Help - New Jointer or New Planer which one first?

[Jim Becker]

What's this Jointer/Planer combo you speak of Guys? - Just kidding - which brand would give 16" of jointing width?

Felder/Hammer and SCM/Minimax are the brands most discussed. Both companies produce great gear. I'm all SCM/Minimax because that was what appealed to me when I was buying, but would happily get the same utility from Felder/Hammer for similarly equipped machines. None of these tools are "inexpensive" for the initial buy, but the capacities and quality are really great to have over time.

[Prashun Patel]

Got space? Go separate.

Nice thing about J/P's: you can get helical on both functions for the price of one. I have a Hammer A341

The way I work, I find I usually have slightly more jointing capacity and slightly less planing capacity than I really need.

[Mike Kees]

I was looking to upgrade my jointer last year and went to look at a Cantek 12'' jointer ,the guy selling wanted $ 3500. I was on Kijiji a day later and found a Paolini 16'' jointer 4 hours away for $2400. I bought it. About a month later there was a SCM 16'' jointer/planer that had been in storage for years,wish I had found it first.

[Ron Citerone]

Planer for sure. I had an old 8" Delta jointer all shimmed up too, but it still got it done.

[Allan Speers]

Planer.

You really don't even need a jointer, unless you do production work.
I got by nicely for the past 14 years with just a planer. (Though upgrading from a lunchbox to a PM100 made a huge difference.)
I used a very nice planer sled, and hand planes when I had the time & wanted the exercise.


Only this year have I decided to look for a good jointer. I want one just for convenience, when time is tight and I have long boards to work. - And 8" should be plenty, as you can still do 2/3 of a 12" board, then run it through you planer with a support underneath one side

If I had a 20" planer, then of course I'd want a 12" jointer.

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Then again, that $2800 Grizzly 12" J/P is pretty cool, esp the shallow fence mechanism. If I had the money, I might consider that.
But my powermatic is a better machine, has longer tables, and has a true Shelix head. (The grizzly only has a spiral head.)

Felder? Well yeah, in my dreams.

[ray grundhoefer]

I think you should get rid of that jointer and buy a new one. Just dump it by the side of the road preferably right next to my driveway please

[Jim Becker]

You really don't even need a jointer, unless you do production work.

That's kinda subjective... I wouldn't want to be without a jointer, particularly a wide one. I like to flatten lumber as the first step of preparing project components. Yea, one can kinda do that with a sled, wedges and a planer, but I don't pweaonlLY find that appealing.

[Mike Cutler]

Planer.

You really don't even need a jointer, unless you do production work.

I'm not sure I'm on board with that statement Allan. It would be very dependent on the type of projects you do. Production, or not.
I don't do anything even remotely close to production work and wouldn't want to be without a jointer.

[Scott Bernstein]

I recently took delivery of my Hammer A3-41, which I had ordered some time ago. So far it’s been fantastic. Converting to and from planer/jointer mode is a snap. Way more capacity than my old 6” Grizzly jointer and my DeWalt 735 planer. I also added some of the options like the the digital planer height gauge and the 18” aluminum jointer table extensions. Really a pleasure. For me the space-saving characteristics of a combination machine were important.

Scott