If I don't have room/money for a jointer, am I forever forbidden from using rough lumber, or is there a way to work around it? I've read those articles about building a router-table fence to work as an edge jointer but I'm guessing that my portable power planer wouldn't guarantee me a square face joint? Do I buy a big hand plane instead?
Thanks, Dan
Rough lumber was used long before power tools were around. Faces can be flattened by using planes and edges can be straightened and squared by using a large jointing plane. That being said, I still use the jointer/planer method.
Frank
hand planing is slow but sure.
and takes up very little room.
Technically you should use a jointer to straighten and or flatten a rough cut board, be it an electric one or human powered one. That said, I got real close with reasonable straight rough cut lumber using my TS to straighten and a thickness planer.
It depends on how rough your wood is, and how flat the wood has to be. I use mainly S2S, but even the occasional rough stock I buy (mainly at auctions) is flat enough to go to the planer without being face planed. Likewise, it can be a little wasteful, but you can get an edge good enough for glue with a little care an on good table saw. I had neither the space or the budget for a real jointer, so I bought a tabletop. It was a useless POS. Eventhough I really don't have the room for it, I recently bought a used jointer. It was a worthwhile investment, though not strictly necessary.
Depending on the length of the rough stock and the size of your saur...
I posted a link to jointing jig for my crap saw (good for up to about
30" length) a while back but the pix are off the site and damned if I can find them now. Essentially, it's a sled with some hold-down clamps to secure the board.Hi Dan,
Next to my TS & MS, I think my 6 inch Delta jointer is one of the best woodworking investments I have ever made. If you ever want to shave off a 32nd or 64th, there is nothing to compare - especially for those of us who have not developed our neander skills yet.
Lou
Someone else mentioned using a table saw and sled to get one straight edge and it works well. I recently did the same thing with some rough boards. Just screw your rough lumber down to a straight board (at the very ends so the holes can be cut off) so the straight board will run against the saw fence. The rough board edge should overhang the straight board on the blade side. Run it through and you have one straight edge. My boards were a little cupped but by putting the concave side down so it goes through the planer on the outside edges, it's possible to get a flat surface on the convex side. Then its just a simple matter of flipping the board. Might not be perfect but works pretty well. Twisted or warped is another matter.
I don't know where you live but about 30 minutes from my house is a lumber yard with a great milling operation. It is a not as convenient as having my own jointer but I try to plan my projects so I can bring all my wood there to have it jointed and cut to size at one time. Costs me $18 for up to 40 minutes of work. This is another option to consider depending on where you live.
Dick Snyder
I own a table saw, planer, and good jointer (powermatic 54a). I also own a Stanley No 8 Jointer plane. If I had to save space, the jointer would be the first to go. If I had to save money, we would have to discuss it.
Be sure you understand the true cost of doing work by hand. A hand plane is no good without a respectable work surface to hold your wood and plane it effectively. A decent used long hand plane is going to cost you $80-$100 (ebay). It will cost another $25-$40 to get set up to sharpen it properly. A cheap workbench will cost $200. Perhaps you've got the last two covered already.
A long heavy hand plane is a pretty amazing tool and satisfying to use. It figures out what's flat without being told. You just aim it.
Bob Davis Houston, Texas
Hah. My workbench takes up at least as much room as the average high end big iron home power jointer, though maybe less than some really big industrial jobs.
Planes are small, but they lead quickly to workbenches, vises, more planes, dogs, sharpening supplies, more planes, hold-downs, more planes, and then you add some more planes. A power jointer is probably cheaper in the long run. :)
(Actually, in my case, I finally wound up buying a little baby jointer to do some of the grunt work. A hard day of wielding my planes leaves my wrists hurting something awful, so splitting the work between a machine and planes to put a pretty surface on afterwards really seems to be a best of both worlds proposition. I can get by with a cheaper, crappier, more poorly-adjusted jointer, and I get the same kind of final results I was getting doing everything by hand.)
yabbut... you need that bench for assembly anyhow.
shhh.....
You are right about the planer not making wood square. OTOH, depending on where you get your wood, you can get by without a jointer. I have so far, but it is on my list of "needs".
The places I buy my wood will at a minimum give me an edge and a flat bottom so I can finish it omn my planter and table saw. Some will joint and plane to whatever thickness I specify. It is included in the price.
If you are using air dried wood from Grampa's barn, buy the jointer.
No way around it. No woodworking was ever done before the jointer was invented.
But it DOES take practice. You up to practicing on your scraps? Planing surface flat and jointing edges for glue up can be frustrating at first. But you can derive satisfaction from using hand tools. Me - I prefer power tools for speed, hand tools as a supplement.
Philski
I always thought I'm the only one doing what you did, that's why I'm selling my
1 yr old 8" YC jointer. I could plane red oak and hard maple both sides almost parallel with my 15" planer and finally finished it with my TS on both edges.
I've tacked a piece of straight-cut thin ply, or masonite to a board, expecting to lose a little. That is the guide to cut the other edge on the TS, then turn an cut off the wasted piece [removing the guide first.] If more fussy, then clamp a straightedge and rout a shim of the edge. Thickness-plane the width.
I think the normal going rate is about $60/hour. Be very nice to them.
Question. If he's got no room or money for a jointer, how's he going to swing the boards or afford a surface planer? Not to mention the room to hang the jigs and sleds out of the way.
For that matter, where's he going to find the room for the bench/vise/hold-downs and the three planes required to work rough lumber?
Why screw around trying to make do when you can get, for instance, the open stand 6" JET for $350, and make a low stand that allows it to be rolled under the wings of your tablesaw out of the way when you need room for a planer?
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