noob question, am I correct on this?

[Brian Sommers]

a jointer makes wood flat/straight, correct?

then a planer then shaves down to desired thickness, correct?

[Hoang N Nguyen]

A jointer makes 1 face and 1 edge flat, straight and 90* to each other while the planer makes the 2nd face flat and perpendicular to the 1st face. The table saw is than used to clean up the 2nd edge to give you a nice perfectly flat and square board.

[mark mcfarlane]

A jointer makes 1 face and 1 edge flat, straight and 90* to each other while the planer makes the 2nd face flat and perpendicular to the 1st face. The table saw is than used to clean up the 2nd edge to give you a nice perfectly flat and square board.

A planer can also be used to thickness the wide dimension of the board, depending on the planar and the board thickness, i.e. will the board stand on-edge.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

A planer can also be used to thickness the wide dimension of the board, depending on the planar and the board thickness, i.e. will the board stand on-edge.

Yes it can, but why not just rip it down with a TS instead of spending all that time to plane down to final width?

[Andrew Hughes]

Yes you are correct.

[glenn bradley]

It is refreshing to hear someone get this right off the bat ;-) You are correct.

[Brian Sommers]

I think for now I will keep buying my lumber S2S. oh and a follow up question.

If if you do buy your lumber S2S do fine woodworkers still run it through the jointer and planer anyway? I've been having a terrible time getting a board perfectly and 100% flat.

Some pieces, especially hardwoods are better.

[Rich Riddle]

I use a planer/jointer to surface all rough wood. Some of the S2S proves less than precise or adequate. The truth is that you really will lose about 1/4" when you surface your own wood. It can prove a bit difficult to hold wood correctly to surface it. It's a lot like sharpening tools. If you want to progress in the hobby there are a few skills it pays to learn.

[Robert Engel]

I think for now I will keep buying my lumber S2S. oh and a follow up question.

If if you do buy your lumber S2S do fine woodworkers still run it through the jointer and planer anyway? I've been having a terrible time getting a board perfectly and 100% flat.

Some pieces, especially hardwoods are better.I prefer to buy wood rough and do my own milling. This way I can keep the material as thick as I can as long as I can, allowing adequate acclimation time between millings. This will result in the straightest, truest stock.

The biggest problem one will have with surfaced lumber is it will usually be 13/16 which doesn't give you much room for flattening.
If you can sift through the lumber to pick the truest boards thats great, but its not always possible depending on the distributor.

[Michael Weber]

a jointer makes wood flat/straight, correct?
Well, it's supposed to. Nothing causes more consternation than jointers and it's actually possible to ruin perfectly good and straight wood using one. Looks simple but setup and technique is critical and some folks, myself included never seem to be able to master a jointer. YMMV. I avoid my old 6 inch Delta and use a planner sled for flattening wood

[Doug Hepler]

Robert,

Regarding your first question, Yes.

Regarding your second question, it depends. Commercially milled wood varies in flatness, smoothness, etc. If you buy S2S or S4S it is still up to you to prepare the wood for your intended use. Use your saw table or workbench top (if it's flat) to see if the board rocks at all. If it does, use your jointer or a hand plane to flatten it. Of course, shorter pieces cut from a larger twisted board may already be acceptably flat.

Doug

[Andrew Hughes]

The S4S lumber That sells at lumber yards near me are milled thru a planer one side at a time they don't joint the face first.Then it goes thru a straight line rip saw.
Its defiantly straighter and better looking than rough.
Its not worth the extra cost that added for the work I like to do.

[Matt Day]

Some S2S I've seen is just skip planed, so it should be jointed first.

[Brian Sommers]

I'm looking at the grizzly 10" jointer planer combo for about $1200 until I can save up my money can I use a long jointer hand plane?

[Shawn Pixley]

Of course! That is how they did it before power tools.

[mark mcfarlane]

Yes it can, but why not just rip it down with a TS instead of spending all that time to plane down to final width?

Hoang, I'm just presenting an option, not a recommendation. Different folks like to do the 4th side different ways. If your milling square stock, using the planer for the 4th side is very intuitive, and should give a very accurate, repeatable dimension and a great surface. As one moves away from square, at some point (w/h ratio) people will move to the TS. That point will vary between the user and the equipment they are using.

[Allan Speers]

A jointer makes 1 face and 1 edge flat, straight and 90* to each other while the planer makes the 2nd face flat and perpendicular to the 1st face. The table saw is than used to clean up the 2nd edge to give you a nice perfectly flat and square board.


True of course, - but let's be very clear since the OP is obviously new to this: A jointer makes 1 face OR 1 edge flat, straight and 90* to each other. It doesn't do both at the same time.


As for using a hand plane. YOU BETCHA'. It's not even hard, but you need a nice bench and some winding sticks.

most guys that are heavily into hand tools joint by hand, but still use a planer for getting an even thickness afterwards.

You can also build a planer sled, and never own a jointer. The tradeoff is that sleds take a little time to set up, each time you run a board. The upside is, if you have a 15" planer, you now have a 15" "jointer."


Have fun.

[Brian Sommers]

Since I can't afford the $1200 grizzly right now, should i

1. Buy a cheap bench top jointer $3-400 or
2. Buy a lee valley jointer plane $311 or
3. Build my own wooden jointer plane http://www.shopwoodworking.com/building-a-tradit-onal-18th-century-jointer-plane-grouped?lid=PWDTbl102414
4. Other?

[Allan Speers]

Re jointer planes:

You need to realize that a typical jointer plane (22" - 24" or more) is mostly used for edge jointing, NOT for face jointing.

The whole hand tools thing is rewarding in the extreme, but there's a lot to learn. And again, you'll need a very good workbench, if you don't already have one. Then you'll need to invest in a good sharpening system, and learn how to use it, and so one down the rabbit hole ........ WEEEE ! .................


Come down to the neanderthal forum, and start asking questions. Enjoy the ride.

[John Donhowe]

I think a lot of confusion could be avoided if we in the US would adopt the UK nomenclature: they call our "jointer" a "planer" (it does what a hand plane does), and or "planer" is a "thicknesser".