Buy jointer or planer?

[Howard Miller]

I need to size some 4/4 cherry for a vanity. I am on a budget, so I don't want to purchase a planer and a jointer.

Local Harbor Freight has a 6" jointer on sale for ~229.00. Would this also plane my cherry that is less than 6" wide?

[Dan Friedrichs]

No. If you're using rough-cut lumber, you really need both a jointer and planer.

Can you buy lumber already surfaced? You may be able to get away with buying 6/4 S3S, and face jointing it down to the thickness you need.

I would avoid the HF jointer. There was a good review of it (or a similar one) on here recently, but still, it's HF....

Have you considered looking for used machines? You could easily pick up a used 6" jointer (a decent quality one) for ~$300, and a lunchbox planer for ~$150. And then if you decide you don't have much more use for them, you could easily sell them for about the same amount. You'd have a very difficult time selling the HF unit for anything!

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Howard, a jointer and planer perform different functions.

A jointer makes surfaces flat, and can make surfaces a fixed angle to another reference surface in the range of 90 to 45 degrees.

A planer is a one function machine, it can only make surfaces parallel. Note not flat, just parallel. If you put in warped wood, it makes the second surface a copy of the reference surface, so you get thinner warped wood.

To process rough wood into surface four side material you proceed as follows;

1) make one face flat on the jointer using the jointer tables

2) make one edge a right angle to the flat face, using the jointer fence

3) make the second face parallel to the first face with the planer

4) Rip the second edge parallel to the first edge with the tablesaw

5) clean up the ripped edge if necessary in the planer.

Now, if you purchase material that's already surfaced two sides, you could do one edge on the jointer, the other edge on the tablesaw. The issue becomes, how straight is the two sided material, maybe not straight enough for furniture.

However, as you can see, the jointer and planer are a team.

In Europe, they are more accurately named, what we call a jointer is called a planer (because it makes a flat plane), and a planer is called a thicknesser because it makes wood the same thickness.. Our terminology is confusing because a planer doesn't make a plane.

Regards, Rod.

[Matt Benton]

I would recommend getting a good deal on a used lunchbox planer and building a sled to joint the faces. If you have a tablesaw to get a straight-edge, you should be good....

[Mark Roderick]

Planer is definitely the item to buy first.

You can joint (flatten) the face of the wood either by using hand planes, or by building a sled for the planer as recommended above. Doesn't work the other way around.

Plus, a typical "lunchbox" planer is about 13 inches wide. You pay lots and lots of money to get a jointer that wide.

[Myk Rian]

I had a planer first. It's not hard to flatten a board with a sled and shims.
A Google search for Build a planer sled Comes up with many hits. Here's one from this site.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=51308

[Charles Wiggins]

Jointer - Here's why: http://www.newwoodworker.com/jntrorplnrfrst.html

[Matt Benton]

The only specific reason the article actually gives for getting a jointer first is straightening edges for glueups. I've been able to do this with both my tablesaw and router table in the past with no problems.

Additionally, the article makes no reference to a planer sled at all.

If you can only get one, I'd get the planer first...

[glenn bradley]

Jointer - Here's why: http://www.newwoodworker.com/jntrorplnrfrst.html

Maybe that was a typo; the article seems to recommend the planer if only one can be had. Edge jointing can be done on the table saw. A sled (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=58735) can handle the face jointing. I don't know of a way a jointer can accurately thickness though ;).

Howard wants to 'size' his lumber, a jointer will only flatten. I say "only" with a bit of tongue-in-cheek as I feel a jointer should be one of everyone's first tools. Unfortunately, this philosophy breaks down if said person doesn't immediately buy a planer right after setting up his jointer :D.

If I could only have one (and I did for wayyyy too long), it would be a planer.

[scott spencer]

A planer's main tasks are to make one side of a board consistently smoother, thinner, and parallel to an opposite face....preferably a flat reference face, but it needs help making a flat face to start with. A jointer is the perfect tool for making a flat reference face and an adjacent 90° edge to that face, but is terrible getting two sides parallel to each other, so a jointer in tandem with a planer is ideal.

However, a planer can be coaxed into flattening a board's face with the help of a planer sled that uses the sled bottom as the reference....once a face is flat, you take off the sled and flip the board so that the flat side is down, and let the planer make the top parallel to the flat bottom. A hand plane can also flatten a reference face.

As stated, a planer and jointer working in tandem works best, but if I could only have one, it'd be a planer with a sled, and I'd do my edge jointing on a TS or router.

[Howard Miller]

To all: thanks for the good info and advice. Not an easy decison for me.

As a new one to woodworking, I am slowly adding my tools.
What I currently have is table saw, router with base and plunge, circular saw drill press, bought/home vaccum system. I am building a router table.

