Thickness Planer or Jointer– Which do you Need?
Do you need a jointer or a thickness planer
— BOTH! But here is some information that might help to determine which to get first.
A jointer basically flattens and squares lumber stock edges prior to joining them to each other. It has a rotating set of blades, usually two or three, that are placed in a feed bed across which a piece of wood is pushed in order to shave off a portion and thus flattening it. The feed bed is comprised of an in-feed and an out-feed table. Generally the in-feed table is adjustable up or down, determining the amount of stock removed. The out-feed table is usually aligned with the cutter blades and supports the newly sized wood piece as it passes over the blades. Although, some models allow you to move each feed table independently. Much like a table saw, the jointer has a fence that is used to assist in squaring the edge.
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When purchasing a jointer pick the biggest you can afford, or that will fit in your shop space. You can find them in the four to six inch range or eight inches up to approximately 16 inches in more industrial sized machines. If you do a lot of woodworking, or will do so in the foreseeable future, you should consider getting a jointer in the 8-12 inch range. The six inch machines work great but you may be looking to upgrade soon if you use the jointer all the time.
There is great debate when it comes to whether you should get a thickness planer or a jointer first. There seem to be numerous reasons that support both sides, so really it just comes down to a few general things- what types of projects do you work on, what is your budget for the tool, can you achieve a sufficiently similar result some other way, and perhaps how much space do you have in your shop.
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Jointers definitely have their place in a workshop, however if you have a small home shop or are building out on a jobsite then the planer is probably the tool to purchase first. Following are some reasons why this seems to be true. The cost of a thickness planer tends to be less than a jointer, so this is the favorable way to go if you are on a budget. The portable planer is, well, portable. You can move it around the shop pretty easily in most cases (despite the 60-90 lbs) and is definitely easier to move out and around a job site. It is more compact and a little less awkward to move than a jointer. Also, it is relatively easy to make or purchase a jig that will allow you to do sufficient jointer functions on the thickness planer, but the reverse is not true. You really cannot thickness a board on a jointer as easily as you can on the thickness planer.
One set of aspects where a jointer exceeds the planer is that it can do rabbet joints as well as bevels/chamfers for miter conditions. However, a jig can be used to do bevels on a thickness planer and the rabbet and chamfer are easily done with other tools like routers. Because it can be done similarly (maybe not as exact), this aspect is not heavily weighted in considering which tool to buy first.
In the end, most agree that eventually if you are doing an abundance of fine woodworking, you will want both a thickness planer and a jointers
Here is a video illustrating the use of a jointer.
