Joiner or Planer

[BiscuitSlayer]

One of my next big powertool purchases is going to be either a joiner or a planer. Since I can't buy both at the same time I will have to settle for one. If you guys had to pick between one or the other, wich one would you choose?

Hopefully a decent bandsaw is in my future as well. I was looking at a Hitachi bandsaw at Lowes. Anyone have any experience with them? Once again, it fits my budget. With all of the other projects and intrests that I have, I just don't make enough money these days to buy the things I want. :)

[old_guy]

I suspect that everyone who responds to your post will have a different answer.

For many years I enjoyed woodworking without owning any of the tools you are considering. That's because I generally built things that only used reasonably flat 3/4" material that I could find at the nearby lumber yard.

Eventually I decided it might be fun to build something that requires curves -- so I got a small (10") bandsaw. Then I thought it might be nice to build things with thicknesses other than 3/4" -- so I got a planner. Next I decided that the 10" bandsaw had too little capacity, so I ungraded to a 14" one.

Thus far I've never felt a compelling need to invest in a jointer. A decent 6" one is going to cost you $600 and an 8" one about a grand. I have always been able to work around getting one ( e.g buy flat boards, and use my router for edge jointing). Plus jointers can be very ornery to keep working properly.

The point I'm trying to make is that with a limited budget, let the type of work you'd like to do dictate what your next tool will be. And don't forget -- some incredibly beautiful woodworking was done before electricity was even discovered!

[aschueler]

I just recently added a planer to my jointer, but I was asking myself the same question back in December.

I got the jointer first, mainly because I needed it to square wood. I was doing reasonably well joining with a good blade on my table saw and a simple jig I found in a woodworking magazine. It is much, much easier and quicker to use a jointer for joining though.

Anyway, for several months I was working with a jointer only, and used it to square boards up. The thing that I ran into was that the jointer, of course, made them all different thicknesses according to how much wood I needed to remove. Generally it wasn't a huge difference, but it was certainly annoying.

The planer makes them all line up perfectly which is really cool. If I had reasonably flat boards, I could see using a planer only, but I am not quite good enough to figure out how to build stuff well with boards that are even slightly out of square. Also, it seems like all the wood I get is fairly warped, whether from bad luck of because of the hot, humid climate and crazy fluctuations that Florida tends to get.

Still, I am glad I got the jointer first.

[Don]

Old Guy hits the mark. You really need to look at what type of work you'll be doing and what the condition of the lumber is going to be.

Myself, I do a lot of stuff - I don't have either one in my shop. But I do have a 20" bandsaw that I'd be lost without.

You can do a lot of woodworking without a jointer, but if you want or need thinner lumber and you're starting with dressed lumber you'll need a planer. If your needs are hobby in nature you can get both at Harbor Freight for a few hundred bucks. I'm one of those guys that says infrequently used tools/machines don't have to be the best out there, I'd rather have more tools/machines than have all my money tied up in just a couple of real expensive ones.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Don

[Danno30008]

Good evening..
Welcome to the group and it is nice to see some activity!

I was in your spot about six months ago, asked the same question and got some great answers. I think the one that helped me the most was when I was asked "What do you want to build?" Well. I am starting out kinda easy with some picture frames and cutting boards.
I like the jointer because I can clean up the edges before gluing and I get real nice tight joint lines. I LOVE the planner because it makes it a ton easier to clean up the cutting boards.. then all they require is sanding and finishing.
I also worked Craigs List hard, looked every day until I found what I was looking for. It took about a month for both items but I saved a ton of money and got like new equipment.
I understand what Don said because these two pieces of equipment are sitting in the corner of my shop on the rolling stand I made for them and get used only a few minutes at a time!
Finally, there is a Harbor Freight in Kennesaw on Bells Ferry Road right of 575.. should be a short jump for you if you want to check out their stuff. Watch for their sales as you can save an easy $100 on machinery.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Take care
Dan

[BiscuitSlayer]

Thanks a lot for your input guys. Your views make a lot of sense to me. I am good at extrapolating the information that I find valuable, and that is why I like to pose general questions sometimes.

One of the main ideas that I have been thinking about is squaring up and getting nice clean edges and sides on yellow pine. I have a great frame design for aqarium stands using yellow pine as a frame and it would be nice to have clean edges and somewhat flat boards to work with. I do not envision myself using these tools all of the time, but it would be nice to have them for the few minitues when I want to use them.


Finally, there is a Harbor Freight in Kennesaw on Bells Ferry Road right of 575.. should be a short jump for you if you want to check out their stuff. Watch for their sales as you can save an easy $100 on machinery.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.


Dan -

You wouldn't believe how close to me that is. I knew there was a Harbor Freight (down) there, but I haven't stopped in yet. I actually checked out the Rockler store over on Roswell Rd. in Sandy Springs last week. That was definatly one of the coolest stores I have ever been in. If you are looking for something unique and/or hard to find, that is the place to go. I picked up a nice set of hand scrapers for $13.

If you haven't heard of them yet (yeah right!) the site is:

http://www.rockler.com