn’t notice anyone suggesting a planer sled. I don’t have first hand experience, but if you really are limited on space could that get results as good as 6 inch jointers?
John S
I think the idea is that anything over 6 inches wide and over 4-5 feet long he’d be able to accomplish this with such alternative methods. I’d think a planer sled would be a super pain to fiddle with for anything smaller than 6 inches wide. However it is a great alternative.
Here is a good one if you go down that route:
https://youtu.be/XrUcHUqTSyM
and howto build instructions:
https://youtu.be/DNg9BV4IF2Q
Woodchuck
I have a number of friends who went the benchtop route, and they were all disappointed (and visiting me to use my floor model). The longest board you will be able to do consistently with a benchtop is about 20″, despite what the tool board says. Might you at times luck out with straight lumber and get more? Sure! Every time? Forget it.
If price is the overriding concern, buy a used floor model. Or you can get a new 6″ floor model grizzly for $525 + shipping (if you live close to an outlet, you can pickup as well). That’s the way to go…don’t think of it as saving $200. Think of it as not wasting $325.
Jimmie
Two comments on the Cutech:
1) The short tables make me wonder whether it would be frustrating to use on a 6-ft board.
2) The light weight concerns me. Light weight is fine for a portable table saw. But — and call me old school — a jointer needs to be solid.
Don’t be hesitant to buy a secondhand jointer. So long as you verify that the tables are parallel, there’s not much that can go wrong that’s not fixable. If you’re patient and have floor space, you can find 6″ Ridgid JP0610 models for under $250. 6″ Delta and Powermatic models routinely go for under $400.
Nathan
if that table could be extended somehow – that would work out better. Otherwise I’d shop a used stand model. I do get your concern on the space – which is why I wish someone would make one of these with extendable tables. I’ve thought a few times about trying one – as I also have space issues. And thought if I built a table I could square and level such as to add 2 ft of support on the infeed and outfeed it would make an overall better device. ANd still save me some time and effort.
Nathan
One other bit – have any of you heard of putting and adjustable roller on the top of the board when using a shorter tabled Joiner? IE have an adjust able arm – roller device – such as to keep constant and even pressure on the board, to the bed of the joiner
Thus keeping the board from pivoting or wobbling on the plate as you mill it?
fred
Some folks put a power feeder (or even 2 – one for edges – one for faces) on their jointer – which might help to reduce some of the variability that happens from one operator to another. I think that most folks who do this put the feeders on the outfeed side. We had a power feeder on our Oliver rip saw – but even though our 12 inch jointer might have had enough room to affix a feeder – we never considered doing it. Felder and others do advertise power feeders for Jointers – and I’ve seen back and forth discussions on the web over the years about the merits and issues of adding one to a jointer. There are small (Grizzly sells one called “Baby”) feeders that might fit a benchtop jointer – but I’m not sure how you would attach them.
John S
I been researching and for the price it looks pretty good for what it is. I have read other forums and the support and people working there appear to be really receptive and contactable. I was kinda in the market for such an entry level machine like this along with a planer to step up my quality. I’m sure there are compromises here and certain expectations have to be lowered at this price point. However like you, I have limited space and anything over 6 inches wide and 4-5 feet long I’d use alternative methods. If you do end out buying one, I would really be interested to hear your experiences and review of it.
Rob
Off the top of my head, I believe that Cutech are ex-steel city employees.
Yes, you’ve seen this jointer branded as PC and etcetera.
One of the Cutech Lunchbox planers was a popular Steel City model, the other was a very well regarded Ridgid model. Emerson made the planer, and then they outsourced the manufacturing, and finally discontinued the model. The asian manufacturer continued to offer the model.
With the stationary and benchtop machines, it may all look the same in photos (same factories), but each bit and piece is spec’d out by the brand with further delineation coming from where and how QC is implemented.
I haven’t seen a Cutech product in person, but what I’ve read in forums and whatnot would lead me to believe that they know their niche and that they’re getting the best out of the factory.
lynn cranmer
I have their 13 inch thickness planer with the helical type cutter head. It is a great machine and leaves a nice smooth surface on everything I have run through it. Including some rock hard mesquite. If the jointer is of the same quality,should be a good buy.
KB
I have this particular jointer
here are my assessments
the Good:
Customer service is top notch- true, when I had issues, I was taken care of.
Blower port works great, minimal dust buildup
Cutter head is nice but this is a not a true helical cutter head…it is a helical “style” cutter but it cuts nice
Plenty of replacement parts- ok!
