RustyW

I own the Delta that Lowes sells for about $240. Yes it is decent. I've never used the DeWalt but I have heard that its better. It probably has less snipe than the Delta but there are some tricks to keep that to a minimum.

My TS with a Freud blade gives me a really smooth cut. But for now when I need a jointer I just use my router table with a shim behind the outfeed fence.

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challagan

I have gone thru this same process Reikimaster. Still thinking about it. I had a couple bench top jointers and the only decent ones are are the ones with cast iron fences and table. I have had 2 of the aluminum fence ones and there was no way they could be adjusted square. Even had a tech come out on the sears one with a new fence and he could not do it. So they got it back. I found the Delta bench top to be no better and it was twisted. I returned it and gave up on them. Both would flatten a face, the fences were the problems. Some day maybe someone will build a decent benchtop jointer. The Palmagren is one of the few out there right now but I hesitate to call it a benchtop at 100 lbs. and it is a 6 1/8 jointer and gets some good reviews.

I am looking at the Ridgid Jointer and Planer from Home Depot The planer gives virtually snipe free cuts and has the features of a 500. planer. There was a review recently of these in a recent magazine. For 500 and up planers. the new Craftsman and the Dewalt tied for the editors pick. Great stuff coming from Craftsman these days! I have gone back and forth on this for the last 15 years on which to get. I have gotten along without them for years. I now concentrate on smaller items such as boxes and clocks. I can joint an edge on the router table and I buy reasonably flat stock from a good reliable sources. Since I do mostly smallish items, thickness of stock becomes my main focus ... and milling down thicker stock to thinner stock for box work will take care of a lot of my needs. It is also possible to flatten slightly bowed and crooked stock on a planer with a sled I have been told and have found several jigs on the web to do so.

At this time I am leaning towards a planer for myself. If I do go this route I do want to get a jointer in the future... but if I do so it will require further shop remodels. Nothing is better than the dedicated tool to do the job right and quickly, but you can find other ways with in a budget. I also plan to learn how to flatten stock the old fashioned way.... with hand planes and scrapers. If I can invest in some decent planes and learn how to use them properly, I may never need a jointer for my box work. We will see.

Woodworking is an adventure.. enjoy it which ever route you go!

Corey

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curiousgeorge

I have the Ridgid 6" jointer (an excellent machine) and the DeWalt 735 planer (also an excellent machine and well worth the little extra you pay).

I would suggest getting a jointer first. A planer is useless for working with cupped wood.

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stutsmd

I had a jointer long before I purchased a planer and the jointer still gets the most work. Both are nice but you'll find the jointer most useful early on. Whichever jointer you choose, I would recommend the one with the longest table your budget allows.

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harrysin

I had a 6" jointer for close to 20 years before buying a Delta planer and it's a case of what you've never had you never miss,BUT, once you have had BOTH, it's impossible to manage without.
Regarding the need to use the jointer after the saw, I confess to having joined boards straight off the saw, providing that constant feed pressure was applied for the complete cut, however, as Bj. has said, the jointer IS the way to go with equipment normally found in the amateurs shop. With due respect to the "experts", I've been to many, many demonstrations given by such people and the errors that I've seen when being on the front row would amaze those of you who take everything that these "professionals" say as Gospel should re-assess their own work, it's probably far superior to what they believe!

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Joe Lyddon

There is no question that BOTH would be NICE to have.

The question is "Which one to get FIRST".

To boil it down to simple facts:
If you buy rough-cut lumber, rough all the way around, the Jointer should be First.

If you get jointed & planed lumber, where you have a good starting point where a router or TS can be used for jointing, one can "Get by" by getting the Thickness Planer First.

The overall objective is to get BOTH of them... eventually...

In my case, I could use a thickness planer more than a jointer.

After taking a planed board and resawing a slice from it, the thickness planer is ideal for getting the sawn side nice and smooth and coplanar with the opposite side. If you plan on doing ANY resawing with a bandsaw (or table saw), the thickness planer is far more important.

So, what kind of lumber do you get?

reikimaster

See that's part of why I've been looking into all of this. I just recently did a small project for my wife. It was one of those things for the top of your desk that holds folders up on edge. Simple. I went to Lowes and bought 1/2" maple and 1/4" maple, S4S, and paid out the butt for it. AND had to pick through it to get pieces as straight as I could get that weren't cupped.

