From: bennett@adobe.com (Bennett Leeds)
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Subject: Re: re: Jointer vs Planer - Thanks
Date: 18 Dec 92 18:59:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: adobe.1992Dec18.185940.22129
Reply-To: bennett@adobe.com
Distribution: na
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

G. Paul Houtz writes
> ...  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.

It sounds like planer pay-back would definitely happen. Depending on your 
output and your planer, it could easily happen in a coupple years. The
wholesale outlet also probably sells rough lumber for about $0.20/ft less
than they sell the planed stuff, which would also contribute to pay-back.


> 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. 

A tablesaw or a table-mounted router can easily be configured with
an offset fence to work *as quickly* as an edge jointer. For tear-out prone
woods like birds eye maple, tablesaw jointing even has advantages over
a jointer.

Or, you can build a long sliding jig to rip boards straight. See Fine
Homebuilding #53 for a picture and description of this simple, inexpensive
jig. If you're a perfectionist, after tablesaw ripping a single pass with 
a hand plane should give you a great edge an order of magnitude faster than
the 20 mintues you quoted.


> 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.  

But, by your own statements, you're only doing this 1% of the time.


> 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. 

And without the planer, how would you then get the board to a uniform 
thickness, which is also important for drawers that fit, cleaner joints
and angles, etc.  You'd face-joint one side, and then what?  Face joint
the other? That'll give you two straight, but nonparallel faces - not
too easy to work with, and of doubtful aesthetic appeal.


> 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.

You're trying to have it both ways here. If you let go of the planer, you
remove the asset of "face jointing before planing," since you can no longer
thickness plane.  And you've complained about the 1/2" stock that you
buy not being really straight, because commercially noone face joints
before thickness planing.


To my way of thinking, it's easier to make a jig to adapt another machine
to perform jointing tasks than it is to adapt another machine to perform
thickness planing tasks. That's my bottom line on this.


Yes, you can adapt a jointer to perform thickness planing by installing
a strong spring on a lowered infeed table to push the wood up against a
moveable bed that's suspended above the cutterhead. I claim this won't
work well for heavy stock, that it'll be difficult to make an accurately
moveable bed that's also strong and also parallel to the cutterhead
throughout it's travel range, that feeding the wood at a constant rate
is difficult, and that you'll be limited to the width of your jointer,
which is probably about half of your planer's width.

And yes, if you place a router sled jig on a flat surface it too can be 
used to thickness stock, but it can more easily be used to face joint stock
that you then feed into your planer. Remember, if you have a planer your
face jointing doesn't need to be pretty - it just needs to make one face
flat enough for the planer's bed to reference against. You then flip the
board to clean up the reference face. Without the planer, your face jointing 
needs to produce a good enough face to be cleanupable by hand.

Bennett Leeds
bennett@adobe.com