No Jointer or Planer - how important are they?

[sofa_king_rad]

If I buy pre surfaced lumber...they should be fairly good. Looking at the option at a HD the other day...the wood was mostly all warped to hell and wouldn't be useable without some work.

I plan to buy from a hardwood dealer but was picking up some stuff for practicing. What are the downsides to some pieces not being quite perfect, especially when to the eye they appear proper.

Of course, if things don't fit together right that is an issue.

I can probably bring myself to spend the money on a dewalt $400 portable planer...but would rather save for a Domino.

 

[bobfog]

I have one, more for my personal work than professional. My opinion is you can generally get better quality planing if you do it yourself and can thickness your own material which is useful. I like using reclaimed materials for my personal projects, so for me a planer thicknesser is essential.

Also over a period of time, if you buy rough sawn the savings will pay for the machine. Ultimately IMO the planer/thicknesser is a tool every workshop should have.

 

[Holmz]

Q: "how-important-are-they"...
A: How long is a piece of string?

If you have a 3x3 that tapers to a 2x2, then you need a jig is you run it through a thicknesser.

A hand plane however is infinitely tuneable, and can do all sorts of thicknessing and chamfers.

A domino maybe good, but a some dowel stock and Forster bit is cheaper, and plenty strong.

 

[peter halle]

When you buy the wood from HD you are paying a really inflated price - in many cases twice would you would pay for wood from a hardwood dealer.  When I buy from a dealer I get surfaced two sides with a straight rip on one edge.

A jointer and a planer are two separate animals.  A jointer is used to flatten a face and straighten edges while creating typically a 90 degree angle.  Then the planer creates a parallel face.  Then you create a parallel edge wither with a table saw or a track saw.  You might run that edge over the jointer to clean it up and make sure that it is 90 degrees also.

If you run a bad board thru a planer you will get a thinner bad board.

This is a simplified explanation.

Peter

 

[Brandon]

You'd be much better off with a jointer than a Domino, and a planer for that matter. I think you need to learn to fabricate straight, flat boards before you glue them together. You'll never get the quality you're looking for buying pre surfaced material, especially from HD. As suggested earlier, dowels will do the trick till a Domino machine is in the budget.

 

[ear3]

You can get by without a jointer if you have a track saw.  As for the planer, there's nothing else really that does what it does, outside of hand tools (and a lot of elbow grease).

It's difficult to choose one or the other, a planer or a Domino, because they are doing different things.  Put it this way, if you stick with woodworking you will probably end up getting both a Domino and a planer, so the question is what your current project list is, and which one will most help accomplish it.

 

[Gjarman12]

What about trying to get by with a homemade router sled for awhile?

 

[mrFinpgh]

I think the surface from the track saw is great.  Even with a 12-14 tooth rip blade, you could almost use it - depending on the wood.

I would say a jointer/planer are nice to have, but not critical.  You can certainly buy lumber that is s4s.  I wouldn't recommend going to the home depot for it - the quality is low and the price is high.  Rockler and woodcraft have nicer stock, but again you will pay more than a lumberyard would charge.  From a good lumberyard, it will be pretty flat and even. 

Like others have said, you do save a lot of money buying roughsawn lumber.  You also get more flexibility in how you size it.

I'd definitely look into handplanes - you'd be surprised how effective they can be once you get your setup right.  If you ignore all the noise on sharpening, you can get competent fairly quickly with a few stones and some polish.  For many purposes, they get the job done. 

-Adam

 

[stvrowe]

The jointer and planer are absolute necessities to me and other than trimming work pieces to rough length, they are the first steps to efficiently getting lumber square and true.  I did what you plan to do when I was a noob woodworker and purchased S4S lumber from a hardwood dealer.  It worked OK but was very far from ideal as I found the stock was seldom square and straight and was limited to the thickness available from my suppler.  Six years into the process, I finally broke down and got a proper jointer and planer.  Jointers do more than just edge work, they are the first step to flatten the face of a board (a track saw simply will not do this operation).  Then you can either square up the edge using the jointer or to the planer to mill the piece to the desired thickness.  Purchasing lumber in the rough, I can get at least 7/8" thick boards out of 4/4 stock and with some boards can get a full 1" thickness out of some that are oversize..

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Jointer is the most important machine for processing rough sawn lumber for furniture and most case work.

I have 3, a 16", a 25" and a 30" 

Two 24" planers as well.

I would like to get a facer and skip any hand fed facing.

