shop essentials:
Jointer vs. Planer

You can buy surfaced material. To straighten edges, nothing is faster than a joiner. I would buy the joiner first.
- woodchuck1954

Thickness planers and jointers do different things. You really need a jointer. You need it to flatten and edge-joint boards. A thickness planer is in the really-nice-to-have category. The planing that a thickness planer does is different than the planing a jointer does. Most boards from the hardwood store are a little cupped, or a little bowed, or a little warped. Or they will be after they sit in your shop for a while. To get a board flat--so that it will go into a panel, or so that you can make rails or stiles for a door--you either have to hand plane it flat, or else make repeated passes over a jointer bed to get it flat. Same thing with edge jointing. Now, if you take a board that's a little cupped or bowed or warped and put it through a thickness planer, you will have a slightly thinner and very smooth cupped, bowed, or warped board. The thickness planer will not flatten it out. Now if you have 3/4" stock and you need 1/2" stock for drawer sides, it's easier to mill it down to 1/2" using the thickness planer, but you certainly can do the same thing on the jointer. I would strongly advise getting a jointer.
- Wiley

I don't have a jointer, nor will it be likely that I will ever buy one again. (IMHO only) the jointer takes up too much room in my limited space to come close to justifying it's existence or cost. I just finished some grandmother clocks that I had to glue up lots of panels for...and we're talking nasty, wet ding pine, and the panels are flat and edge joined without a jointer. I needed some 14" wide panels, so I ripped (4) 3 5/8" wide boards, stacked them together and ran them edges down through the planer...great glue joints...no problems and I did 4 at a time, saving me time/effort. Then I glued them up...4 boards at a time, no glue between boards 2 and 3, then ran those through the planer to remove the cupping and bow, then reglued the panel together and finished with the drum sander (I could have finished with a ROS, but hey, I got a drum sander eh...) I use an old Bailey #8 quite a bit too, then straight-line rip on the TS, etc... Anyway...I don't use or need a jointer, but there are those that love them...I guess it all comes down to several ways to skin a cat...nothing wrong with any of the ways that I know of...they all work. Whatever floats your boat! .
- WoodMangler

I looked at both for a long time, and bought a jointer first. I was so happy with the darn thing I went an bought the plainer the following week. I use a lot of scrap an they have paid for themselves over many times. But guess I would buy a jointer first.
- DaPapa

If I remember right I got both my planer and jointer within a few days of each other. If I was to have to do it again and I had to chose between them I think I would go for the planer first followed as soon as possible with a jointer. The jointer excels at giving you a flat surface and with the fence set at 90 deg it will give you a square corner to use as a reference. It doesn't thickness worth a darn giving you two surfaces that will be flat but not parallel with each other. The thickness planer will give you a thinner board that both faces are parallel with each other. If you put in a board that is bowed or twisted your gonna get a board out that is bowed or twisted just thinner. But you can overcome this, what I have done on boards that are too wide for the jointer is to use a hand plane to roughly flatten one face of a board then use the planer. You could use a jointer to flatten one face and then try to make the other face parallel by hand, But then you might as well do both faces by hand. And they wont be perfect, may be close if your good but hardly ever perfect. I would go for the planer first and the jointer as soon as I could. Once you have both you will find the jointer has a lot of uses and like Jules said you will use it more than the planer.
- RandyS

Definitely buy the planer first. You can make a jig to use with a table saw to do a straight-line rip. Since most boards are cut to narrow widths and glued up to avoid expansion problems, the boards you rip can be edge planed on a regular planer. I run a small wood working shop and sold my jointer about 4 years ago and haven't missed it.
- Burt

Realistically, you'll get more use out of a jointer than a planner. Here's the deal...
A jointer is often called a 'jointer/planner' because you can do all four sides of the stock, up to 6" wide (unless you buy a bigger 8" jointer). So if you have a rough cut 2 X 6 and you joint the edges, you can, with multiple passes, reduce it down to whatever thickness you need.
Further, the jointer will be used on everything you build (including store bought dressed lumber) not just the outdoor furniture.
A planner is good to have, especially if you have access to lots of rough cut material. (95% of my wood is straight from the mill, so I really need both machines).
- Jules