Wahuda Tools Jointer - 8-inch Benchtop Wood Jointer, Spiral Cutterhead Portable Jointer, Cast Iron Tables w/Pull Out Extensions, 4-Sided Carbide Tips & 10amp Motor, Woodworking Tools (50180CC-WHD)

EDIT 2: Well I gotta say, Wahuda support came through. Doug over there sent me an entire new machine which just arrived and it seems to work great! He included a postage-paid return label and the first one is going back. It was a frustrating month trying to get that first one to work but you know, stuff happens and I gotta hand it to them, they stuck with me till the problem was fixed. Recommend! EDIT 1: Wahuda support got back to me. It looks as though the issue is a dip in the tables that's causing the problem. They're sending a replacement. Will update further once that happens. Hopefully that will fix the problem. I really wanted to like this jointer. I'll get to the dealbreaker first: the infeed and outfeed tables are a nightmare to try and level. Maybe someone with greater skill than I can pull it off but I've been trying for a month and I just can't get it to work right. I finally gave up...3 days past the return window. I emailed Wahuda support and not only haven't gotten a reply, I didn't even get an acknowledgment that my email got there. (My email outbox says it did.) I've watched scads of setup vids, operational tips, etc. I am absolutely, definitively doing everything right. There's a lot to like about it, the cutter is awesome, it's pretty quiet, the fence is square but if you can't make a jointer do what it's supposed to do then none of that matters—hence the one star. Also, if you're jointing long-ish boards like I do for my guitar necks, the table's too short and the extensions don't really help much. Live and learn. This is going on Craigslist and I'm going to spend the money for a more pro machine.

So I am an avid woodworker and I had done a ton of research before I purchased a jointer and like everybody else I watched a lot of YouTube videos. I’ve read all the reviews on Amazon but frankly some people are just not mechanically inclined. Lol but that’s just my opinion. so when my jointer arrived, the box was damaged, and there was a broken plastic handle, some minor chipping on the intake table that I didn’t know you could easily fix being new to jointers. I did see and read all the complaints about how difficult it is to adjust the tables to get them coplaned. I took a chance anyways because this seem to be a very nice jointer at this price for the 8 inch unit. Customer service I found to be outstanding, he is after all running a business, but he did always call back and did eventually always respond to any inquiries through Amazon messaging. he sent out replacement parts right away, gave me tips for adjusting the in feed and out feed tables as they were not Coplaned on arrival. As a novice and never seen or used a jointer before it was quite difficult to get the tables correct it was a lot of adjusting back-and-forth because of the construction when you adjust one screw it kind of throws off the others so it does take some time, especially if you don’t have any knowledge about how to go about doing this. (Think of standing on a plywood board balancing on a ball for movement) So know that from the start going in and then it won’t be as bad as people make it out to be. I did eventually figure it out doing small increments after messing it up a lot lol. But once you do have it, this jointer is awesome. After some further adjustment to, the Fence. It ended up being a solid as a rock, and I did not need to purchase the additional kit to stiffen the fence. Although I would’ve liked the cast iron better this will work and it is sturdy properly adjusted. When I jointed my first board, I was quite impressed with the quality from the spiral head. It is leaps and bounds better than how I was previously doing this task. I can totally recommend the 8 inch jointer as long as you know going in it is possible you could get one that you will have to adjust the tables, and if you do, unless you’re very knowledgeable, you will find it difficult but it can be done and it is well worth it once it is done it is rock solid. I don’t know about other peoples experience with customer service, but keep in mind he does have a business to run so he’s not gonna get back to you immediately but he is pretty quick.. I found him very very friendly, pleasant and helpful , and even with mailing issues on the scale, I didn’t receive the first one, he happily sent a replacement which I finally did get. My jointed boards are perfectly 90° and I am very happy with the machine. I am also very confident if I have any issues in the future that this company will stand behind it and help you troubleshoot and respond and not leave you hanging, but again, that is just my opinion your mileage May vary lol. All I can say is be patient and courteous and you will get a response. I appreciate the great customer service I received, and so far I am enjoying the jointer, hoping to fine-tune my wood projects even more. So if your patient it’s worth the risk of having to adjust tables for the results you get and for the price you pay. Thanks Wahuda!

