Joiner or no joiner

[Roger Pozzi]

Let me begin by saying that I was born with a left hand and a right arm to just below the elbow.
That sort of limits my abilities but I have found ways around most of these restrictions during my 61 years.
Now for my question.
LOML and I are down-sizing to a retirement community which means I need to reduce my woodworking tools to a 10'X12' shed that will also house my lawn mower, yard tools, etc. The question that I have involves my joiner. I have always bought rough lumber then faced 1 side, then run it through the planer. Since I always face joint the “cupped” face, and only enough to get a good enough surface to support it on the planer tables, I'm now wondering if the joiner is actually necessary? :confused:

It seems as though running the piece through the planer, cup down, should plane the convex face flat then, by flipping it, I could plane the opposite face parallel to the first. After getting the faces flat and parallel, I can edge joint the wood either at the router table or, actually, on the table saw.
Is this just a theory, or will it work?
By selling my joiner, I can save more valuable floor space for other things more necessary to me.
Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

[John Harden]

Roger, congrats on the retirement!!!

If the wood is 8/4 what you're proposing might just work as the feed rollers on your planer will not likely have the down force necessary to flatten the board. If you use 4/4 stock, what will likely happen is the rollers will force the wood flat and when it comes out the other side, it'll just spring back to a cupped condition. Hope this makes sense.

You can get clever and build a sled to hold the wood as it goes through the planer. This would overcome the rollers tendancy to flatten the wood. Alternatively, you could use a jointer plane to knock down the edges to flatten the board, but this takes time.

BTW, my young son has the same condition. Born with no right hand. He get's along just fine and is my helper in the garage. I'm sure he'll grow up to be a woodworker/motorcycle rider just like his dad. Have you seen the iHand? Pretty slick!!!!

Regards,

John

[Sean Hughto]

I think it may be unrealistic to think that every board will be perfectly cupped so that the highpoints of the cup will register to allow you to true teh opposite face. Boards are often twisted or bowed for example. The planer won't really bring such boards to 4 square just be running them through. You can rig sleds, but that's a lot of fussing. My personal answer is to true the first side with hand planes. I don't know if that is an option for you?

[Tony Bilello]

When you place a board with a cup, cupside down, the rollers on your planer will press the board flat and so this wont work like that. However, if you save thin scraps in long pieces, you can place the this scrap under the cup to prevent the cup from flattening out under the roller pressure and it should work just fine. I used to do that years ago.

Your best bet however, is to find a lumber yard that can surface it for you for a few $ more.

[Jason Roehl]

Roger, I've done exactly what you describe. The key is to take light cuts with the planer and alternate between cup-down and cup-up. For the first few cuts, what John describes may happen a little--some compression and spring-back, but as you get closer to flat, it goes away. You'll know that the process is working when you plane off a small strip in the middle when it's cup-down, and two narrow strips off the edge when it's cup-up, and each cut should make them progressively wider.

Twists are a whole 'nother ballgame. For those you would need to build a sled and use shims, etc.

That's how I made do before I had a jointer.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Skewing the board through the planer would help level out a cup too I'd think. It would need to be a pretty narrow board, or wide planer to gain much though. Skew it one way, then the other. I'd vote figure out how to keep the jointer, or buy at least S2S.

[Rod Sheridan]

Roger, if I were you, I'd buy a combination jointer/planer such as the Hammer a3-31.

I have one and it's great.

Saves floor space too..................Rod.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Rather than sell your jointer, sell your mower and lawn tools. :)

I would inquire with the retirement community about landscaping because perhaps your "HOA" fees will cover landscaping, mowing, and that sort of thing.

Thus you might be able to free up some work shop space if you sell all of your landscaping equipment on craigslist. (Except for some that you would keep)

Combo machines will greatly save space but they are a bit pricey.

Or you can just have everything on mobile bases and when it comes time to build something, you roll a few tools out side to make the space to work.

[Roger Pozzi]

Thanks for the responses. That was FAST!!!
I agree with Chris' answer but,,,,:( that won't happen. I have to do the yard work and they won't let me use green concrete.
Rod's idea is good but, if I bought the Hammer A3-31, I'd have to continue working to pay for it.
I think Jason has my problem well in hand. The boards that I've had that were twisted or bowed end to end, I've always cut down to a shorter length, eliminated as much "twist" as possible to lessen the waste.
I guess I'll overcome this problem eventually, it's just that I hate to downsize tools. :o

[Kevin Stricker]

If you are restricted to working inside your shop the longest boards you will be able to work with are around 6 feet right? So maybe you can buy a small benchtop joiner, I see them on Craigslist for around $150 all the time.

Or buy longer lumber and cut the straight part out of the board, it seems warps tend to happen near the end of boards...or at least that is my experience.