|
|
shop
essentials:
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
|