Summary: I would recommend the Wahuda 8" jointer. Great for small shops, well priced, has features that compete well with jointers of similar size and excellent quick customer response and service. In spite of a couple of issues that I discuss in the "Detail" description, I rate this product with high marks, especially given the customer support and excellent performance. I am very pleased with this jointer and glad I made the decision to replace my 6" Delta Jointer of comparable size. Detail: I purchased the Wahuda 8" jointer from Amazon. After assembling it, I noticed that the head had a defect that appeared as a lumpy piece of aluminum. I contacted Wahuda via e-mail. After several e-mail exchanges, it was decided that the head indeed was defective and that Wahuda would send a new unit to me. They also instructed me to send back the defective unit at my earliest convenience. They provided a UPS label - so no charge for returning the unit directly to Wahuda, I decided to wait to receive the new jointer before sending the damaged one back. The replacement jointer came in good condition. I assembled it, aligned it, had to rotate a couple of head cutters (more on this below) and it works wonderfully. I repacked the damaged unit and hauled it to the nearest UPS store. Comment on customer service: - my e-mails were quickly answered on the same day I sent them. Customer support is excellent! I bought the Wahuda jointer to replace an older 6" bench Delta jointer. The reasons I decided on the Wahuda: - steel infeed and outfeed tables, not aluminum like their competitors. - the infeed and outfeed tables are manually leveled (see comments below) - the head uses sixteen 4-sided carbide cutters, not 2-sided high-speed steel cutters like other jointers of similar size. Cutters are 15mm X 15mm X 2.5mm x 30 degrees. These dimensions are not in the manual. Wahuda provided them to me via e-mail. I wanted to know this before making a decision, knowing that the cutters are available from other manufacturers as well as Wahuda. - there is no leveling of the head or cutters required. The Delta jointer uses steel blades that must be leveled to the outfeed table. - profile is similar to the 6" Delta jointer. I placed it on the same wheelable cabinet as what the 6" jointer was mounted on. What I like about the Wahuda jointer at this early stage of usage: - No snipe! - Quieter than the delta jointer (but ear protection is still a must) - The head does not bog down compared to the Delta. It will slow slightly, but it feels like a smooth cut - easy to move evenly as the wood is pushed. - I cut between 4 to 5-inch wide hard maple, walnut, bloodwood and cherry with excellent results but only after rotating two cutters. I noticed a couple of stripes on the boards. The stripes were due to two cutters that had very shallow nicks. The nicks lined up with the stripes on the boards. I identified the nicks by carefully running a finger nail over the edge of the cutter and I could feel the nick. I verified this with a microscope. The nick on one cutter was 0.3 mm wide, the other about 0.25 mm wide. The nick depths were about 0.1 mm with indentation at the edge of less than 0.1 mm. I rotated the two cutters and the striping is gone. Before and after the cutters were replaced, I jointed two 14" long x 5" wide hard maple (i.e., with and without the striping). Placing the boards together required some force to separate them, only possible when each are flattened with good quality. A bit disappointing to have discovered the defective cutters on an initial cut, but not an issue once fixed. Comments: - Adjusting the outfeed and infeed tables: The most time-consuming part of putting the Wahuda jointer together was adjusting the outfeed and infeed tables. I found that for both units I received, leveling was necessary. It took me two hours to level the tables on either unit. This is an iterative process. As the tables get closer to level, the process must be repeated. I've worked on many woodworking power tools and in my opinion, this amount of time is not unusual when it comes to attempting anything having to do with alignment. Once aligned, the reward was excellent results. As the tables come closer into alignment, a fraction of a turn on the height adjustment set screws is all that is needed (not full nor even quarter turns!). A detailed explanation of the adjustment process is at the end of this review. Cleaning the cutters: The manual states that there may be oil residue on the cutters and if so, the cutters must be removed and cleaned. The jointer is shipped with the tables oiled and covered with a plastic sheet. Both the head and the cutters on the jointer I received had quite a bit of oil on them. I removed the cutters and cleaned the oil from the head and the cutters. Extension arms: The extension arms may be used when jointing boards that go beyond the table. I've seen reviews commenting on the difficulty of moving the extension bars. I did not have this problem on both of the jointers I received. There are four screws used to release/adjust play on the extension slider bars. One screw with a knurled knob is used to secure the position of the extension. This screw must be loosened to allow the extension