jointing and planing - only a partial neanderthal question

[Curtis Niedermier]

So I do about 98 percent of my woodworking with hand tools only. The exception is I use a bandsaw for a lot of my rip cuts and occasionally borrow a planer when I have a lot of rough sawn lumber to prep.

I was always under the impression that when working with rough stock, the first step is to flatten one face on the jointer. Then joint one edge, then plane to thickness.

Recently, I asked my grandfather to help me plane some sugar pine. He never even bothered with flattening one face on the jointer. He just started feeding it through the planer. The results seemed pretty OK to me. I had a little final smoothing work to do by hand, but that's about it.

So I'm curious. Did we do it the wrong way? Is there a wrong way?

The reason I ask is that I'm shopping for a planer to help speed up my hand-tool projects and get me to the joinery work more quickly. I was considering getting a jointer and planer, but since I can edge-joint by hand, I might combine my budget for each tool and just purchase a larger/higher quality planer.

Thoughts?

[Jeff Ranck]

I was always taught faces, edges and ends. Flatten one face, then thickness, then get the edges parallel, then cut to length. I think it matters a less if you work with hand tools since you don't always need two parallel faces, etc. when you are fitting parts. sometimes having a single reference face is enough.

From a power tool standpoint, the problem is that if you don't flatten one face first (your reference face), feeding stuff through a planer doesn't result in a flat board. A bowed board will still be bowed since the planer pressure just pushes it flat then it snaps back up in the bow. If you take out the bow first (e.g., flatten one face) then the planer pushes against a flat reference face and you have a flat board at the end. If you just start planing, it all depends on how good of a reference face you have to begin with.

[Daniel Rode]

A thickness planer makes two opposing faces parallel. Run a twisted bowed board through the planer and you get a thinner twisted or bowed board. Cupping is also not typically removed because the planer compresses the stock with the feed rollers, then cuts but as soon as the pressure is removed the board springs back to the cupped shape.

Whether hand or power tool, my first step in milling flat square stock is establishing a flat reference surface.

There are some tricks that allow a planer to be used to flatten stock but that's another story.

[David Weaver]

That's always resulted in a bowed board along its length for me, too. It's easier to joint or at least do a half decent joint and then plane (speaking if you use hand tools to do one face and then plane in a power planer). You'll have a much better time with it and less wood that feeds inconsistently in the power planer. It will also give you a little bit of time to really examine the board and be a bit more stingy with it.

[george wilson]

Like everything else,using a thickness planer to make flat surfaces takes DISCRETION. If I have a board too wide to joint flat,I just take a very small amount of wood off and make several passes through the planer. This keeps the planer from exerting enough force to squeeze the board flat so that it pops out the other side still curved. You can get by if you are careful. I just planed enough yellow pine to make 450 feet of shelving for my shop. It is all nice and flat,none jointed prior.

There are definitely cases where I will want to joint first. It's all discretion.

[Sean Hughto]

You can get away with your Grandpa's method sometimes. But a planer will make a board a consistent thickness, but it will not make it straight. Pretty much, if you put a banana shaped board in, you will get the same banana curve with consistent thickness out.

I don't have an electric jointer. I used to, but I hated it, and finally sold it. I use my hand planes to get one side flat and straight - doesn't have to be perfect or pretty - and then use that as the reference face in lunchbox planer. Works fine.

[Jim Matthews]

Sean's method is the least offensive hybrid.

It also means you can plane thickness boards as wide as your planer.
If you joint first, that's the limiting step.

FWIW - I think the bandsaw was invented when apprentices became scarce and too expensive.
Anything wider than 5 inches gets resawn on my bandsaw.

Anything thicker than 6/4 gets ripped on the same bandsaw.

[Derek Cohen]

In contrast to Sean's preference - which just goes to show that there are different approaches - my preference is to use a power jointer to flatten boards. It is a much simpler process then to get them to the desired thickness: either resaw on a bandsaw and plane, or mark the desired thickness and handplane.

Most lunchbox thicknesses (planers) are very noisy - much more so than the typical jointer. Noise is not an issue for me as I have a Hammer A3-31, which is a 12" combination machine with helical cutterheads. It is very quiet. If I was working with sugar pine I might not bother with machines ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brian Holcombe]

In my opinion, it depends on the wood and the project.

As mentioned a planer will not remove twist or cupping, so a project which requires very nicely dimensioned lumber would be best jointed first.

[Pat Barry]

You can get away with your Grandpa's method sometimes. But a planer will make a board a consistent thickness, but it will not make it straight. Pretty much, if you put a banana shaped board in, you will get the same banana curve with consistent thickness out.

I don't have an electric jointer. I used to, but I hated it, and finally sold it. I use my hand planes to get one side flat and straight - doesn't have to be perfect or pretty - and then use that as the reference face in lunchbox planer. Works fine.
I suspect that using the jointer to face joint a plank will end up with much the same result as with the planer. What I mean is that you still push down on the material in order to joint it, thus flattening the board, correct?

[Sean Hughto]

No. My reference is my flat benchtop -just flip the baord to check until you have uniform contact and, of course, no wobble.

[Sean Hughto]

I'm not advocating lunchbox planers, mind you. Indeed, as the spiritual goes: "If I had a Hammer, I'd Hammer in the morning, I'd Hammer in the evening, I'd Hammer out boards all over this shooooopppp..." ;-)

[Shawn Pixley]

Lke Sean, I flatten a face and an edge with handplanes. I then resaw to just over thickness and handplane to take the sawmarks out / flatten. If I was in a hurry and it wasn't expensive or figured wood, I'd use my lunchbox planer.