Next tool purchase - thickness planer or jointer?

[Brian Tuftee]

Wondering what should be my little shop's next acquisition. I already have a table saw, router (with table), jigsaw, circular saw, drills, some hand planes, chisels, palm sander, clamps, etc. Right now, because I have no good way to surface and/or change the thickness of my wood stock, I'm required to buy wood S4S at the correct thickness from Lowes and/or Home Depot, and go from there on my projects.

Would it be more logical to get a thickness planer, or a jointer next? If I understand the basics correct, a jointer's main purpose is to make a board's surface perfectly flat, while a thickness planer will create a board with a uniform thickness, but not necessarily flat.

Is it possible to use a jointer to make changes in the thickness of wood, perhaps slowly (in other words, once the board is perfectly flat, does the jointer do anything more)? On the other hand, can a thickness planer be used to get a board nice and flat with parallel sides? What tool would you get next? Which is more versatile?

[Chuck Hayes]

Brian;

I was in your position a year or so ago and bought the planer. I use a sled to joint one face of the board, then plane the other side without the sled. my problem was always edge jointing the boards. I used my router table with an offset outfeed fence. This worked but was a pain to set up and the results were not stellar.

I finally (After putting it off again and again to buy other tools) purchased a jointer last weekend. The difference is amazing.

My humble advice, if you can only buy 1, get the planer. As soon as you can afterward, get a jointer. The two really do work hand in hand.

Chuck

[Matt Day]

Planer first, Jointer second. Preferably both at the same time if you have the funds. You can get a nice 6" jointer for $400. I've gotten by with a 6" jointer, but would love a bigger one.

[Ernie Hobbs]

I'd vote for the planer as well. But, you really need both eventually. I got the planer first when faced with the same decision. However, every board hits both in my shop before it becomes furniture. I use the planer to get the rough board to a uniform thickness and then I joint one edge to take over to the table saw or bandsaw.

I bought my Delta 22-580 for $250 and my used Grizzly 6" jointer for $200 a few years ago. You might get lucky and be able to get both for under $500 if you're willing to look around a while for a good deal.

[glenn bradley]

I bought a lunch box planer and a bench top jointer. This has gotten me by for awhile but I am saving for an 8" jointer as we speak. This kept me from doing the sled jig option on my planer but I understand that is a viable option. If I knew then what I know now I would have gone that route and had the $200 I spent on the bench top jointer to put toward a more serviceable one. That said I would go planer and then jointer but, you will eventually want both.

[Jesse Thornton]

It generally makes mores sense to buy a planer first - but the two machines really do work beautifully as a team. Like Chuck said, you can make a sled for flattening boards with your planer, but you cannot make parallel faces with a jointer. There are ways to edge joint without the power jointer, which in most cases will be considerably easier than parallel surface planing/dimensioning without a power planer. There's the router method, or if you have a good tablesaw you can use a sled or long auxillary fence to rip a straight edge on a crooked board. If you have a good handplane you can build an edge grain shooting board for jointing.
What kind of work will you mostly be doing?

[James Carmichael]

Both.

If you can't swing both, I'd go for the planer. You can still buy S2S or even rough lumber from a hardwood dealer for WAY less than you're paying at Home Despot;) . If you select boards carefully, you can get by with little or no face-jointing. You can also build a jointer sled for the planer. This can be useful jig even after you aquire a jointer in case you want to face-joint a board > 6" width.

Didn't notice if anyone mentioned this, but thicknessing is only 1/2 of the planer's job. The other is to make the board faces parallel to each other.

[scott spencer]

The two really do work wonderfully together, but IMO it makes more sense to get the planer first. With a sled and some shims, it's possible to coax a planer into doing some jointer duties, but it's extremely difficult to plane to a consistent thickness with the jointer, let alone get two sides parallel.