The Bad:
Aluminum is aluminum. it scratches easy, not as durable as steel- the worst part of the Jointer. I wish the aluminum tables were more durable but they suck and this might get some to not buy. Still got a new one from cutter tech on warranty, $24 for a new one side…
it takes a little bit of time to get the Fence square and it works fine however, mine developed a hairline crack after minimal use on the inside mold. it did not affect the performance. Still got a new one from Cuttertech
After all said and done, I use this Jointer a lot. I have used it on Maple, Oak, Pine and some other hard woods.
final analysis…
question is , do you have space, plan to use it a lot? if so, step up to a long feed 6 or 8 inch like a Jet or grizzly, spend the extra
If you don’t have space…first, Look for a good use table top jointer, if possible. I tried beforehand for roughly 3 months but most wanted almost retail, or it looked like it went through the Mill.
If you Value highly customer service, Buy from Cuttertech. You get straight to getting taken care of your issues.
So Far the replacement fence has held up and no cracks. The tables …well…
I have had this Jointer for about 6 months.
Mike
30 days ago I bought a CUTech 8″ spiral cut jointer with carbide inserts and the new black table instead of the aluminum. I am very pleased with the purchase and if I had it to do again, I’d make the same decision. In my other shop I do have a 25 year old cast-iron, long-bed 8″ jointer and there is no question that a long bed jointer is nice, but for the money and footprint, I am very pleased with this decision. I am very pleased with the carbide inserts of the CUTech instead of my 8″ knife jointer. One little nick on an 8″ long blade, and it requires either sharpening or replacing the blade and the finite adjustment is a real pain. Been jointing hard maple, oak and pine and it does not bog down (making reasonable depth cuts). The exhaust port works very well hooked up to a vacuum for both chips and dust. And there are extensions that pull out and add another foot on both the outfeed and infeed tables which help to support the weight of long boards. While they will not replace a long-feed table jointer, they are surprisingly strong (as long as the jointer is bolted to a heavy table or cabinet top).
Jeff Gu
I have the 8″, black table, carbide version (40180HCB-CT) and have had other 6″ benchtop jointers. My brother has the 6″, black table, HSS from Cutech. We are both very happy with them.
The comments that infer no jointer is a better option than these units, are clearly the product of people who haven’t used them. They do a remarkably good job, keeping in mind that nobody, not even Cutech, is claiming that these are “just as good as” a full sized cabinet tool. They are best suited for a small shop that produces relatively small products… but I’ve run 2×8 dimensional stock 8′ long through mine with satisfactory results. If the face isn’t quite flat to start, there are plenty of tricks to keeping it pretty flat as you run it through the jointer. My favorite, as long as the stock is longer than the final length you need, is a bolt (counter sunk/bored) through each end to hold it tight against an 8′ aluminum concrete screed.
Grab some lumber that’s typical of the wood you’ll be milling, and find somebody that owns one. Offer them $5 just to face/edge mill some of that wood, so you can see their machine in action. I’m betting you’ll be more than just a little bit surprised at just how good a job they can do. My brother, in Texas, mills pallet wood into usable lumber for his smaller projects, glued up panels, and more. He has a good source for oak pallets and some others that are made from a crazy variety of different species.
The Cutech benchtop jointers are the best of the bunch in their price range. You have to spend quite a bit more money to match the quality. They have good quality control and are a very nice bunch of folks to deal with. If something isn’t right, they’re very quick to fix it, and they don’t even mind you calling them for advice.
Eric
I just recently bought the 8″ SS Spiral jointer from Cutech. I admit, I haven’t used it much but it has been great. A little tedious in making sure the fence is perfectly 90°…every time but worth it so far. I’ve run 60″ 4/4 solid white oak through it and didn’t phase it one bit. When expanded the table area (total length) is 50-ish inches and It’s rather heavy at 49 lbs. but I don’t use it often so getting it out and setting it up isn’t all that bad. The finish on the wood when done is almost finish ready. So little sanding had to be done.
Sco Deac
I know this is an old post but this machine looks just like the Craftsman at Lowes now in 2020.
Dave
I bought a variable speed spiral cutter head thickness planer from Cutech, last year. I got the carbide inserts. I have just gotten around to setting it up, and using it. I ran some hard flamed maple through it yesterday. It cut cleanly, not a hint of tearout anywhere. Conversely, I discovered that I needed to re-square two edges. I got out my nearly new Porter Cable 6″ variable speed benchtop planer. It worked o.k. for some spruce I had, but I then tried the flamed maple. I regret that now. It has standard cutters, and tore out the grain regardless of speed or technique. I’m ordering another Cutech machine. I am a Luthier.. I build and repair basses, and even tiny flaws are visible, it reflects poorly on the finished instrument. These spiral/ helical cutters do a much better job. In fact, I hardly need to sand the machined areas at all before gluing them up. If you are doing production work, you’ll need a longer, stationary machine. This company makes great products… and yes, you can see, they are indeed all made in the same places in Taiwan/ China.