Posted on May 13, 2026May 13, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Homemade Portable Jointer It Worked for Me: Homemade Portable Jointer By Todd Brotherton Originally published in American Lutherie #110, 2012 My 24˝ Northfield jointer doesn’t travel so well, nor does it break down to store under a bench. Long before the days of benchtop jointers, I made my own with a large portable power plane (PP). If you already have a PP, it can become an instant jointer, thus saving the cost of investing in more tooling. Like the benchtop models, PPs are not extremely accurate, but they can inexpensively serve the basic needs of milling smaller stock, are small and lightweight, and can be easily stowed away. Common sense, some photos, and these few suggestions should get you going. A careful examination of your PP will identify what is needed in the profile of the base to create a stand to hold it upside down. Find the construction details of your specific model that will best “lock” it in place; stability is important. For example, the tool shown has webs cast into the tables. I cut tabs that fit snugly in between the webs so it holds nicely in place. I made mine from scrap 3/4˝ hardwood plywood. My 6˝ PP is 21˝ long; accordingly, I made the base 32˝ in length to provide a broad foot for stability and sufficient clamping area to secure to a bench, sawhorses, or other supports. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 13, 2025May 2, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Myles Gilmer Meet the Maker: Myles Gilmer by Todd Brotherton Originally published in American Lutherie #26, 1991 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume Three, 2004 Would you give us some background on yourself? The wood business that I’m doing now is an offshoot of what I was doing in the ’70s. My education was in medical research, but there weren’t too many jobs in that area, so I built furniture accessories and sold them to galleries and stores across the country for a few years. I lived in equatorial Africa in the early to mid ’70s. I was working in the wood business in Ghana and Liberia as a jack-of-all-trades, doing vehicle maintenance, repairing machine saws, and doing some cutting and milling. I spent a lot of time hiking in the forest. The trees are incredible there. I have photographs of a native hut next to a tree that was 220' tall and 12'–14' in diameter. People often imagine an African forest as being a jungle but it’s more like what we see here in the Northwest; an old growth high canopy forest, very open inside with not much secondary growth on the floor, and quite dark to walk through. When I moved back to the USA, I quickly found that there weren’t great sources for the wood I was interested in. I had friends in Africa and started importing a little for my production line. We started importing more, and soon my competitors were interested in buying. I was still producing wood pieces, but getting tired of production woodwork. Over a two-year period I just switched from being a manufacturer to being a supplier. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
