First Jointer: Hand or Power?

[Danny Thompson]

Can I really get by with a jointer plane?

I'm trying to get to the point that I can successfully prep boards for edge-gluing. I have a table saw, a sweet block plane, and just made a deal on a decent bench-top planer. So my question is, should my next purchase be a power jointer or a nice #7 or #7 1/2?

And, now that I think of it, do you have an extra?

[Doug Shepard]

My concern would be the face jointing. I would sure hate to have to do all that by hand if we're talking much wood. I'd just rather not spend all that time just on stock prep but that's just me. The edge jointing and the occasional too-wide board often get done by hand though.

[harry strasil]

I guess its a personal choice between developing a strong finger to flip a switch or having strong arms to shoot the edge.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Danny, the time and effort it takes to surface joint a bunch of boards is significant. You can do the same on a jointer and reserve the hand planing for edge jointing and final smoothing. My current preference is; joint and thickness boards on machines, finish and joinery by hand. This way I get to play with hand tools, while the repetitive drudge work is delegated to machines.

[harry strasil]

I agree with zahid when it gangs up on you, do you remember this for final edge prep.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=43195&highlight=shoot+board

[Don C Peterson]

I don't have a power jointer, but I have been able to flatten board faces pretty well, and reasonably fast using hand planes, without the noise and dust of a jointer.

I have a Scrub, a #7 and a low angle jack that I have used to prep boards. After using this combination of planes for about a year, I decided that there was something missing so I recently added an old Stanley #5 to the mix. The other planes are all LN's so I didn't want to make major modifications to them. I ground the iron of the #5 to be a kind of intermediate scrub with a pronounced curve to it. It's wider than the scrub but I can still hog off a pretty significant chunk of wood if I need to.

What I have found is that the scrub plane will correct the worst warp, then I use the #5 to flatten the entire face. It leaves a surface that while not "finished" is good enough to run through the thickness planer (flat side down of course).

The planer was a fairly recent addition, because thicknessing lumber with hand planes is a lot more work than just flattening them!

If you are new to hand planes, they do have a fairly steep learning curve, and be aware that to do the job of a power jointer, you will need more than just a #7 or #8 jointer. On the other hand, I have no problem flattening boards more than 6" or 8" wide. With a power jointer, if you want to flatten large boards, you are going to have to lay out a bunch of money, and I hope you have room for an aircraft carrier in your shop...

[Steven Wilson]

I have two jointer planes; a Clifton #7 and an older Bailey #7. Attached to the Bailey is a Stanley 386 jointer fence, this fence ensures a square cut especially if you have to do a lot of work on an edge. IIRC Lee Valley makes a version of the handplane jointer fence that is fairly inexpensive (I went vintage and well that costs a bit). Edge jointing by hand is quick to learn, easy to do, and very accurate. The key is getting a square edge and the jointer fence is a great aid towards that end. Face jointing by hand is a little more involved but still not too bad. You can also use a jointer to knock off the high spots on a board so that you can skip plane it with a power planer and get a flat face.

As for the powered jointer, they're great but sometimes needs a little hand finishing before making a glue up. When I had a Powermatic 60 I use to experience a slight scalloped edge as the blades dulled or if I didn't install a fresh set of blades correctly. Anyhow, the edge was good but I would make it perfect by taking one swipe with my jointer plane to clean it up. Now, I have a combination 14" jointer/thickness planer with a quick change cutter head that I can change the blades in a minute so I don't need to do any cleanup after edge jointing. So now I use my jointer planes less often but still turn to them during assembly (sometimes you forget to get an edge just right or you need to remove a bit of material) or if don't feel like using power tools. As for your decision I would eventualy have both in the shop as you will find them useful but a hand held jointer will do edge jointing for you very well.

[Danny Thompson]

My immediate next projects involve S2S lumber with very little cupping or twist. I would be making a corner table roughly 24"x24" on the short sides, out of 6" wide Bubinga boards. Not much face jointing required, I think. Then I'll be working on same additions to my workbench: adding a long planing rail (?) like John White's New Fangled Workbench.

Any power jointer I would buy would be on the lower end, under $500 for sure. It sounds like I would need a hand plane to touch up the edges anyway, right?

I like the idea of the shooting board, too. It's just getting that very first edge straight . . . You did it with a jointer plane, which I ain't got.

I figure the LV Veritas Low Angle Jointer is a good bet, but at almost $300 with the fence . . . Ouch! Are there any good jointer planes out there for under $200?