There are several guys within easy driving distance from me that operate small saw mills and sell off rough cut cherry, ash, maple, hemlock, beech, all kinds of stuff at really good prices. I can't really use it because I've got no way to prepare it. The boards typically range from 3 to 8 inches wide.

I've got a friend that actually has some kind of sled that he passes through his planer when he has a piece that's twisted. He says that it has to be worth the effort...the wood has to be nice... because it takes a while to get a flat side, be he swears by it. He made it. It uses thin wedges or shims. Once one side is flat, he can make the other side parallel (coplanar, I think he calls it). He's also showed me how he takes a twisted wreck and uses his hand planes on it to get it roughed flat and then uses the sled. I only mention all of this because I've never seen anyone else pass anything through their planer other than the board itself. Using the sled he says you really CAN occasionally make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

He also uses a hand jointer plane for edge joining. OR he uses his router with a jointing fence. He has an 8" jointer and he uses that on occasion. He says he's much more comfortable using the hand plane for edge joining and he never runs a board face on his jointer.

The more I look into this, the more I realize that there are lots of differing opinions from very credible people. It's like... "How do you WORK?" and then you have to decide what you need based on that.

I *want* both. The wood I have currently to work with is pretty flat, but rough. I'm actually leaning towards the planer at this point. But I'm still not totally decided.

bobj3

Hi reikimaster

Sounds like you need both,, if you get your sharp pencil out you can get both for almost the same price as a jointer...it sounds like you don't need the high end ones just something you can use in the home shop..

You can find good used ones on line (NET) that will save you big bucks..
Craigslist is a good place to start with.. shipping charge can kill a good deal so you need to find them in your town...with ▼

http://www.craigslist.org/about/cities.html

====
http://denver.craigslist.org/tls/419810409.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/tls/431108261.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/tls/400051130.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/search/...min&maxAsk=max
http://denver.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=jointer

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Joe Lyddon

OK...

HD & Lowes is NOT the place to buy good woodworking wood... you will not find it there!

Find a local good lumber or "wood products" store... you'd be surprised what they have and the quality they have FOR SUBSTANCIALLY CHEAPER PRICES THAN THE BORG's.

I will NEVER buy wood, except for maybe construction grade, at the BORG's ever again.

Yes, there are various Jigs that can be used with a thickness planer to handle just about any problem you may have with the wood.

Yes, hand tools can be used... I thought we were talking about power tools.

An easy way to join two pieces of wood is...
Layout the pieces you want, say for a table top...
Mark the Top sides for "Top".
Take two boards at a time, folding them upward so that the joining edges will be pointing UP.
Place them in a wood vice and using a Jointer hand plane, #5-7 I think, plane both edges at the same time. They MUST match.
Lay them back onto the layout table... pickup the next two boards, one you just did plus the next one, and fold them upward the same way... plane them the same way until all done.

Now, you should be able glue the panel.

If you want to save the most on lumber, get it from the Mills in your area... BUT, you must have to be able flatten one side, using a jigged planer or jointer then get the other side coplanar with it with a thickness planer.

If you get S3S lumber from a genuine hardwood, woodworking products supply store, it will cost more than the mills... but you can get started using it faster.

I don't have the mills around me like you do... I have a friend who will thickness plane for me... I build up a bunch and do it in one visit... I am not in much of a rush to get anything done... I piddle / paddle any way I want when I want when I feel like doing it.

Maybe you have a source where you could get wood planed... even for a price? Might still be cheaper than buying equipment and S3S S4S wood... (??)

For me, I would get the planer first...

Oh... you can SEE the grain, etc. of S3S lumber easier than you can SEE it on really rough cut wood. Another thing to think about.

OK... there you have more 'food for thought'.

Mike

This is something that will be debated until people are blue in the face. In a perfect world we would all get a joiner and then a thickness planer in that order. We know you have to have a good clean and square edge to start from. But what about in the real world? A thickness planer will make a surface match it's opposite surface. If there is a wavy surface on one side it will be duplicated on the other. Odds are you could live with the resulting surface. It really comes into play when panels must be an exact match such as for a dresser or china hutch. For many projects a few passes through a planer will give you wood you can work with.

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