Which jointer is the quietest?
Grizzly's 12 in. G0959 combo has the lowest rating of the six Grizzly jointers with a figure, "88-89 dB" on its current sheet. South Bend's SB1113 prints a lower 82 - 84 dB, but in a separate group.
Grizzly's six, as its sheets print them:
- G0959 12 in. combo: "88-89 dB" (88 - 90 in the 2023 manual)
- G0958 8 in. combo: "88 - 90 dB"
- G0945 6 in. benchtop, straight knives: "90 - 92 dB"
- G0947 8 in. benchtop, spiral: "90 - 92 dB"
- G0946 6 in. benchtop, spiral: "92 - 94 dB"
- G0986 10 in. benchtop, spiral: "96 dB"
The other three groups hold one or two machines each. South Bend rates the SB1113 at 82 - 84 dB and the SB1091 at 85. Powermatic gives the 60HH 92 dB at 20 in. and the 60C 93. JET gives the JJ-6HHBT 92 dB.
Grizzly's ranges overlap at their edges, so the G0959 and G0958 differ by a single decibel at most.
Is a helical or spiral jointer quieter than straight knives?
Not on Grizzly's 6 in. benchtop sheets: the spiral G0946 is rated "92 - 94 dB" and the straight knife G0945 "90 - 92 dB", the same machine apart from the head. Powermatic's helical 60HH rates 1 dB under its straight knife 60C.
Grizzly's pages and sheets disagree
The G0946 page says its spiral head gives "smoother finishes, quieter operation, and less maintenance compared with straight-knife cutterheads". Its own data sheet, and the manual it shares with the G0945, put it 2 dB higher.
Both run a 1-1/2 HP universal motor, an 11,000 RPM cutterhead and a 30 in. table. The G0945 uses two SK5 knives on a 1-7/8 in. head, the G0946 12 HSS inserts on a 2 in. head. Grizzly does not say why the inserts rate higher.
Powermatic's pair
Powermatic's 60C and 60HH share a manual, a 7000 RPM cutterhead speed and a 73 in. table. The three knife 60C is rated 93 dB at 20 in., and the 60HH, with 54 four-sided carbide inserts, 92.
One decibel is too small a gap to hear across a shop. The case for an insert head rests on finish and on changing one dull edge instead of a full set of knives, as the thickness planer guide also found for Grizzly's benchtop planers.
Are benchtop jointers louder than floor models?
Grizzly's benchtop jointers are rated 90 to 96 dB, while South Bend's floor jointers print 82 to 85 dB, but the two brands' sheets cannot be ranked against each other, so the gap is a hint rather than a finding.
The hardware differs a lot. Grizzly's benchtops use 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 HP universal motors spinning at 19,000 RPM and belted down to an 11,000 RPM head. South Bend's SB1113 runs a 5 HP induction motor at 3450 RPM and a 4 in. head at 5500 RPM, in an 827 lb. machine.
Inside one maker, size is no guide either. Grizzly's 8 in. G0947 matches the 6 in. G0945 at 90 - 92 dB, and the 10 in. G0986 is the loudest Grizzly at 96.
Grizzly cannot settle the question itself, because its own floor jointers print no Sound Rating. The sheets for the G0490X, G0495X, G0856, G0858 and G0609X, among others, leave the row out.
Is a jointer planer combo quieter than a separate jointer?
On Grizzly's sheets, yes: its G0958 and G0959 combos rate 88 to 90 dB, under every Grizzly benchtop jointer. Grizzly does not say whether the reading was taken jointing or planing.
The two combos share a manual from March 2023 that gives both 88 - 90 dB. The G0959's newer data sheet, dated November 2, 2026, prints 88-89 and lists a 9500 RPM brushed DC motor where the manual lists a 15,000 RPM universal one, so the machine may have changed since the manual was written.
Each combo uses a two row helical head with carbide inserts, 18 on the 8 in. G0958 and 28 on the 12 in. G0959. Both have a single 4 in. dust port, so one collector hose serves jointing and planing alike.
Do jointer noise ratings describe cutting or idling?
None of the ratings for the jointers we found says whether the head was cutting wood. Only RIKON names a condition, "no load", and it prints a ceiling rather than a value.
Powermatic's 20 in. is the one distance we found. JET's footnote for the JJ-6HHBT calls its 92 dB an emission level that is "not necessarily to be seen as safe operating levels", and gives no setup.
The band saw manuals from the same JPW group print "without load" beside their figures, as our band saw guide sets out. The jointer manuals do not, so it would be a guess to read these as idle figures.
A jointer under load adds the sound of the knives meeting wood, and the dust collector running beside it. Our workshop noise page puts the jointer beside the other machines in a typical shop.
How do Powermatic and JET rate jointer noise?
Powermatic prints "Sound rating @ 20” (dB)" for the 60C and 60HH only, and JET prints "Sound emission" for the JJ-6HHBT only. Every other current jointer manual from either brand that we read has no sound row.
That leaves Powermatic's 54A, 54HH, PJ-882, PJ-882HH, 1285, 1285HH and PJ1696 without a figure. Powermatic's 1285 and PJ1696 manuals mention "noise-reducing table lips" and stop there.
On the JET side, the JJ-6CSDX, JJ-6HHDX, JWJ-8CS, JWJ-8HH-BLK, JJP-8BT, JJP-10BTOS, JPJ-12B and JPJ-12BHH manuals print none. JET's site no longer lists the JJ-8HH, JJP-12 or JWJ-6CS.
The two rated families do not share wording. Powermatic gives a distance and JET does not, and neither adds an A weighting, so each stays in a group of its own. The dBA explainer covers why a missing (A) matters.
WEN, Laguna and Cutech print no decibel figure in the jointer manuals we read, RIKON prints only a ceiling, and Felder's Hammer and SCM's Minimax pages make claims without a number.
WEN, Laguna and Cutech
WEN's manuals for the JT630H, JT833H, JT3062, JT1020H and JT1224H give no figure. Laguna's manuals for the JX6, JX8 and JX12 have a hearing warning but no level, and Cutech's manuals for the 40160HB, 40180HB and 401121HI print none.
RIKON's ceiling
RIKON lists "Noise Level (no load) . ≤ 100 dB" in the 20-800HSP manual, and its product pages give "<100dB" at 3 feet for the 20-800HSP, 20-1000H and 20-1200H. A ceiling cannot be ranked, so RIKON sits out.
Hammer, Minimax and Shop Fox
Felder's US page for the Hammer A3 jointer-planers says the Silent-Power head means "noise emissions halved", a relative claim with no decibels. SCM's Minimax FS 30C page promises "Reduced noise during machining" and no number.
Shop Fox data sheets give the W1879 and W1876 the same 90 - 92 and 92 - 94 dB as Grizzly's G0945 and G0946, but grizzly.com marks both Shop Fox jointers discontinued.
Do you need hearing protection at a jointer?
Yes, every jointer manual we read with a figure asks for it; Grizzly's tells owners to "Always wear hearing protection when operating or observing loud machinery."
Powermatic's 60C and 60HH manual and JET's JJ-6HHBT manual both carry the line "Wear ear protectors (plugs or muffs) during extended periods of operation." Even the lowest printed figures here, in the 80s, come with no distance or condition, so they say little about a long session of face jointing. Our power tool hearing page explains how time at a level adds up.
