No jointer or planer, so....

[Dwight]

Hi all,

I just finished reading wreckwriter's post about ripping and all the replies. It never ceases to impress me that there are so many folks here who chime in with such thoughtful, no-BS answers no matter what the question. I'm learning a lot just by lurking.

Now I'd like to ask for advice. I've just returned from a terrific lumberyard called Forest Products. They sell every type of wood I've seen mentioned here and elsewhere and provide excellent service with very high quality product. However, most of the wood is unsurfaced, so while I stood there coveting these beautiful pieces I knew I was in trouble. I have neither the budget nor the space for a jointer or planer. What is the best alternative method/tool for creating a planed workpiece that is squared? Sorry, I'm not sure I'm saying this correctly so I hope you get the idea.

Many thanks. Dwight

PS: Couldn't leave empty-handed. Picked up a very nice piece of S4S ipe for the fence of the DP table I'm building.

[sacherjj]

There are ways to joint large faces with the router, but they aren't fast at all. I doubt that you would do it for very many projects. It is pretty easy to joint edges with the router on a router table. I compared the price of S3S wood, versus rough and realized I would pay for the jointer and planer after a few projects.

[Ken Massingale]

Hi Dwight,
The lack of a jointer 'can' be worked around, but the planer is almost a have-to-have tool for surfacing rough stock. Jointing can be done well on a router table with an offset fence, by clamping the stock between 2 pieces of MDF and using a flush trim router bit and a handheld router, using a jig on a well tuned tablsaw,etc.
A planer will pay for itself fairly soon if you use a decent amount of wood, by buying rough stock instead of finished. I wish I could offer an alternative to a planer, but I don't know of anything that is practical.
ken

[Tom Miller]

One option is to have someone do the work for you. Did you ask if this particular lumberyard offers this service? Some (many?) do. That's the option which will get you on the road to WWing the quickest. In fact, you'll be ahead of the curve for shopping there, and not HD, or similar.

Mostly, you need them to face joint and plane. You can get to square from there by other means (table saw, router, hand plane). (Not that you couldn't flatten faces with a hand plane, but if you're new, that'd be a tall order.)

Regards,
Tom

[LarryG]

Tom took my first answer: find out if this lumber yard will convert this rough lumber to S2S, and if so for how much money.

My second answer is a variation of what Joe and Ken said, which is that if you're lucky the prices for this rough lumber will be sufficiently lower than ready-to-use S4S that you can soon save enough to pay for a jointer and planer.

[LCHIEN]

There are hand planes that used to be the only way it was done.

Keep an eye out for bargain alerts here and you can pick up planers and stuff at amazing discounts if you are alert.

[John Hunter]

The savings will pay for a planer in no time I would get one.

[vaking]

I consider the jointer a more essential tool than planer, I have a jointer and no planer.
When I need something planed - I have several options. None is heavy duty, if you need a lot - you will have to get a planer. But for small quantities here are some options:
A drill press planer (except I paid about $20 for mine on sale):
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3189
Planing with the router is described here (see photo10 at that site):
http://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/...ch/index3.html
And there are always hand planes.
I have used the drill press planer, it works but makes a lot of dust.
For my next big project I will make a setup for router. I have a router with built-in dust collection. As for now - I love my Stanley #6. I have no plans to buy a planer at the time.

[LJR]

Dwight, a board can surely be made smooth and square and straight with hand planes. An electric jointer and thickness planer make the job a lot easier and faster to do. However, if there's no room or money for power tools then hand tools will work wonderfully. Try a look at http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDo...DEX_How_To.htm

[Dwight]

Excellent response

Evening,

My thanks to all of you for sharing your opinions and resources. I feel more than a bit overwhelmed at the thought of the hand plane learning curve, although the idea of using a hand tool to thoughtfully take a rough sawn piece to finishing smoothness is inspiring and attractive.

I've spent some time researching planers across the internet and have decided that for what I want to do, within the time frames I have, that I'll most likely purchase the Ridgid TP1300LS planer. It currently runs $349, but HD is offering a $35 gift card rebate and 12 months same as cash, so it's doable. LOML has given the okay, too. I knew I married the right woman.

Again, thanks very much for all your advice and pointers.

Dwight

[just4funsies]

Any WW groups near where you live? Somebody there might help you out for a little butter-n-egg money, or a few nice pieces from your lumber stash...

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Dwight,
I think you are quite correct in your logic regarding the hand plane. Not only is a real skill that must be aquired (and I am not saying it is not worth learning), however look at the price of a good hand plane. Yikes. It's half was to a jointer.
IMHO, the best route for jointer subsitution is the table saw. Go to Rockler and look at part number 25725 Joint'R Clamp Kit. For $15 you can straighten darn near any 3 - 6 ft board you run across. You can do longer boards and up to 10 ft isn't too bad. Longer than that, then you need to enlist a second party for help.
You will have to get a thickness planer. Not a lot of getting around that. Don't go too cheap on the planer. Cheapest planer I have used that produces very nice results is the Dewalt 735. Rebates are often availiable and you can catch a good HD, Lowes or Amazon deal from time to time. I firmly believe that Sears will discontinue carrying this model, though they have only carried it a short time. For some reason none of the Sears stores committed any signage, shelf space, etc. In fact I saw the first price break at a local Sears indicating drastic future reductions and ensuing BT3 feeding frenzy.

[sacherjj]

I picked up the Ridgid Jointer and Planer on that 12 months same as cash deal. Both are fine machines. The planer works very well. The only thing I would suggest is to get the Herculift to mount on the planer stand. This makes it really easy to move around the shop. Those should be $29 at Home Depot, but are being cleared out.

[Russianwolf]

Type "jointer" and my handle into the advanced search and the topic "how useful is a jointer, really?" will come up where I've done some math. You will see from it how much it takes to recoup the cost of a jointer and planer. I think it was something like 350bf to pay for both. If you have the room, they do save a lot of time and eventually, money.

[Wood_workur]

If the lumber yard will surface wood for you at $.5 a bf, then it would take about 1000 bf to pay $400 for a cheap jointer and planer. If you are erious about woodworking, then a jointer and planer would be worthwile. But if you are a "I work 4 hours every other Saturday" kind of guy, a jointer and planer would not be so useful I you can have your lumber surfaced at the lumberyard.