Jointer/thickness planer ?

[Mike Burke]

I have had an older 6" joiner for several yrs. Its an old one that the out feed table isn't easily adjusted. I have had issues over the years getting tapered boards if I'm not careful. I have tried to adjust both tables and it's been "ok" for a while but the knifes are a pain to install and keep sharp. I cant upgrade to a Byrd head with the fixed out feed table .I have been eyeing a Dewalt thickness planer for some time. After reading about all the issues with the older craftsman joiners and not being able to upgrade to a Byrd head I have come here to ask this....

Would I be better off getting the Dewalt thickness planer and trying to sell me joiner....and using the planer for doing my edge work and thickness planing ?
I have a friend that sends his rails n stiles through his planer on edge to "joint" the edges. Says they all come out the exact same width...

I like to do cabinet work. I usually get my hardwood from a local mill that has surfaced the lumber but not perfect thickness and edged it on one edge. Or I get some stuff from the lumber yard.

So....go the thickness planer route for my new tool purchase ?

Thanks for your input

[Jim Becker]

The ability to use a thickness planer for jointing material is cumbersome...it wasn't designed for that job. Yes, you can use a sled for flattening but you can't do a reference edge and insure it's perpendicular to the face. The same is true about the jointer...it's ONLY for flattening and straightening. You cannot thickness lumber on the jointer. They are complimentary tools.

Now what you might consider is a J/P combo like many of us use. Both functions in the same space and the same width capacity for face jointing as you have for thickness work.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

The ability to use a thickness planer for jointing material is cumbersome...it wasn't designed for that job. Yes, you can use a sled for flattening but you can't do a reference edge and insure it's perpendicular to the face. The same is true about the jointer...it's ONLY for flattening and straightening. You cannot thickness lumber on the jointer. They are complimentary tools.

Now what you might consider is a J/P combo like many of us use. Both functions in the same space and the same width capacity for face jointing as you have for thickness work.

I do not have room for a jointer, but I also do not need to joint a lot of wood so I use a sled with my Dewalt surface planer. So my first question would be, how much wood do you need to plane? if it is a lot, you will find it annoying; but it is exactly how I do it.

I cut a perpendicular edge on the table saw or using a track saw depending on the board.

I have never even used a jointer so I do not know how well or easy they are to use. I often deal with wider boards 8" and greater and my planer is 13" wide. I expect that a combo machine will have the same width for both the planer and the jointer. Then the question becomes, how easy / fast is it to switch between the two?

[Mike Burke]

All my hardwood I get from my local mill has to be taken down to 3/4". My local guy leaves it 13/16"
I do have him take it down to 3/4" when I need but his planer isn't the smoothest finish.
All my other mat. that I get at the lumber yard doesn't need thickness planed.

I'm getting to not like my joiner half the time. Beings I don't have, I have never had,a thickness planer, I have never been through the process of flattening on side of my stock and planing it.

What joiner/planer combo is a favorite around here ?

[Rod Wolfy]

Depends on how much money you want to throw at it. A jack plane and some learned skills will do all of what you want. It will take up hardly any space, too.

To get a properly squared piece of lumber, you'll need a jointer or hand plane to get it flat (most of the time).

There are some small, inexpensive, jointer/planers; however, I haven't heard of any recommendations from anyone that has had one. For example a combination 10" Rikon at around $1250.

The next step up would be a 12" Grizzly or Jet combination. I have a 12" Jet with a Helical head and I love it. I'm considering moving up to a 16” version, but I've used my hand planes, when the glued up surface is over 12" (like the cherry leaf for my dining room table).

[lowell holmes]

I normally joint one side and then thickness plane to thickness if I really want precision work. If it is s4s, I joint one side and then square the board on my table saw. I have a jointer.

[Wes Grass]

Then the question becomes, how easy / fast is it to switch between the two?

On my Felder, I dont bother turning the dust collector off. Of course, I occasionally find out I didn't have the hose connected in the first place.

[Mike Burke]

Well, I have a small shop in my basement and this is just a hobby for me.
I don't have room or budget for a large combo machine. I just purchased a Grizzly 690 table saw that is working well for me.
I do have access thickness planers of a couple friends that have large shops, but its just taking the time to do it.
Guess I was thinking about these two options:

Upgrade my jointer to a 8" with spiral head

or

Keeping my Craftsman 6" jointer and purchasing a Dewalt 735x planer

[Mick Simon]

Then the question becomes, how easy / fast is it to switch between the two?

Depends somewhat on the machine, but in most cases raising and lowering the planer table takes the majority of the changeover time. I solved it on mine with a simple jig for the hand wheel. Others have fabricated more elegant solutions, but this has worked fine for me and cost less than $15 including a dedicated HF drill motor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veJPpksmW8w

[Jim Becker]

Then the question becomes, how easy / fast is it to switch between the two?

Takes me no more than 60 seconds to switch over and that includes hand cranking the planer table. I don't have to switch over all that often, honestly...I've learned to batch my work most of the time. I face joint things flat after rough sizing and once that's all done, I switch over to thickness planer mode which is where my machine lives most of the time. Occasionally, as a result of a brain fart, I have to go back to jointer mode for "that one piece I forgot", but honestly...60 seconds. I will also postulate that the slight pause is actually a good thing...it can be easy to rush between operations and that one minute break can sometimes reduce the chance of a mistake from pressing on too fast as is sometimes human nature to do.

[Mike Kees]

Mike the way I see this ,you need a new jointer as well as a planer. This is why all the jointer/planer posts are coming from guys who own them. It would be a good solution if budget allows. If you are challenged by space the jointer/planer option is screaming at you to at least consider looking at the options. I have never owned a combo but now that my shop is filling up think it would have been nice. If this is not in the budget look for a planer first,I would look for a 15'' four post planer used. Then go for a new to you jointer and yes an 8'' machine is a good place to land.

