Are you buying it to use, or to sell?
The incremental cost of the knives is comparable to that of the 8" jointer
over the 6".
Get the largest decent machine you can afford.
Sorry for the abrupt tone, but it's the wife's birthday and I'm pressed for
time.

Bob



"Dave" wrote in message
news:go5Rc.33403$J06.11147@pd7tw2no...
It seems to me that a jointer is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. When I
look back at tools I have bought before, I often wonder why I didn't buy
better quality or bigger equipment from the beginning. Therefore, now that
I
am looking at buying a jointer, I feel tempted to go for an 8" machine
rather than smaller.

On the other hand, I do wonder if it will be more than I would ever
use. It seems also that if you make a mistake and hit a nail, those 8"
knives will be worth a lot more to replace. With this being a small market
tool, resale value of a bigger device would probably not match up as will
with purchase price. Certainly you pay lots more for the extra couple of
inches. I don't yet have any significant hands-on experience and therefore
would definitely be a newbie to that tool.

Any ideas out there? Can you do almost as much on a 6" machine as an
8"?

Dave