 

[ScotF]

The jointer and planer are absolute necessities to me and other than trimming work pieces to rough length, they are the first steps to efficiently getting lumber square and true.  I did what you plan to do when I was a noob woodworker and purchased S4S lumber from a hardwood dealer.  It worked OK but was very far from ideal as I found the stock was seldom square and straight and was limited to the thickness available from my suppler.  Six years into the process, I finally broke down and got a proper jointer and planer.  Jointers do more than just edge work, they are the first step to flatten the face of a board (a track saw simply will not do this operation).  Then you can either square up the edge using the jointer or to the planer to mill the piece to the desired thickness.  Purchasing lumber in the rough, I can get at least 7/8" thick boards out of 4/4 stock and with some boards can get a full 1" thickness out of some that are oversize..

Well said. Square, flat stock is the starting point for good joinery and projects. I would say a planer would be more important of the two machines only because there are other tools that can surface one side of your stock flat...this includes hand planes, a router sled or even a well tuned bandsaw. I find that proper dimensioning is potentially more labor intensive and that is why I would pick this tool first, although I advocate both. Many people think a jointer is only good for jointing the edge of their material and while it does a great job at this operation, the real purpose is to flatten one face of your material. You can then straight line rip one rough edge square to this face and then plane the opposite face parallel to the first side.

 

[sancho57]

Put me in the planer group. I buy my wood S2S straight line ripped with the one good edge I can use my table saw(CMS) or router table to joint the other edge.

On rough sawn I can use my TS or router table straighten one edge or both. But a planer does only one thing and does it well.

It ensures all my wood is the same thickness. Which comes in quite handy for a number of projects. I've been n the UK for about 3 years and I've gotten by with out using a jointer even with the recycled oak beams I had resawn for me.

To be a totally self suffient shop you will eventually need both. But is the jointer absolutely necessary I'd say No.

 

[Lbob131]

I have a planer/thicknesser  combo. Made by Hammer.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I am in the same situation (no jointer or planer) and my plan for now is to have our local Woodcraft square up my hardwood.  You can pay for shop time there and they will joint and plane your wood.

 

[sofa_king_rad]

I'm looking at some Used stuff and keep seeing "Jointer/Planer" for sale...but they just look like jointers to me. I thought a planer was for sizing lumber and a jointer is for creating two even sides square to each other...please correct me??

 

[Holmz]

What about trying to get by with a homemade router sled for awhile?

I like it...

I'm looking at some Used stuff and keep seeing "Jointer/Planer" for sale...but they just look like jointers to me. I thought a planer was for sizing lumber and a jointer is for creating two even sides square to each other...please correct me??

 

[jbasen]

I'm looking at some Used stuff and keep seeing "Jointer/Planer" for sale...but they just look like jointers to me. I thought a planer was for sizing lumber and a jointer is for creating two even sides square to each other...please correct me??

Correct.  Here is a link to Jet's current generation of Jointer/Planer combo machines. This is just an example. Lots of other manufacturers make similar machines.
http://www.jettools.com/us/en/c/woodworking-planers-planer-jointers/151?filter=1

Combo machines may not save you money; just space

 

[Holmz]

This may give you some ideas:http://samuraicarpenter.com/how-to-build-a-door-for-the-ages/

 

[ear3]

The one downside of a jointer/planer combo is that you have to spend $$$$$ to get one with the 12" planing capacity that the portable Dewalt (or similar machine) has.

I still go with the recommendation that a jointer at this stage of the game is not necessary for you.  As long as you are selective about the rough lumber (nothing twisted or overly bowed), you can get by with the tracksaw and planer, and maybe the occasional handtool or router maneuvers.  Will you be able to solve every wood problem?  No.  Wood has a mind of its own, and even rough lumber that looks great in the lumber yard can act in all sorts of unpredictable ways once you start cutting into it.  But my personal experience has been that since I got the tracksaw about two years ago, I've had only a couple of instances of a problem that only a jointer could solve.  Keep in mind I am not a professional, and my furniture projects have tended to be on a smaller scale -- but since it's a question of limited resources, I would look to add a planer and a Domino well before a jointer. 

 

[ScotF]

The one downside of a jointer/planer combo is that you have to spend $$$$$ to get one with the 12" planing capacity that the portable Dewalt (or similar machine) has.

I still go with the recommendation that a jointer at this stage of the game is not necessary for you.  As long as you are selective about the rough lumber (nothing twisted or overly bowed), you can get by with the tracksaw and planer, and maybe the occasional handtool or router maneuvers.  Will you be able to solve every wood problem?  No.  Wood has a mind of its own, and even rough lumber that looks great in the lumber yard can act in all sorts of unpredictable ways once you start cutting into it.  But my personal experience has been that since I got the tracksaw about two years ago, I've had only a couple of instances of a problem that only a jointer could solve.  Keep in mind I am not a professional, and my furniture projects have tended to be on a smaller scale -- but since it's a question of limited resources, I would look to add a planer and a Domino well before a jointer.

Yes, but having a 12 inch jointer is worth every penny and a combo lets you get that capacity for less cost than a standalone machine. Of course if you have space and access to 3 phase then you can get into the real machines Darcy has for very good value...