Took a hard look at surface planeres and planer/joiners this morning at Lowe's and decided that I have no real justification for spending money on either. I could buy a lot of 1/4" and 3/4" dimensional lumber for $500. Maybe I can pickup a bargain at an auction this summer.
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I use both quite a bit. I use the jointer to flatten 1 face of the board I'm working, then use the planer to bring it down to thickness. I use a lot of reclaimed wood for a number of projects, and the planer/jointer combination sure makes quick work of surfacing the lumber. Pull apart a pallet or two and you've got all kinds of neck stock in the 2X4s as well as thinner boards for bridge basses and such.
I too resaw lumber for fretboards and the like, and it's nice to slice a board down the middle to 5/16", then plane it down to 1/4" with consistency.
On my last build, I used a full box insert to fill the bottom 7/16" of its depth. I cut a piece of 1/2" birch cabinet grade plywood to fit the box, then planed it down to thickness and glued it right in. There's no way I would have even considered using a box insert if I had to plane it down by hand.
I use my 13 inch wide bench top planer all the time. I resaw fretboards to the right thickness with a jig I made for the table saw, then use the planer to get rid of the saw marks and get them down to the proper thickness.
just to be clear, a jointer is used to flatten edges, a planer is used to make opposite edges parallel. i know in the UK the names used are sometimes different for the respective tools so it can be confusing.
at lowes this is a jointer http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/885911/885911177603lg.jpg
and this would be a planer http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/028875/028875207348lg.jpg
and yes while you can make a board flat with a planer it requires special sled jigs, i still think a jointer is the best tool for that job. makes glue ups and flattening fret boards really easy
a planer would be used for getting stock down to a certain thickness but i usually just resaw on my bandsaw or tablesaw
that all said if you can find either at auction for a low price, i say go for it!. just be sure you can buy blades for whatever model it is you find
I think my experience would turn out like yours, Bad Wolf. I'd love having a planer for about 2 days and then it would collect dust. I could buy a good used joiner just over $50 at auction and could accomplish dual purposes from it. For example I could take a 3" piece of scrap and plane it down to 1/4" thickness using a joiner and if I needed a straight edge I could accomplish that as well. Even then I probably wouldn't use it that often.
a jointer is handy to have if you have some wood that isnt flat. there are other ways to accomplish it but i think the jointer is the easiest way.
i never use my planer
that's the right course....