We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
The new Bridge City Tools Jointmaker Pro is probably the most innovative and controversial new hand tool introduced in the last decade. The Jointmaker’s sliding table floats over a Japanese sawblade, allowing you to make amazingly smooth, clean and precise cuts.
The internet message boards have been atwitter with the news of the Jointmaker. Some have hailed as the best thing since sliced bubinga. Others have had harsh words for the price or the fact that “it’s cheating.”
We want you to decide.
We’re bringing the tool’s inventor, John Economaki, here to our offices in Cincinnati for a free event at 6 p.m. on June 19. We will serve you a free pizza dinner (plus cookies!) and then you’ll get to see and hear how the Jointmaker Pro works. You’ll also get to try one for yourself.
And if you have been living under a rock for the last few months, here are some links that will help explain this remarkable new device:
A blog entry I wrote on the Jointmaker when it was introduced.
A link to the Bridge City web site.
A link to a video showing it in action.
We’d very much like you to join us, but space is limited to 60 people. Please RSVP to Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick at megan.fitzpatrick@fwpubs.com so we can save you a space.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
I think it’s best for small-scale work, but it can handle fairly large workpieces: 1-5/8" thick and 6" wide.
The saw is a very interesting idea, and it’s one that is taking some time to sink in. We have a prototype in our shop right now, and we’re messing with it to see what we come up with.
Chris
Chris,
Maybe I didn’t ask the question correctly: every tool has a purpose. This one (much more than most Bridge City Tools) looks to be more about function. It looks incredibly useful for small work (fitting the insides of boxes? Doll furniture? Lattice work on glass cabinet doors?)
Can you confirm any of these assumptions? I’ve been assuming it cannot handle larger workpieces, but perhaps the pictures don’t suggest the capability? This is a very interesting new tool.
So for those of us who can’t be there on June 19, can you assess whether it is worth the $1200 retail, and who you would recommend to get it even if that much money was a year’s savings? (I know that is not me, but having watched the video I suspect there are people who will be able to realize a huge advantage by having one of these in their shop).