[Alex Zeller]

Let's face it budget is always the biggest deciding factor. It sounds like you do have a solution, just not as convenient as you would like. I'm in the same boat. I have access to almost everything but a CNC. But it's 20 minutes away and I have to plan everything out as well as protect the wood. So I try not to use that option if I don't have to. So I've been setting money aside and upgrading. That brings in the 2nd biggest limitation, shop size.

I personally wouldn't put too much money into equipment that isn't a tool that you really like. Or another way of saying that is if you always find yourself trying to find ways around it's limitations fixing one aspect of that isn't likely to change how you feel about that tool which means you will always be looking for a better solution. In your case if the only issue for you with your jointer is keeping the knifes sharp then upgrading the head would be a good option. But, as you said, you've had plenty of issues and it's easy for you to get unacceptable results then does it really make sense to spend $300 on it when for not too much more you could get a replacement that does what you want better? For example I often see 6" floor model jointers used on Craig's list. They usually sell for the $300 to $500 range for a nice floor model with a decent size table. Now we are back to shop size. If you don't have room then you don't have room so it's not an option.

[Mike Burke]

Well, thanks for all the input/suggestions. I am slowly getting my thoughts around looking at J/P combo's.
By the time I upgrade to a new jointer and then purchase a planer and then looking at spiral heads....makes more sense to look at combos.
So....

Rod you said "I have a 12" Jet with a Helical head and I love it. Do you mean you have a jet combo ?

I would be looking at a budget combo...like a Jet or Grizzly price range.

Guess I'll be doing some research.

[Ray Newman]

Jim Becker: which jointer/planer combination machine do you have? I keep thinking that one would be handy in my shop.

[Jim Becker]

Jim Becker: which jointer/planer combination machine do you have? I keep thinking that one would be handy in my shop.
I have a MiniMax FS-350 which is 350mm wide (~13.68"). They no longer make this intermediate size; it's either the FS-30 (300mm/~12") or the FS-41 (410mm/~16") All of these have Tersa knife systems which I love. For a beefier machine, the SCM/MiniMax and Felder/Hammer products can't be beat, but there are some good 12" selections from Jet and Grizzly, too, at more modest initial cost. Even Rikon has one if I'm not mistaken, but I forget the details. More and more folks are adopting J/P combos because you get a lot of functionality/capacity in a reasonable space. As already noted, changeover isn't a big deal (although the process varies with machine brand) and while some folks tout the shorter tables as a problem...for them...for the majority, it's not an issue since most project components are not "really long".

[Rod Wolfy]

Rod you said "I have a 12" Jet with a Helical head and I love it. Do you mean you have a jet combo ?


Yes, Mike I had a 6” in the past, but it was never wide enough, along with a Rigid planer. I ended up getting a used old Felder combination machine and that was an eye opener, as there was no problem working with the common 9" to 12” hardwood boards.

When I moved, I couldn't take the Felder, due to no way to put it in a two car garage. I ended up putting stuff from storage into the garage and my wife never got to use it for her car. I gradually expanded my storage (garage) into shop use for house projects (Laundry room cabinets, etc).

I still could not use up the floor space of a 6" or 8" jointer and a 15” planer, when I knew that the Jet combo took up about the same space as a 15” planer.

It's been a great machine for getting boards straightened and the proper thickness. The changeover is about 30 to 40 seconds.

I'm considering a Felder, SCM upgrade, to 16”, but it's a want, not a need.

[Ray Newman]

Jim Becker: thanks for information!

[Curt Harms]

Well, I have a small shop in my basement and this is just a hobby for me.
I don't have room or budget for a large combo machine. I just purchased a Grizzly 690 table saw that is working well for me.
I do have access thickness planers of a couple friends that have large shops, but its just taking the time to do it.
Guess I was thinking about these two options:

Upgrade my jointer to a 8" with spiral head

or

Keeping my Craftsman 6" jointer and purchasing a Dewalt 735x planer

My situation is somewhat like yours. Basement shop, hobbyist user. I bought one of the first Jet JJP-12s in the U.S. they'd been for sale in Europe for some time before they came to the U.S. They were not offered with spiral heads at the time. I wanted the ability to face joint wider boards and not take too much room. I also liked the idea of an induction motor over the universal motor on lunchbox planers. The Jet fits in a space about 2' X 5' and does what I need it to do. People complain about short jointer beds - mine are 55". A rule of thumb is you can reasonably joint stock 1.5X to 2 X the bed length. 55" has worked for me. I have jointed longer with roller stand support that that's rare. I learned early on that unless the board is pretty flat to start with, by the time I get one side flat it's less than 3/4" thick.

The Hammer A3-31 is pretty popular around here, I know nothing about it except what I've read, European manufacture vs. Taiwanese manufacture. I paid less than $1900 for my machine with straight knives, the same dealer (http://www.equipmentsalesandsurplus.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=JJP-12) is now getting $2800. I don't know what the Hammer goes for but I suspect not all that much more, especially if you can get it on sale.

[Chris Fournier]

First let me say that I could never be a woodworker and rely on someone else to joint and plane my wood! I've been that way from the start. There I said it. I have had a jointer/planer in my shop for over 15 years now and I am very happy with the format. One cutter head, one set of knives, one machine to maintain for two functions! Truthfully I have had slot mortisers on both machines so three functions. We can never have enough space in our shops and these machines save space, that's good. Changing over from one function to another is not a big deal if you plan your work out with some care and yes you'll forget something on a regular basis and that's life. The 30 seconds that it takes me to switch functions is time used to evaluate where I'm at a review my process. If I was a large shop with multiple workers then I would have a different opinion but as a one man band I like the jointer/planer (with slot mortiser) combo!