So for this 4/4 cherry that I need to size to 3/4" and 2.5" wide, could I make a 90 degee side with my router, rip to 2.5" wide on table saw, then plane the top and bottom surface with planer? If so, would the outcome be acceptable for cabinet quality work?

[Don Bullock]

...
So for this 4/4 cherry that I need to size to 3/4" and 2.5" wide, could I make a 90 degee side with my router, rip to 2.5" wide on table saw, then plane the top and bottom surface with planer? If so, would the outcome be acceptable for cabinet quality work?

You certainly could if you know how to do those things well enough to come up with the outcome you desire.

I got along quite well making furniture years ago before I bought either a jointer or planer. My only tools were a table saw, radial arm saw, a ShopSmith that I only used as a lathe and a drill press. The wood I used was always S3S and I just designed my projects around the thickness of the available wood.

[Jim Becker]

Howard, plenty of folks do wonderful work with out the jointer. If you examine the many, many threads online at SMC and even other places, you'll find that there is a pretty universal recommendation that you can use a planer without a jointer, but not the opposite. IMHO, you can get started with what you want to do using a planer for thicknessing, especially if you carefully choose your stock. It will be nicer later on when you can get a jointer to truly flatten your stock before thicknessing, but there are plenty of ways to straighten an edge and make it perpendicular to the face in addition to the jointer.

[Howard Miller]

For a planer, the Grizzly G0505 looks like a good product at a fair price. Many good reviews on Amazon.

The Delta TP305 also has a planer around this price point, but does not look as robust as the Grizzly.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, Jim and the other people have correctly stated that it is possible to work without a jointer, however it is time consuming, frustrating, and requires some skills that as a beginner you may not have.

I went through this experience recently with a good friend who wanted to build a sideboard using only a tablesaw, drill press, portable planer and router table.

After several weeks of frustration due to his inability to easilly prepare stock accurately for machining, he was on the verge of giving up the project.

I convinced hime to start over again using my shop, and his cabinet was actually the first piece made using my Hammer A3-31.

The project is now almost completed, and my friend is now convinced of the need for a jointer.

So yes it's possible to use a planer and a sled, if you're willing to spend the time adjusting the sled for each piece.

It's just a lot simpler, faster, and more accurate to use a jointer.

We've all been beginners, and I'm sure many of us remember the frustration with early projects due to lack of skills and tools.

So, my advice still stands, purchase a jointer and a planer, and enjoy some positive results early in the game.

regards, Rod.

[Prashun Patel]

I made the decision earlier this year to get a planer before a jointer. If yr not in a rush, I suggest you look for deals on Craigs or Ebay (recently BORG has been offering wicked discounts on the Dewalt 735 I have which gets great reviews).

I made my decision based on budget. Lunchbox planers are under $500 and a lot of people never find a need to upgrade them.

6" jointers are in this price range, but a lot of 6" owners wish they had 8"-ers, so I'm holding out for one of those.

I'm happy w/ my choice. It's not that hard to get stock that's flat (enough) on one face to suffice.

[Curt Harms]

With patience and very light cuts you can sort of remove bow from shorter pieces with a planer. I started with a planer only but it was a revelation when I got a jointer and was able to get stock truly flat & square--things fit SO much nicer.

[Chip Lindley]

I can certainly appreciate being on a tight budget, getting started at woodworking. When I seriously got involved in 1985, I spent money I really did not have on an almost new Rockwell RC33 13" planer. As fine a job as the planer did, I ruined several board feet of red oak by planing everything 3/4" before realizing the boards retained their cup/twist/warp/bow.

I quickly understood the need for a jointer to flatten my stock before planing. With my used Milwaukee/Delta 6" jointer I flattened and jointed stock for years.

You too, will discover the need for both machines to better your woodworking as your budget allows. Until that time, go for the planer first, and use the techniques suggested here to thickness your stock consistently.

The great thing about woodworking is that many different tools can achieve the same result. Some approaches require much more work OR time than others, but the end result can be the same. Welcome to Woodworking!! It is an awsome endeavor!

[Howard Miller]

My Home Depot had a Dewalt DW735 planer that was a dispay model. I got the manager to lower price to 399.OO vs. 499 for in box one so I bought it.

I hope I made a good decision on this. I looked at the Grizzly G0505 for 245 plus shipping, but I did not want to wait on delivery.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I love the debate of this question. The answer is always "what do you want to do"? I don't know what you need, but I'll tell you what I did, which worked out well.