[JayStPeter]

I agree with planer first, but need both. I used to go to lumber dealers that had a jointer, and they would face joint my lumber for me. One of them rarely charged me. But, I still found that the lumber moves and having my own jointer to true it up is better.
The planer will allow you to pick your thickness instead of relying on what you can buy pre-surfaced. It also allows you to buy species that may not be available surfaced in your area. A planer sled or handplane can save a board that is a little tweaked without a jointer.

[Brian Tuftee]

What kind of work will you mostly be doing?

Furniture is my big interest right now, though I'm getting started slowly. My first real project (done with S4S wood from Lowes) is a mission style jewelry armiore in red oak. My next plan is to build either a freestanding bookcase or a wall-mounted bookshelf system. I'd also like to make a simple outdoor table when the weather turns nice in a few months.

Sounds like the consensus is the thickness planer first. I know I'll have to get both eventually, but right now I see three options:

1. Get one quality planer ($400-ish) and start playing with it right away,
2. Buy both tools for $400-ish, and end up with junk(Harbor Freight anyone?),
3. Wait several months until I can buy quality versions of both tools.

Given that, I'll go for #1, and start playing around with it. That will give me the ability to get lumber from a lumberyard at more reasonable prices (and better species selection) than a big box store. I think I paid around $6/bdft for the red oak I used in the project.

[Quesne Ouaques]

I should just put a "ditto" on Chuck's post!

I used a 13" Delta planer as my face jointer for about 5 years. It worked very well. I still use it all the time as a jointer, in fact, for stock that exceeds the 6" capacity of the Ridgid jointer I bought last year.

Like Chuck, I did my edge jointing on a router table. I found that it worked perfectly on boards up to about 20 inches long. Longer than that and the fence was not long enough to support it. For those boards I used an aluminum straight edge clamped to the workpiece.

My personal recommendation would be to get a good thickness planer first, then get the jointer. To put it another way: If I absolutely HAD to give up one of them, I would give up the jointer in a second :-)

[Jesse Thornton]

Brian,
Just wanted to say that it's a smart move spending the money on a quality planer and holding off on the jointer, rather than buying a cheaper version of both at once. Also, when using a router to joint long boards, I found it much easier to clamp a solid and perfectly straight guide board along the edge of your workpiece and rout a straight edge with a template bit, than it is to use the router table for the same task. I also recommend using a sled with a couple of hold downs to rip a straight edge on really wonky boards in one pass on the tablesaw. Then you can quickly clean it up with a good handplane or your router, rather than having to make many passed with the router.

Are you looing at any specific models at the moment?

[Jim Becker]

If you can only buy one...the planer first. You really cannot utilize a jointer for face jointing until you already have the planer.

[Jeff Patrick]

It looks as if I may be a lone voice in the wilderness. When I started I had a jointer and a tablesaw. That's it for machines. I built a lot of pieces that were primarily sheet goods: hardwood veneered ply and edge banded with solid stock. But then again, I did my share of solid lumber pieces also. In fact my very first job as a pro was of solid walnut. Planers were a lot more expensive back then, it took a while before I could swing the purchase. Until then, I would do some careful stock selection of S2S material. One can make a lot of furniture out of 3/4" material.

I've heard it argued that one can use a hand plane in place of the jointer, both for faces and edges. Face jointing is very time consuming as well as physically demanding. And as for hand planing edges for glue-up, that skill can certainly be acquired, but doing this is also very time consuming. And what happens where a spot of difficult grain is in the way?

All in all, I know from experience that a beginner can do without a thickness planer. But you cannot do without edge jointing boards straight before ripping on the tablesaw..... it's simply not safe nor accurate. So if one chooses the planer first, be sure to get a #7 or #8 to go with it.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

It always makes me scratch my head when folks say they are stuck buying from HD or Lowes. In my experience most hardwood dealers offer S4S service for a fee per board foot. Wouldn't it be cheaper and likely better stock by picking your own lumber then having them S4S it for you? This would also open new avenues for choice of lumber.
Also note that until you get the jointer/planer combo you can find a good local hardwood plywood dealer. You will be likely utilizing a lot of ply in the construction of bookcases and the like if you focus on those types of projects. This would result in lower S4S needs.

