Jointer concepts....

[Chicirda]

I am soon going to purchase a jointer. I have been researching the proper way to use the tool to square up a board. It seems that you square up two sides, then take it to the planer and/or table saw.

Questions:

1. Why can't you simply run all 4 sides over the jointer?

2. If you do not have a planer or a terribly reliable table saw fence, what would you recommend a for my next stop after the jointer?

TIM

[TheFatBaron]

To point 1, the jointer will give you flat surfaces, and a 90° corner. However, there is no guarantee that your opposite faces will be parallel - meaning, you could get a taper in both thickness and width, through no fault of your jointer.

 

Otherwise... buy a hand plane?

[Janello]

You're better off getting a planer first. Establish a full cut on one side (or at least enough to prevent the board from rocking) then flipping your boards each pass. Then use a sled at the table saw to joint an edge. So long as you are starting out with stock that isn't cupped horribly it will work.  I got away with that process for a while before I got a jointer. As for an unreliable fence, that issue needs to be addressed no matter what you buy, first. You'll get no where with that issue, and most likely is just a matter of tuning and proper set up..

[shaneymack]

Having a jointer without a planer doesnt make a lot of sense. If you only have money for one of them right now get the planer first and follow janellos advice. But you should eventually get a jointer as its key for good square, flat stock.

If your table saw fence is not reliable, i would start there for the next purchase. Either an after market bisemeyer style fence or a new saw altogether. Without a reliable table saw everything you do will be jacked up.

[PeteJr]

I purchased a small planer first.  Then before I bought jointer I would have my hardwood supplier joint one edge of each board.  He had an industrial jointer and for a modest charge I had boards I could work with.

[Beechwood Chip]

Surfaces can be flat but not parallel, like two adjacent sides of a box.  A jointer makes surfaces flat but not parallel.

 

Surfaces can be parallel but not flat, like the inside and outside surfaces of a cylindrical pipe.  A planer makes surfaces parallel but not flat.

 

If you were making a post with a square cross section, you could probably get close with just a jointer.  Flatten one face, then register off that face to flatten the adjacent faces at 90 degrees.  Finally, flatten the remaining face at 90 degrees and you have a square.

 

But, you can't do that for "boards" because the small edge dimension is not large enough to act as a reference for the large face dimension.  The 6" face can be used to cut a 1" edge at 90, but the 1" edge doesn't provide a stable enough reference to cut a 6" face at 90.

[Stevenn77]

I think everyone one here is giving great advice. Go with a planer and a table saw fence upgrade first. I would get a square tube fence, like a bisemeyer style and a decent planner. I love my jointer, but it would be a ineffective tool without a proper Tablesaw setup and planer

[Stobes21]

So the jointer, as others here have expressed, basically does two things: gets one face of a board flat, and then gets one edge flat/straight and square to that face. So if you follow the solid advice from the others here and get a planer and a reliable tablesaw fence, you'll still need to do those things. Here's how:

Face: if the board doesn't have any twist or bow but is just cupped, run the cup side down through your planer until you get a completely clean opposite face. If the board is rough sawn this should be easily apparent. If it's already been surfaced then scribble full width lines all down the face to be planed with a pencil to verify your progress. Plane until clean, then flip and repeat. End result should be faces that are flat and parallel.

If the board has twist or bow you'll need a planer sled. This is basically just a flat piece of plywood that you attach your board to. Hot glue works well. Just attach the board to your sled and make sure it can't rock or otherwise move relative to the sled. Plane until you have a flat face, then pull it off the sled and flip and run with your newly flattened side down. The idea here is the planer registers flat and parallel off its bed so the sled provides a flat reference for you.

Edge: you'll want to build an edge jointing/tapering jig. This is just a long piece of plywood or MDF (as long or longer than the piece you need to edge joint) with some toggle clamps on it. Steve Ramsey has a good video on how to make one of these. Clamp the board to the jig such that one edge hangs off all the way down. Set your fence to take the smallest cut possible while cutting the edge the entire length of the board. Make sure your blade is perfectly square to the table and then run it through. That freshly cut edge should then be flat/straight and a perfect 90* to the faces. The idea here is the fence side of the jig is straight and runs along the fence giving you an equally straight cut on the opposite side. So you can take a board without a straight edge and give it one by referencing off of a known straight edge: your jig. And your cut will be 90* because the blade is square to the table and you'll run your flat face against that table, thus ensuring a square edge. Also, this jig can do double duty as a tapering jig should you need that function at some point.

Note: you can also do all of the above with a hand plane, but since this is in the power tool section I'll leave that alone.

[Pete Staehling]

Having a jointer without a planer doesnt make a lot of sense.

 

I think it depends on your work and what other tools you use.  Personally I have way more need for a jointer than a planer.  You need to understand what each does and then get the one (or both) that suits what you need to do.

 

Since most of my work uses  thin re-sawn wood, mostly stuff in the 0.090" -  0.125" range, I get along fine without a planer.  I do need to start with at least 1 flat surface.  I then re-saw and finish up on a thickness sander.  With a decent job on the re-sawing followed by a few passes through the thickness sander I wind up with nice clean, flat, parallel faced pieces.

 

At the present time I don't have a jointer or a planer.  Depending on where I get my wood I often have the yard joint one side for me.  Otherwise I use a hand plane and on wide faces clean it up on the thickness sander.  I would find a jointer very helpful and plan to add one in the future, but for the work I currently do the planer would be less used and is much more easily done without.

 

My work is mostly building mountain dulcimers.  Depending on what you build and how, a planer may very well be more useful, but I do not find that to be the case for my work.  I am sure what I do is not the norm and in most cases the planer comes first, but my point is that it isn't a slam dunk in all cases.

[shaneymack]

I think it depends on your work and what other tools you use. Personally I have way more need for a jointer than a planer. You need to understand what each does and then get the one (or both) that suits what you need to do.

Since most of my work uses thin re-sawn wood, mostly stuff in the 0.090" - 0.125" range, I get along fine without a planer. I do need to start with at least 1 flat surface. I then re-saw and finish up on a thickness sander. With a decent job on the re-sawing followed by a few passes through the thickness sander I wind up with nice clean, flat, parallel faced pieces.

At the present time I don't have a jointer or a planer. Depending on where I get my wood I often have the yard joint one side for me. Otherwise I use a hand plane and on wide faces clean it up on the thickness sander. I would find a jointer very helpful and plan to add one in the future, but for the work I currently do the planer would be less used and is much more easily done without.

My work is mostly building mountain dulcimers. Depending on what you build and how, a planer may very well be more useful, but I do not find that to be the case for my work. I am sure what I do is not the norm and in most cases the planer comes first, but my point is that it isn't a slam dunk in all cases.

My response was to the op and im not sure your situation and his are the same.....

[Pete Staehling]

My response was to the op and im not sure your situation and his are the same.....

 

Your response was probably on target for most folks and most likely the OPs and my situation are not the same.  I merely wanted to point out that there are exceptions and that you need to consider the work you will be doing.  It is similar to the choice of whether to buy a bandsaw or a table saw first.  Most people will be better off with the table saw first, but again it just isn't a slam dunk in all cases.