Not a newbie question: Isn't a jointer really a planer?

[Andy Pratt]

I've thought about this quite a bit, but I'm stumped on how the jointer and planer got their current names.

Planing is the function of making one irregular surface perfectly flat along it's entire length/width. Any perfectly flat surface (i.e. a "plane") of any side of a board would be considered "planed".

Since nothing we have in life short of a perfectly calibrated milling machine is capable of making an absolutely perfect plane, I belive this term has come to describe a wide array of tools, whose precision varies greatly, that attempt to accomplish this task. Really, hand planes, power hand planers and full-size jointers all try to accomplish "planing," and rightly should all have the same name fully separate from thicknessing machines (commonly "planers" and thickness sanders).

So, isn't a jointer really just a huge, accurate planer that got it's name for it's great ability in making edge (and occasionally face) joints? On the flip side, a thickness planer shouldn't really be called a planer at all, just a thicknessing machine. Or am I missing something?

Andy

[Joe Chritz]

I do believe that those across the pond call a jointer a planer and a planer a thicknesser.

Of course they call soccer football and drive on the wrong side of the road too so take that for what its worth. :D

A rose by any other name and all that.

Joe

[Cody Colston]

A jointer makes one face or edge flat. A planer makes one face or edge parallel to the oppoosite face or edge but not necessarily flat. Therein lies the difference, hence the name designation.

[Peter Quadarella]

Maybe they called it a jointer because of its intended replacement of the jointer plane.

[Kurt Bird]

Hi,
Just thought I would add my $.02. I was taught that a jointer's primary purpose was to joint the edge of the board. In other words, to make the edge of the board flat and straight, but primarily square to the face. That is also what a jointer plane is supposed to do. In the process, the edge of the board becomes true and flat, but it also becomes 90 degrees to the face (or whatever angle you choose). If you start with a square corner, then you can go to the table saw for a parallel face opposite the short side, then the planer for a parallel face, ending up with a piece of stock that is truly square. Since a planer only addresses a single face, it can't do the whole job by itself. While the jointer can provide a single flat face, that isn't it's primary purpose, just a secondary benefit. The two tools are actually perfectly complementary to each other, IMO.:)
Kurt Bird

[Wilbur Pan]

A jointer makes one face or edge flat. A planer makes one face or edge parallel to the oppoosite face or edge but not necessarily flat. Therein lies the difference, hence the name designation.

Which is why I like the terms used on the other side of the pond better. If you remember from geometry class, a plane is a perfectly flat surface. So it would make sense that a device that makes a board flat should be called a planer.

If you make a face or edge parallel to the opposite side, but not necessarily flat, you are making it an even thickness. So a machine that does this should be called a thicknesser.

On the other hand, I do agree that football is a game properly played with helmets and pads, and is won with your offensive and defensive linemen. ;)

[Rob Will]

OK, here's another twist on how we got to this quandary.

If you were gluing two wide boards face to face - that point of contact would be a "joint".

If you are using these same wide boards as a table top - the surface is known as a "plane".

So a quirk of the English language leads us to define things that are in the open - such as a table top - as a "plane". Apparently, this holds true for an air"plane" or a boat "planed" out on the surface of the water.

Now we have to ask the Navy submarine guys what those control surfaces are called (?) Is my theory busted?:o:)

Rob

[Jason Scott]

A jointer makes one face or edge flat. A planer makes one face or edge parallel to the oppoosite face or edge but not necessarily flat. Therein lies the difference, hence the name designation.

+1 on this, and have you ever tried to to get an "edge" of a board flat on a planer with a piece of 4/4 stock that had any width to it :p, I wouldn't try it, they work in unison with each other. A planer can joint and a board if it is fixed in place (see thewoodwhisperer podcast "jointers jumpin") which I have done a lot with boards too wide for the jointer, but a jointer can not parallel both faces, so really you need them both especially if your stock is not perfectly square and flat from the lumber yard, and I have never got one that was, lol...

[Eric L. Severseike]

Finally, a topic I have sufficient knowledge to contribute to! :)

We in the submarine force call our control surfaces "planes" as well. The horizontal fins sticking out of the sub's sail are the fairwater planes, and the horizontal fins sticking out of the stern are the stern planes. So the theory holds true.

Eric

[Jason Scott]

Finally, a topic I have sufficient knowledge to contribute to! :)

We in the submarine force call our control surfaces "planes" as well. The horizontal fins sticking out of the sub's sail are the fairwater planes, and the horizontal fins sticking out of the stern are the stern planes. So the theory holds true.

Eric
You lost me lol :p

[John Leipold]

Finally, a topic I have sufficient knowledge to contribute to! :)

We in the submarine force call our control surfaces "planes" as well. The horizontal fins sticking out of the sub's sail are the fairwater planes, and the horizontal fins sticking out of the stern are the stern planes. So the theory holds true.

Eric

So why are the planes on the sail called "fair weather"?

I can't imagine weather having any real effect on a submarine at all.

[Eric L. Severseike]

The planes on the sail are called fairwater planes, not fairweather planes.

As to the etymology of "fairwater", I can only offer that we call them that because that's what we've always called them. I'm sure there's a better answer out there, but I don't know it. Sorry.

Eric

[Bob Wingard]

If I'm not mistaken, the full name for these machines is "jointer/planer" or at least that's what they were called many years ago.

[John Shuk]

If I'm not mistaken, the full name for these machines is "jointer/planer" or at least that's what they were called many years ago.

When I bought my Rigid 6" that is what the box said on it.

[Rob Will]

If I'm not mistaken, the full name for these machines is "jointer/planer" or at least that's what they were called many years ago.

The sales literature for my American 24" jointer (1925 or so) said:

"Jointer and Buzz Planer"

Rob

[Kirk Poore]

The sales literature for my American 24" jointer (1925 or so) said:

"Jointer and Buzz Planer"

Rob

Rob is correct. They were also called hand planers before 1900 or so, to distinguish them from thickness planers or surfacers which of course were power-fed. So the name jointer stuck, because planer was in general use to indicate, well, planers. :) There were variations on planers which had slightly different names (surfacers and thicknessers, for example, were not exactly the same thing originally), but without a detailed catalog comparison the distinction isn't really obvious.

Kirk