[Mark Stutz]

Don't exclude the possibility of a wooden jointer plane. These can usually be had for much less than vintage metal jointers. There are several threads on rehabbing them...though it would be nice to find a friend with jointer of some kind...either with tail or without to help you get that started. Flattening isn't that bad if you starting with S2S and are careful with stock selection. If your starting with a pallet load of rough sawn...well, that's another story.

Mark

[glenn bradley]

IMHO it depends what you're jointing and for what purpose. As stated, the concern is face jointing. If you're edge jointing only, by hand should be fine. If you're face jointing for looks, by hand, again should be fine. If you're face jointing for structure, I'd prefer power. By structure I mean squaring up lumber so you can 'start' your project - a powered jointer would be a quick, repeatable method that I would prefer for this task. A hand planed table top or other surface gives that beautiful 'hand made' look.

[harry strasil]

Oh, I love those Woodies, last one I got at an antique mall for around $30, its 32 inches long as I recall, took it to a friend who had a perfectly tuned 8 inch powermatic jointer and scalped aprox a 64th off the bottom and it was in perfect shape.

If you look close you can see it on the end of my demo workbench, its the one closest to you.

[harry strasil]

And then there is my 60 inch non tailed single purpose 4 inch wide jointer plane.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/jointerplane.jpg

[harry strasil]

Also has anyone given thought to finding a nice piece of quarter sawn stable wood and removing the metal parts from an old transitional plane and using that to make a long stationary non powered jointer for shooting edges prior to glue up.

Just fasten a brkt to both ends, on the fore end a riser to make it stand up from the face of your work bench and a riser and an additional piece to clamp in your end vise so temporarily it becomes an integral and stable part of your work bench top.

[harry strasil]

I have used a spur of the moment procedure to remove the bow from a nice piece or bowed wood several times, by clamping down two pieces of dimensional lumber to my bench, dropping in a spacer on the far side as shown and using my Fore Plane with the blade sharpened the old way with about a 1/16 inch camber and using the two pieces of dimensional lumber as depth stops, it works well as long as the plane is long enough that it will make contact with both depth stops. I planed at about a 30 degree angle crossways to the piece being worked. Once the bow was removed a few strokes lengthwise was all it took before running it thru the tailed benchtop thickness planer.

[Bob Smalser]

....get to the point that I can successfully prep boards for edge-gluing. I have a table saw, a sweet block plane, and just made a deal on a decent bench-top planer. So my question is, should my next purchase be a power jointer or a nice #7 or #7 1/2?



I don't think a hand jointer at this stage of the game won't improve your overall skills efficiently. Too much fussing around with the wrong things.

I recommend a Grizzly 6" jointer so you can produce enough true stock to make a few projects to put the whole skills package together. Then buy an old 28" beech jointer with good iron life remaining and rehab it.

[josh bjork]

I figure the LV Veritas Low Angle Jointer is a good bet, but at almost $300 with the fence . . . Ouch! Are there any good jointer planes out there for under $200?

Yes there are tons of them for under $100 if you buy old iron ones. Or buy a woodie and if the body sucks, the iron can fit another body. Some of them had awesome irons in them.

I've been using a #8 for edge jointing and as long as the grain isn't too wild, it works really well so far. Two boards and a clamp and you have a fence. You could just screw one onto a woodie or use some inserts and make it removable.

[Jim Nardi]

You can make a sled for your planer to face plane lumber. If the lumber you buy is really rough a wooden jointer would be my choice. You can hog off alot of rough stock in a hurry with a good woodie. Metal planes are just way to slow IMO for rough stock.

[Glenn Madsen]

"I figure the LV Veritas Low Angle Jointer is a good bet, but at almost $300 with the fence . . . Ouch! Are there any good jointer planes out there for under $200?"

A crispy Stanley #8 from Patrick Leach wasn't more than $125, IIRC, a couple of years back. A Stanley #7 showed up as a gift from a family member who had three or more somewhere in his basement. The NOS Stanley #6 was less than $100 shipped, and 60 or more years old.

I love those new guys, too, but I don't feel that, in my limited use, I need to drop $495 for the top end TLN repro. The sweet block planes, those I use all the time.:)

[Pam Niedermayer]

I've used powered and hand jointers and planers, and have no serious problems with either. However, I prefer using wooden hand planes to metal and to powered. I've found the powered jointer and planer the easiest power tools to go without.

Why? First the noise and space requirement go a long way to making my preference.

Second, you have to know as much or more to maintain powered jointers/planers as hand planes. You have to keep the tables/knives in adjustment. You have to sharpen the knives. And you have to recognize when adjustment/sharpening is needed.

There is no payoff for all this. I still would have to sand after power vs using a wooden plane as the final surface. I find the hand produced surface superior.

Therefore, not being a manufacturing operation, I opted for woodies.

Pam