Newsgroups: rec.woodworking


I have to add more to this.

I bought the planer first.   I bought it mainly because I wanted 1/2" 
wood on demand, or custom thickness wood, rather than working with stock
thicknesses at a premium price.   At the rate I am going, it may take 
several years to pay for the planer, but it may happen.

The local retail outlet sells 1/2" stock for a little more than the 4/4
stock, and for quite a bit more than the local wholesale outfit sells 4/4
stock.   Like twice as much per board foot, and they also charge more for
thicker boards.  The wholesale outfit does not charge more for thicker
boards.  But they charge a $50 fee to plane down 200 board feet to 1/2 inch.

I was lucky that the wholesale outfit I buy from sells only jointed stock
in this size.  This means that wood faces are mainly flat and mainly 
parallel.   As long as I bought unwarped stock and kept an eye on what I
was doing, I could plane faces that were reasonably parallel without a 
jointer.   (I didn't know this at the time).

I was happy.

Then I started trying to edgeglue harwood stock (maple as it turns out).
First attempt was with two boards straight off the tablesaw.   Disaster.
You could easily see the line.

Then I got out my Stanley #5 and planed the edges of the next set.  
After edge gluing, it looks real nice.  Took about 20 minutes to get it
perfect.   Too much time, friends.   I usually get about 4 hours a week
to work.  I can't spend 20 minutes on every joint in every panel.  If I 
have large panels, I could be spending an hour or two just planing the 
panels for edge gluing.

Then I bought my jointer.

After tuning the jointer, I take a piece of maple, set the depth to ~1/32, and
run the edge through the jointer.  It takes 5 seconds.  SECONDS.  Edge glue
the pieces, and the results are perfect.  Unless you can see where the grain
changes direction, you CAN'T see the joint.

That's why it's called a jointer.

Then there were the boxes I made with finger joints.  There was a little
tearout in the joints, and it was visible after sanding the stubs off.  
I tried belt sanding.  What a chore, and the side of the box isn't flat.

Planing was a complete joke.  It just caused more tearout.

Then, I laid the box on it's side and passed it slowly through the jointer,
slowing WAY down at the very end.

Perfect results.  The little tearout marks were gone, as were all the sanding
scratches and low spots.   I didn't even scrape it, just put the finish on it.

I then used the jointer to rabbit a groove in the back of the box and the top
to accommodate the piano-style hinge I installed.  Perfect results.

Now, before I put anything up against my table saw rip fence or miter guage,  
I joint the edge first.  Gives me perfectly reliable results.

My planer sits underneath my bench 99 percent of the time.   I use my jointer
every day, as much as I use my table saw.

Lately I have started leveling the faces of lumber before I run it through
the planer.   I now notice that my "flat" lumber I was buying from the 
wholesaler just isn't quite flat.   The difference shows up in the end result.
Drawers that assemble easier and fit better, cleaner joints and angles, 
more reliable dimensions, etc.   

Which one should a person buy first?   Let me ask the question differently:
If you were going to take one of these machines away from me, which one 
would I be more willing to part with?   

I would keep the jointer and let go of the planer.   The planer is nice, but
I could live with higher priced 1/2 inch stock.   The jointer serves me far
too well for me to let go of it.

gph

Newsgroups: rec.woodworking