how useful is a jointer, really?

[tribalwind]

getting back into my shop last night from home depot with my new ridgid spindle/belt sander, i started scoping out a place to put it..hmmm getting awfully tight in here!

well theres the junky bandsaw spot,,but thats reserved for its inevitable replacement,a rikon 18"er ... theres that little mobile cabinet that i normally toss my scrollsaw on,but i really wanna make a beter scroll station there...

my eyes turned towards an old delta 6" jointer my uncle gave me,takin up a good sized prescious footprintagainst a wall....the bed/fence kinda rusty from lack of use,power cord wrapped around it... i mustve used it maybe 5,6 times since taking it 3 years ago!!.seems i get a good enough edge just using my bt3 or handheld power jointer. for those special needs,like very wavy edges etc,i use the straight edge jig with the hold-down clamps method...
in shopnotes #1 i found another way for using the table saw as a jointer,(butt the blade into scraficial fence and have a masonite piece behind center of blade as an "outfeed table") which seems to cover all my jointing needs just fine...

soooo, why'm i still hangin onto this thing? is it just for heavy thick stock jointing?seems i could still do this on the bt3 to a reasonable degree, and i rarely deal with monster timbers!

its a real nice machine and worked great teh few times i used it,but im finding it hard to justify something that i use twice a year

[dedaddy]

I could not work without my jointer and planer. I always true up my stock using the jointer first to get two adjacent surfaces flat and square. Then the planer makes the two big surfaces parallel. I could not do this on a table saw for any board larger than about 2 or 3 inches wide. I then use the table saw to make to cut the board to width.

Almost every board has some warp, bend, cup, twist when I get it. I store the board in my shop for a few days to get it acclimated and then evaluate it for flatness. If you work with rough lumber, a jointer and planer are required.

[jnesmith]

How are you currently face-jointing your stock?

[tribalwind]

im not really making furniture/cabinetry so i havent had much need to face joint anything,
but on that note, could i make a sled for my 12-1/2" thickness planer out of 3/4" phenolic and feed pieces through on that to make a flat face?

for small stuff i(flute blanks) just use my tablesaw,its going to be round eventually anyway

[onedash]

I am starting a desk and this is the first time ive used oak (1$bf cheaper than lyptus) and cutting it on the table saw was **** if I didnt joint it and plane it first. It was much better to saw after I jointed and planed it. I do hate jointing the face of boards. Dont know if my technique is bad or what. I had a board about 4 feet long,8 inches wide give or take and could not get the edges tight for anything on the jointer. Never had this problem with lyptus, well if I did I always got it flat after an extra pass or two with oak i made I dont know how many passes and finally sawed it in half and made 2 2 foot pieces. Its going to be 4 eventually but for glue up I thought one would be the easiest and cut into 4 pieces.
for the smaller pieces I wanted to cut em first then joint em plane em since some were 8" wide.
Andhow on one of the pieces I kept it 8" and it had a little curve in it or maybe twist since mostly on one end and ran it through the planer. Keeping the depth the same I ran it through again and it removed some more material. knocekd it donw a half turn two more times. The last half turn I flipped it and ran it through twice.
It seems that maybe there is less pressure on the second run and its pushing it less and it came out almost completely flat. A lot better than before I planed it. It wasn't that bad to begin with so I wasn't working maginc or anything but does that theory sound right? The second pass at the same depth works it like the surface on a jointer?
Maybe not but the results tend to make me think so.

[brumere]

To me the jointer is my second most used piece of equiptment in the shop behind my table saw. I do buy mostly 4/4 wood and prepare it myself.

[John Hunter]

I work with a lot of rough sawn lumber and could not get by without mine.

[maxparot]

I use a lot of reclaimed lumber such as palets and Lumberliquidator packs the jointer is a must.

[jnesmith]

im not really making furniture/cabinetry so i havent had much need to face joint anything,
but on that note, could i make a sled for my 12-1/2" thickness planer out of 3/4" phenolic and feed pieces through on that to make a flat face?

for small stuff i(flute blanks) just use my tablesaw,its going to be round eventually anyway

It is possible to face joint using a sled and your planer. I used to do it before I bought a jointer. You have to do something to prevent the planer rollers from pressing the stock down flat to the sled, such as shimming up underneath the areas that don't naturally touch the sled. My planer sled has a 5/8" high hardwood strip running down 1 side with predrilled screw holes. I fasten one edge of the stock to this, and shim the other edge.

Pros: You can face joint stock up the width of your planer.
Cons: It can be a PITA.

[gjat]

I've built a TON of stuff without a dedicated jointer. It depends upon what you build. I use a mounted router with a stright bit for jointing the edges (after squareing on a TS with a jig like you do.). For me, it's not as much a matter of space, but what I can afford. I'm slowly teaching myself to use a hand planer and will go with that. Though for thickness, I am working on building a 24" drum sander. I can do that for less than $100 and have fun doing it.

[Knottscott]

How do you flatten uneven faces? I use my jointer all the time. You can edge joint with a TS and a router, but it's harder to flatten a face with anything else....even a planer. Other methods work, but none are nearly as easy.

[Russianwolf]

1) You have to decide how useful a jointer is to you. Sounds like you make mostly smaller pieces that aren't dependent on being flat/square (round flutes). In which case you may not use a jointer as much as others.

2) there are other ways to joint pieces even without a jointer. As previously mentioned the TS and Router can both be used for edge jointing and the planer can be used for flattening a surface. All work, but they just aren't quite as efficient as the jointer.

3) you could even go old school and get a jointing plane (hand plane, aka no power). They were used for hundreds of years without too much problem.

4) drop that jointer off by my house and I'll explain in greater depth over a guiness or two. How's that?

[gjat]

How do you flatten uneven faces? I use my jointer all the time. You can edge joint with a TS and a router, but it's harder to flatten a face with anything else....even a planer. Other methods work, but none are nearly as easy.

Uneven faces on what? Like a door panel? I used a belt sander, 1/3 sheet sander, then palm sander. Came out good enough. Mind you, it wasn't a tea cabinet for the Queen.

[Russianwolf]

Uneven faces on what? Like a door panel? I used a belt sander, 1/3 sheet sander, then palm sander. Came out good enough. Mind you, it wasn't a tea cabinet for the Queen.

He's talking about face jointing a board. If the face isn't flat to begin with, how do you flatten it without a jointer? Let's say there is a cup to the board.

[tribalwind]

1) You have to decide how useful a jointer is to you. Sounds like you make mostly smaller pieces that aren't dependent on being flat/square (round flutes). In which case you may not use a jointer as much as others.

you're right,thats teh main thing i need to figure out... i do make some big stuff now n then(this month im making a queen bed,computer desk and bookcase for instance) but will use a belt-sander /hand powerplaner to get it 'flat enough'

2) there are other ways to joint pieces even without a jointer. As previously mentioned the TS and Router can both be used for edge jointing and the planer can be used for flattening a surface. All work, but they just aren't quite as efficient as the jointer.

yea that probably sums it up best i guess.thanks

3) you could even go old school and get a jointing plane (hand plane, aka no power). They were used for hundreds of years without too much problem.

YES! i'd definitely like to pick up a few old planes! a big old badazz jackplane would be sweeeet. how do you use it to get 2 square adjoining sides though?,or would i just use em' for face joining.

4) drop that jointer off by my house and I'll explain in greater depth over a guiness or two. How's that?

LOL, take a number mike!, i've already gotten 3 PM's for me to sell it hahaha