I bought lumber with top and bottom surfaced, and one "square" edge, (S3S) until I had both tools. Actually most of the lumber I buy is still S3S. This makes it so that you don't need to thickness plane. My projects at the time where not all made from 3/4" lumber either. I used my tablesaw to make thinner details. For example, I made a bed with 88, 1/2" square slats. Easlily done on the table saw. Most projects need pieces glued up to form wider or thicker parts. I am not satisfied with any glueline that is visible, so this was the most important issue to me.

The only way to consistantly make invisible gluelines is with a jointer. Even now that I have a high dollar tablesaw, and $800 worth of blades, I cannot cut a glueline rip that I am satisfied with, reliably. Wood moves when cut, and a jointer is critical to remedy this and make an invisible joint every time.

Another big overblown issue IMHO is face jointing. Honestly, if you buy S3S lumber, and store it properly, you will not need to face joint. I never needed to face joint until I started using rough lumber, and resawing.

In my opinion, you can goof around with sleds to face joint with a planner, but you cannot edge joint, which is the single most important thing a jointer can do to improve the quality of your work. Easy call, buy a jointer first, and 6" is fine, if you buy S3S.

[Chris Schumann]

With patience and very light cuts you can sort of remove bow from shorter pieces with a planer.
And with a jig, you can use your table saw as a 3" jointer. Some links:

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2005/01/28/wb/

Sorry. I can't find the article I remember for this, but it showed you how to make a sacrificial fence using a piece of laminate on the outfeed side so you always trim exactly that thickness off your stock. Anyone have this handy?

[David Keller NC]

"I hope I made a good decision on this."

You could not possibly have made a better decision on a "lunchbox" planer - the Dewalt 735 is a superb tool, and a whole lot better choice than a Grizzly.

You can, by the way, do the work of a jointer with a jointer plane. While it takes more grunt work, I rather doubt you'll regret getting an old Stanley #7 or #8 for a hundred bucks or so. Yes, you will have to learn to use it, but it's a valuable skill, and there are tons of resources on the 'net to show you how.

Moreover, even with an 8" jointer, you will run into situations where the boards you want to use simply won't fit your machines. This is the principal reason for learning to use hand tools in a power tool shop - it's a crime to rip a 15" wide board of cherry in half just so it'll fit you jointer and planer.

[Alex Shanku]

I would spend my time and money flattening with planes before I used a sled to face joint (yuck) and a jig to edge joint.

[Matt Benton]

I would spend my time and money flattening with planes before I used a sled to face joint (yuck) and a jig to edge joint.

If my wife and kids gave me more than 30 minutes a week in the shop, I would to...

[Myk Rian]

My Home Depot had a Dewalt DW735 planer that was a dispay model. I got the manager to lower price to 399.OO vs. 499 for in box one so I bought it.

I hope I made a good decision on this. I looked at the Grizzly G0505 for 245 plus shipping, but I did not want to wait on delivery.
You made a good decision. That is a nice planer. I have one. Nice price too. Since HD has no way of doing a demo with a unit such as that, you can expect it to be new.

[Ken Milhinch]

This question (which gets asked quite often) is really like saying "should I buy a mallet or a chisel ?" The short answer is you need both, but there are a number of jig solutions which can let you cheat a bit. Personally, I wouldn't try to do without either.

[Ken Milhinch]

.................................................. ........
The only way to consistantly make invisible gluelines is with a jointer. Even now that I have a high dollar tablesaw, and $800 worth of blades, I cannot cut a glueline rip that I am satisfied with, reliably. .......
Steve,
I often use my Freud Glueline Rip blade, and that gives me an edge just as good as my Jet jointer. Have you got that blade in your $800 collection ?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Ken, I have tried that blade, and it is a good blade. I don't own one now though. It is possible to get great glue lines with a glueline rip blade, sometimes. However, a jointer gets it every time. As I said, just my experience, and maybe there are some tricks that I don't know.

[Chip Lindley]

Long Long Ago, when I was in my *working-with-hardwood infancy* I bought some pricy S2S red oak for my kitchen remodelling. My expectations far exceeded reality. Knife marks and snipe were all to evident. Slight bow or cup remained in the lumber, and there was some variation in thickness. Planely, (no mispelling) this wood had been shoved through a thickness planer and nothing else. I soon bought my own planer and had better surfaces than I had purchased! But, to remove cup or bow or twist, nothing else would do but a jointer! (even a small one)

Those who suggest using hand planes to flatten or joint, forget that there is a steep learning curve to using this tool. A flat sole and sharply honed blade are necessary, not an option. Technique is something that is acquired by practice, trial and error. By the time our new woodworker acquires these skills he will find the funds to buy his jointer. Hand tools do have their place and I use many when indicated, but to achieve results in any timely fashion is a bit ludicrous to suggest to a newcomer.

A planer sled with wedges will flatten lumber before any usable amount of board feet are planed by hand by a newcomer. Lets be Real !