arm to glide smoothly. There are three nylon set screws recessed at the end of each table on the top side and one on the front side. The manual doesn't mention these, and they are helpful in removing any play there may be in sliding the extension back and forth. These must be adjusted so that they do not cause resistance to moving the extensions. The Fence: There are three main pieces to the fence: The fence itself, a right-angle bracket that attaches to the jointer body and a bracket that attaches to the fence and the right-angle bracket that allows sliding the fence into a desired position. The fence and these brackets are made of aluminum. There are two screw-handles: one to lock the fence into a desire position over the tables, the other to lock the fence angle. The handles are a hard plastic-like material. This is an identical arrangement compared to my Delta jointer. There are also two screws useful in adjusting the left-to-right tilt of the fence so that it sits evenly above the table. Regarding the angle of the fence to the table: I had no difficulty aligning the fence to 90 degrees relative to the tables (it was factory set), nor did the fence shift after use - just as with my Delta jointer. Adjusting the tables: The outfeed table is first leveled relative to two of the sixteen carbide cutters - one closest to the fence, the other closest to the front. There are four mounting bolts (positions) on each of the tables. There are also a pair of set-screws on each side of a bolt. I've removed both tables to understand the arrangement of the table-tops and their adjustment set screws and hex bolts. The picture attached is a rough drawing of how the hex bolt and set screws are arranged. So, for each table, there are eight set screws and four bolts. Leveling takes place by slightly loosening the four mounting bolts of a table. The set screws are used to lower or raise the table in the vicinity of the loosened bolt. One set screw is adjusted to get the table at the desired height, the other set screw is adjusted (by feel) to the level same level of the first set screw so that it just touches the support below the table. The other three mounting positions are similarly adjusted. The outfeed table is adjusted so that when a level is placed over the inner (or outer) cutter, the level just touches the cutter (checked by rotating the head back and forth). The head is moved back and forth from the front by placing a thin rod through the hole in the header shaft (I used an Allen wrench to do this). The infeed table is adjusted after completing the outfeed table. The instruction manual states bringing the infeed table to the height that is level with the outfeed table (nominally the "0" position on the level indicator). Leveling is accomplished with the aid of a high quality straight edge. I bought a new 24" level for this. The trick is to obtain even-level so that both tables are at the same height at the "0" position. After leveling the infeed table with respect to the outfeed table, I found that a test cut of four passes resulted in an uneven cross-sectional cut. I discovered that as a result of lowering the infeed table, the table was slightly tilted. I decided to re-level the infeed table at a position slightly lowered from the outfeed table. I used a disk from a hard drive - these are very well machined to be flat (fractions of a thousandth of an inch). I straddled the level - some of it on the outfeed table, some on the infeed table. I placed the disk under the level on the infeed table and raised the table until the level just touched the disk (on the side that was highest). I then shifted to the side where the inner table was lower and adjusted the set screws to raise the table so the disk just touched the level. Iteratively, back-and-forth. Test cuts now worked at various infeed table heights with an even cross-sectional cut!

Best joiner on the market on this price range. If you spend the time setting up the fence, you will have no issues! They even include the fence stabilizer clamps that were usually a separate purchase. So far I have ran twenty sets of wooden flag strips and this thing made no indications of weakness! Motor is strong and never bogged down. Hardwood or pine did not show anything but clean edges. I am very happy I spent the money and got this machine. It has stepped up my production time by eliminating several hours of sanding on each flag. My glue-ups are seamless and worry free! Minimal adjustment to cut is very precise with the knob setup. I was skeptical on that part but found out quickly it is perfect. Get one today!

The jointer serves its purpose well, but only after hours of frequent adjustments. The initial setup was time-consuming and difficult. If you only had to do it once, or even once a year, it wouldn't be so bad. The feed table really doesn't like to stay square, so I recommend checking it before each use. Once you get it dialed in, it'll do a good job on short-ish pieces. I definitely wouldn't go over 4 feet, and even that's pushing it. It's perfect for 2 to 3 ft pieces. Worked equally well on hardwood and softwood. Also worth noting; the tables are cast iron which is corrosive. Keep it dry and clean, otherwise you'll be scrubbing it.