staight up newbie question...

[Josh Goldsmith]

I have been talking to you guys for some guidance (my spelling sucks). Anyways i will recap what my situation is. I am in need of another tool. I buy wood that appears to be planed on both side and one side jointed. They do not have rough cut wood. I am thinking about buying a 22-44 drum sander or a 8" jointer or a 13" planer. I have never used any of those tools. I really like the thought of the drum sander being able to flatten out wood up to 44" wide but from what i told it can be a slow process. I have been told from alot of people that a jointer shoud be before a planer but just wanted to be sure 100%. Also i am curious how you get out a bow in wood. I found this gorgeous piece of honduran mahag. but it had a bow right in the middle. It was 12.5" x 9' x 13/16". I wish i knew how to straighten out the wood so i could buy it. Here is what it looked like:
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Something like that :D .

I know my questions are different but i had to ask!

Talk to you soon
Josh

[Don Baer]

Josh,
You can streighten that bad boy on you table saw. It would help if you have a long (9 ft.) streight edge like a piece of aluminum. Just attache the streight edge to the inside of the bowed board, run it thorugh you TS with the streight edge against the fence remove the streight edge, flip the baord and run the streighten edge against you fence and whallah you have edge planed you board.

:D

[Matt Tawes]

Hey Josh,

I have an 8" jointer, 13" Planer and 22-44 and find them all invaluable. However, though possible with lower grits the drum sander is not a good replacement for a planer it would take something like 24-36 grit then moving up progressively to abrasive plane with it and obtain a reasonably smooth surface. As for which tool to get first its too tough a call for me to really suggest as a jointer and a planer are fariy essential in preparing stock. I would say that you should save up until you can comfortably spend about a $1000 and get both (a Perf. 22-44 would nearly cost you that by itself). If you shop Grizzly they're offering some good deals now and you can opt. for 90 days same as cash which can ease the financial burdern for at least a short while.

As for addressing your bowed board question. Asumming you mean the board is bowed in the middle along its face and not edge I would face joint it with the concave of the bow facing down making passes until its flat then plane it to desired thickness.
If you cut the board into shorter lengths providing it suits your project it would be easer to face joint. These solutions of course would only hold true if you have jointer and planer, if you only have handplanes it can be done, albeit requiring alot more skil and patience than I havehttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon10.gif.

[Andy Fox]

I'm assuming the face is bowed?..... If so, by the time you removed the bow with a jointer, you'd have a 1/4" - 1/2" thick board. A planer and drum sander just wouldn't do it, as the bow would spring back some after going through the machine. I think I once read about a jig that can be used to do this in a planer, but the jointer is the best tool.

The problem with the wood is that its dimensions change after machining. It could sit in the store's pile for months or years drying or absorbing moisture from the air, and your shop's humidity is probably different than the place it was dimensioned and stored. To avoid buying more tools, I tried buying jointed and planed wood like you're using, but got frustrated with trying to assemble warped pieces. If you only need short or narrow pieces, pre-dimensioned lumber might work.

Try to plan a few projects ahead, find a hardwood supplier within a 1-2 hour drive, and buy a little extra of your favorite species for that next unknown project. Don't forget to add 10-20% for waste. Rough lumber thickness is measured in quarters: 4/4 stock is about 1" thick, and planes down to 3/4". A board foot is 12" x 12" x 1" thick. S2S is surfaced two sides, S3S is what you buy now, S4S is surfaced on all sides.

Once you have some rough lumber, you'll need a jointer and a planer! :D

Hope you can find a good hardwood dealer! Ask local millwork or cabinet shops or woodworking clubs if you have trouble finding one. What state are you in?

Andy

[Josh Goldsmith]

So basically what you all are saying is a Jointer 1rst, Planer 2nd, drum sander 3rd. Is it worth the extra money for an 8" jointer than a 6" jointer. I mean it is only 2" more for about double the cost. talk to you soon Josh:rolleyes:

[Jesse Cloud]

I probably shouldn't post this on the power tool thread, but back to your question on whether an 8 inch jointer is worth it.... One option to consider is a 6 inch jointer and a couple of hand planes. The 8 inch jointer costs more, takes up more space, and weighs a ton, but there is a lot of stuff thats wider than 6 but less than 8 inches. Those hand planes can true anything of any size and they make very little noise and dust.

Having said all this, I do own an 8 inch jointer. But I use planes to true and smooth most projects.

[Dennis Peacock]

If you think about general tool use in a common hobbiest woodshop, it's the TS that gets the most use, then the jointer, then the planer, and lastly a drum sander. A planer nor a drum sander will completely remove the warp in a board. Sometimes, you can cut "around" a warped area and use the straightest parts of the board.

[Andy Fox]

Josh,

Hand planes would be a good option too, but I tried it and didn't have the patience to learn to do it properly. I should've taken a class.

I got a 6" jointer because the 2" difference wasn't enough to justify the much larger price. If I were doing this for a living, I'd probably get the 8". I've had the 6" for a few years now, and haven't needed anything bigger.

Andy

[Gary Herrmann]

The other thing about a 6" vs an 8" jointer is that you can always rip, joint and glue to get a wider board. It will be more stable than a "natrual" board of the same width too.

'Course, I still want a 16" jointer and a 24" planer some day...

[Dan Forman]

Something to consider relating to jointer size, is that 8 inch jointers also tend to have longer tables, which allow more accurate work with longer boards. Grizzley seems to making some awfully good jointers these days, the new 8" parallelogram model looks promising and will be on sale soon. Unfortunately, the thread in which it was introduced on this forum is no longer abvailable, apparently due to some inappropriate posts.

Best thing to do is try to determine what sort of projects you would like to be working on over the next few years, and get a jointer that will work for that. If you will be doing mostly large projects, you may want the bigger beast. If boxes are your thing, that might be overkill. That said, lots of nice stuff is made by owners of 6" jointers, then again, I have seldom heard anyone wish they had a smaller jointer. In the end, it's a balancing act of space, time, and finances.

As Matt said, your best bet with bowed lumber is to cut it to near final length prior to jointing, as you will have to remove the least amount of wood that way.

Good luck with your decision.

Dan

[Josh Goldsmith]

I was just surfing the web when i noticed that a delta x5 jointer fence tilts 45*. Do most jointers do that? That sounds like you could get a perfect 45* angle.

[Dennis Peacock]

Yes....most jointer's fence will tilt 45º in one direction. Some tilt towards the open side of the jointer while other tilt away from the open side of the jointer.

Remember, accuracy is all about setup and tuning....not the machine itsself.;)