shop essentials:
Jointers

I am one of the people that loves jointers. The keys to a good tool is listed below:
• Weight.
• Length of bed
• Power of motor
• Alignment of the tables
• Alignment of the blades
• Ease of changing blades
• The fence and its ability to be adjusted accurately.
- Lou_williams

Previous to getting a jointer, I WAS able to get well jointed boards with my table saw and a shop made jig. Face jointing, I had done at the mill where I bought my rough sawn stock on a $5/ one pass deal. It was working and getting me by. Unfortunately, my well-jointed boards were good, but not PERFECT, and the face-jointed stock was planable, but did move after settling in my woodshop for a few days. The jointer purchase solved those issues for me. Now my stock is absolutely FLAT on one side before planing, and my jointed boards are PERFECT at glue up. All this is possible with out the jointer, but now it is a fast and efficient operation for me. I still can't get over the minimal sanding at the seams after glue up. Having true square stock really makes the rest of the projects go better and faster.
- Chris S

You'll need a jointer, and the size will be determined by the length of the hardwood you use most.
- Robert Walker

In regards to having a jointer, it would certainly be a plus. For now, a high quality hand plane will help more than you think, smoothing out those imperfections.
- mike

I think that a jointer is the second tool to buy right after a good table saw. Even if you have a planner you need a good Jointer. Before running a board through the planner you need to have one face flat and square or else you end up with a board that is the right thickness but has the same cup or twist that it started with. I bought my first jointer as a hobbyist as a 6-inch with a small power plant. I ended up giving it to a friend and buying a 10-inch combination Jointer/Planner. My friend that I gave the old one to has since bought a good unit 8-inch unit. It is very hard to do good work if the stock is not sized and square. The jointer is the key element to making square stock. You can do the same with hand planes but it is a lot of work.
- Lou

There are a few reasons to have a jointer. One is to provide an edge that has no gaps for gluing and that can be done with a "good" router table and the right bits and the right router. You can also do the same thing with a properly set up hand plane. The real use for a jointer is to us it with a planner and create properly flattened and sized stock to make all of your work consistent and easier. Again you can do every thing with a good set of hand planes but it takes more skill and more time. When you look at what it cost to setup a router table and fence to do an edge joint and how much time you spend on the setup and adjustment it is better in my opinion to use a hand plane. If you want the ability to go to a machine that is set up and ready to take the warp our of a board and then run it through a planner to get a board ready to use then you need a jointer
- Lou

A jointer makes the wood flat, you joint before you plane so that the wood no longer has cup, warp or twist. I just makes life a whole lot easier.
- Lou

Buy the biggest jointer you can afford. The jointer is the backbone of any shop. I am a cabinetmaker and wood worker. I just bought a DJ20 Delta and it is a perfect jointer for a small shop. If you get going into it you will find were you can buy rough cut and save much money flattening it yourself.
- John

If you are going to get a jointer, try to get one with a machined cast iron in- and out-feed tables. In a moment of "money saving" I got a small one (I only do small stuff, so I figured a 4" would be adequate) with beautiful, shiny aluminum tables. I have had it for a year now and the out-feed table is scarfed up. Never ran anything harder than oak through it. No nails, staples, or such. Aluminum is pretty but, in my experience, just too soft for this use.
- Michael Vournazos

First, the best use of a Jointer is to true a board on two sides, one edge and one face. After a face has been trued you put it through a planner and you have two flat parallel surfaces of equal thickness. Do you ever have stock wider than 6 inches? The edge at 90 to the face gives you the true edge to rip to the correct size and allow you to glue panels that don't require excess clamp pressure so they stay glued long term.
Second, the 8 inch jointers are better built than lots of the 6 inch. You will have a machine that is built for professionals and will give you a long term good result. They are heavier, easier to adjust, easier to keep adjusted.
- Lou Williams

A jointer squares up one edge of a board perfectly. If you used a table saw, the board would follow the fence, so if the board was curved, the end result would also be curved.
- Josh

If you've been doing small projects you may not see the need for a jointer. Depending on your definition of small, you may NOT have a use for one. The primary function of a jointer (at least my jointer's primary function in my little world), is to allow you to make large panels (table-tops, raised panel cabinet doors) out of a bunch of 6" wide boards and have it look like it was always one board (or as close as possible to looking that way). It enables this by creating a flat surface to the board (if you don't have a surface planer) and then making the edge of the board a perfect 90% to the surface and perfectly straight for the length of the board. That way when the boards are edge glued together, they fit the way you want them to without any forcing and with the horizontal planes of the surface of each board being the same, thus creating a continuous flat surface.
- John

In my opinion, a jointer is used to set in the corner and gather dust. In other words I find them to be of little value. If I need to make sure the edge of a board is perfectly square, I have a jig I attach to the board and then run through the table saw. Jointing work can also be done on a router table. If I want a super smooth edge to glue up, I run the board through the planer and smooth the edge. I run a professional woodworking shop and find very little value in a jointer.
- Burt

If you are going to get a jointer, try to get one with a machined cast iron in- and out-feed tables. In a moment of "money saving" I got a small one (I only do small stuff, so I figured a 4" would be adequate) with beautiful, shiny aluminum tables. I have had it for a year now and the out-feed table is scarfed up. Never ran anything harder than oak through it. No nails, staples, or such. Aluminum is pretty but, in my experience, just too soft for this use.
- M. Vournazos