So, I’ve read the articles in the special Power Tool edition about milling rough wood, and the proper use of a jointer and planer.
Here’s the thing, though: Most of the rough wood I look at is over 8″ wide, and I’ve never seen a jointer over 8″ (I know there are are pro versions up to 12″), and the beds are rarely very long (infeed and outfeed tables less than 48″), which limits the effectiveness at removing bows and twists.
My planer is 15″, almost twice as wide as any jointer I’m likely to see. In high school shop class, we had 8″ jointers, and a honking planer. I don’t remember ever using a jointer except on the adge of a board (though that was a long time ago).
What am I missing?
Replies
P:
I agree with you. It does not make logical sense that planers are about twice as wide as a jointer. I think (and I could be off base here) it is not about logical sense. It is about dollars and cents. A large jointer with a 12" - 15" bed would cost a mint. All that cast Iron would not make it very popular with many woodworkers-- it would cost a small fortune. Plus it would consume huge amounts of space.
Just my off the cuff thoughts. Still--- it sucks only having a 6" jointer and a 13" planer.
Thanks,
Marko
Thank you,
The Great Marko
You're right. I do a lot of tabletops using wide planks, so years ago I bought an really old jointer, 24" wide, made in Germany. Replaced the motor, bearings, etc. and it has been doing the job for me for 25 years now. It weighs about 1500 lbs, but so what? My planer (which I bought new) is 20", so together they can handle most things. A jointer is a very simple machine, mechanically speaking, and the old cast iron ones usually just need TLC to get them tuned up. It makes sense to me to spend the money on a big one instead of a narrow new one.
DR
Holey smokes! 24" planer.
I guess wht I was saying is: we have to work with rough wood > 8" wide and > 4' long.
Very few have access to a jointer > 8" (most have 6") with infeed and outfeed < 4'
And yet the wood gets flat.
Do you folk mostly rip, say 12" stock to 6" widths and < 4' lengths? It doesn't seem likely to me.
Do you folk mostly rip, say 12" stock to 6" widths and < 4' lengths? It doesn't seem likely to me.
good lord nooooooo... hand plane them. Even if it's only the one side. Doesn't take too long to get up to speed with technique and your collection of planes needn't be all that big either. What they lack in speed they more than make up for with capacity and finish quality...
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Gittawae wi ye ,laddae. Gaw bak the noo an read Rings werreds agin-a true man of superb calibre indeed. I'd like tae gi him a medal.
g'wa n read fit....??????
yer haverin loon... ye been suppin the funny water or somethin...???Mike Wallace
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Mike,
Have you read Hammer's posts starting with #22710- you will find them very interesting-gentlemen like him should be well preserved.
aye... I read them a while back... he's a fine wordsmith...Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Piccioni, threads like this really point up the differences between the professionals and the amateurs. Small scale machinery, or absence of it entirely, is the norm for most participants in this forum-- it's user base is mostly amateur.
Overhand surface planers (jointers) with a capacity between 400mm and 600 mm (16- 24") are common in industry-- I've never used a surface planer with less than 200mm capacity, and that was a rarity.
If industry was restricted only to the lightweight machinery used by most amateurs it wouldn't be able to cope for the most part. So, what's normal in one sector is unusual in another.
For the amateur the answer is to cope with the equipment you have, and oddly enough the same motto applies to the professionals. If you can't afford to buy a wide surface planer, or don't have the space for one, or can't justify the expense due to lack of throughput, then you have to deal with those boards wider than you machine capacity somehow.
A common solution is to resort to hand tools for the one-off problem item. It might be to dig out the hand planes for a job. Another solution might be to rip the boards into widths your machines can handle and rejoin. Others get inventive with removing guards and passing boards over the surface planer switching the direction of feed 180° as detailed by one poster earlier in this thread. (I can't say I approve of that technique due to the subversion of the safety features, but that's not up for discussion here.) Off the top of my head the last workable solution is to build sleds that pass under the thicknesser where the piece to be flattened is supported to produce a flat face.
In the long run almost none of the methods detailed in the previous paragraph can be described as particularly efficient. If you need to handle these difficulties on a regular basis and speed matters then that's the time to consider upgrading to a more efficient wood handling method, i.e., a bigger capacity surface planer (jointer) but you really need to justify the expense. This mostly applies, but of course there are always people out there that have no need to justify the expense because they're rich enough to buy what they want, and to hell with the cost. Slainte.RJFurniture
What am I missing?..
I'm in the same boat... I have just a 6 inch jointer and a 13 inch planer..
Could be the operator (sure it is) but, I find it much easier to throw the stick through the planner than trying to flatten the face of a stick on my jointer..
I NAVE tried many times on the jointer but never seem to get it right...
I do ok if I am trying to get a taper using the jointer but for some reason I never got the hang of 'nice and flat face'! Geeee...
I have a 6" jointer and here is how I joint boards wider than 6"
Method 1 - You need to remove the blade guard. Run the board through once as usual then the board around so the fresh half is now going through the blade and the just jointed side is going outboard where the blade guard normally is. I find that if I put a shim where the blade guard was it helps keep the board flat going through the blade.
Method 2 - Again, you need to remove the blade guard. Run the board through the jointer. Then get a good flat piece of 3/4" plywood, put the freshly jointed face against the plywood with the unjointed half not in contact with the plywood. Run this through your 13" planer with the completetly unjointed side up. The planer will create the perfectly parallel face and then with the board only run the other side through. This would be easier too explain with diagrams but this is my first post and I don't see a way to do that.
John
"what am I missing?" ----why, a SURFACER ofcourse! Sorry mate, couldn't resist that.
And now (we) see the difference between a Jointer and a Surfacer....
How about getting an oldiebiggie/second hand/rebuiltindustrial item? Going on posts I have seen in this forum this is a good way to go if you are interested and able.
Does your supplier have the tools to do the job for you? For stock larger than the capacity of my 6" jointer I will, for a small fee, have the timber surfaced on 2 sides. Just a hobbyist here, but for me, I doubt the added cost of buying surfaced timber will ever add up to the cost of a 12-24" jointer. Lots safer, too.
Onward through the fog.
Chuck Whitney
What makes the most sense is a European combination jointer / planer where the widths are the same and consumes about the same amount of floorspace as a jointer only. Downsides are the cost, the much different blade guard and a long reach over to the fence. To avoid the long reach over the table, you could move the fence closer but then the blade guard sticks out too far. Either way it is a long reach if you go larger than 12".
Steve
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