[Hoa Dinh]

Edge jointing is easier done with a straight edge and a circular saw or a router.

In fact, I haven't used my jointer for edge jointing for quite a while. It's quickler for me to use my circular saw with EZSmart guide, and then a quick pass with a trim hand plane.

[Bart Leetch]

All in all, I know from experience that a beginner can do without a thickness planer. But you cannot do without edge jointing boards straight before ripping on the tablesaw..... it's simply not safe nor accurate. So if one chooses the planer first, be sure to get a #7 or #8 to go with it.


I have used a straight board that I could clamp the material to be ripped to & then running the straight edge of the board against the fence rip the project material on the table-saw & get nice straight clean cuts.

Then if you want you could easily clean up the edges with a hand plane.

[James Duxbury]

I toured a furnature company in NC last summer and they don't use planers anymore. They have horrizontal sanders with about 36 grit paper.
No chip out. No blades to sharpen. And it can be used for finishing.

Just a thought. I don't know. I use the table saw with a straight edge and pay for planing when needed.

[wayne ateser]

Id get a combination unit. That said ,Ive noticed I use the jointer much more then the planer and happy I have one. It is such a benefit to have perfect edges.

[Teri McCarter]

I toured a furnature company in NC last summer and they don't use planers anymore. They have horrizontal sanders with about 36 grit paper.
No chip out. No blades to sharpen. And it can be used for finishing.

Just a thought. I don't know. I use the table saw with a straight edge and pay for planing when needed.

That is exactly what I have been wondering about. Why use a planer when a drum sander seems to accomplish the same thing. I don't have either one and just acquired a 6" jointer. I have been in the delima of sander or planer, however leaning towards the sander for the reasons you mentioned. I read so much about blade issues in magazines and on here.

Teri

[Hoa Dinh]

Why use a planer when a drum sander seems to accomplish the same thing.
Unless you are talking about the wide belt sanders with 5 HP motor and require an air compressor (and cost a lot of $), a drum sander can't do the job of a planer.

Unless you are very very patient.

In a home shop (and probably even a pro shop), a planer is used to dimension lumber, and a sander is used to surface the dimensioned lumber. I can't imagine using my little Performax 16-32 to make 3/4" thick lumber from rough 4/4 lumber, which in general is about 7/8" to 1" thick.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, everyone has a different concept of what "high quality" means, as well as what "expensive' means.

I personally believe in buying machinery once in a lifetime, rather than replacing it at some point, perhaps I'm just too lazy to face the thought of carrying a 400 pound planer back up the basement stairs.

I purchased a 6 inch General International long bed jointer about 6 years ago and have been very pleased with it. It cost $800 and I didn't have the room or the need for an 8 inch jointer. It's amazing how much time and fiddling you save by having a machine that can make one face and one edge flat and square to each other.

I also purchased a 15 inch cast iron planer (GI) and am very pleased with it. It has plenty of power, cuts very smoothly, and since it doesn't have rubber or neoprene drive rollers, I'm not going to have a problem with them hardening and losing their grip as they age. Yes it was $1,500, however it's a one time purchase, and in combination with the jointer I have been able to purchase all my hardwood rough, and convert it to exactly what I want.

My reccomendation would be to spend much more money now, on both machines, and enjoy them, and their work for decades to come, as opposed to making do, or buying equipment that won't last.

Regards, Rod.

[Marc Casebolt]

I agree with Rod that you should buy the best tools you can afford, because of the headaches you will avoid later. Another factor to consider is your future needs as far as size. I bought the GI 6" jointer also, and it's a nice piece. However it wasn't long before I was thinking how I really coud use an 8", or even larger for some project at the time. I ended up with a 16", and still use the 6" allot.
The point being that I've never heard any one complain about having too big of a jointer (or saw, or planer,...). Think about your future needs with big ticket items, and save up until you can have something that you will be happy with for years.