Thread: General questions about Jointers and Thicknessers

Combo machines start at 10", then go to 12", and upwards. There is little economical point to a thicknesser narrower than 10". This dictates the with of the jointer in gthe combo machine.

Bed length is not all it is cracked up to be. Shorter beds, such as the average combo machine, are really all that is needed for the average home workshop. If you want to work with super long boards, then simply add in- and outboard support, or buy an aircraft carrier

Regards from Perth

Derek (very happy with a Hammer A3-31, and not missing a Carbatec 8" jointer)

You generally don't work with stock that's 12" wide, so you don't need a jointer that wide, but you'll often join up panels that are that wide, so you need thicknesser space to dress them after joining.

You sure of that EJ? I often work with stock that is 10-12" wide. For what it is worth, my rule-of-thumb is that one wants a jointer as wide as the resaw capacity of one's bandsaw.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Diminishing returns.
The majority of people, for the majority of the time are going to joint single boards less than 150-200 wide. but as the jointer size increases, the cost to manufacture it increases, while the demand decreases, also pushing up cost per unit.
The larger sizes are usually in demand by professionals looking for a professional level machine. Further increasing the price bracket.

A thicknesser costs almost the same to make if it's 200mm or 350mm and people will glue together multiple jointed boards and then want to plane them. So it's width is used more often.

The combo machines are designed so that it costs the same to have the wider jointer as not, which then gives it an advantage sometimes. Because the table lifts, the jointer table tends to be smaller in length on a combo. Which is a disadvantage sometimes.

A longer jointer table makes it easier for longer boards, especially if they are in bad shape. It does depend what you are making. For example if you are making small items you may as well rough cut small lengths before you dress the timber because you will get more yield. Then you wouldn't need a long jointer bed.

On the thicknesser there is a desire to feed whole boards to help get a perfectly even thickness and due to snipe. Which might mean you joint a longer board first than otherwise. The bed length of the thicknesser is not so vital because on most of them you can simply lie a flat board down to make a longer bed if you need it.

So you see there's no one answer. Only trends and generalisations.
It all becomes fairly self evident once you start using them for different things and find what matters for the things you do.

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Ever tried putting a 2.4m stick 200x55 mm over the top of a jointer? It's not comfortable, to say the least.
Holding it down and expecting to get a nice cut all the way along ....

So I do the flat sides with the thicknesser, then do the jointing edges on the jointer. And maybe a final pass
through the thicknesser before the glue goes on. Depending.

As DaveVman said: people do things differently. I've never put things through the thicknesser after
a glue-up for instance; 'cause a 15" throat would not be wide enough ... was very surprised when I read
about that up-thread.

Originally Posted by DaveVman

It all becomes fairly self evident once you start using them for different things and find what matters for the things you do.

Which is great if you're about to set out on the journey and want to buy smart but buy once... might find yourself with that combo wishing like heck you had a longbed jointer and a 15" thicknesser !

My take has been I probably want a thicknesser before a jointer, and I probably won't buy smart but buy a cheapish 2nd hand lunchbox / benchtop thicknesser and perhaps eventually graduate to a jointer and better thickie, probably purchased at separate times when some project suggests it ("demands it" was too strong a phrase ).

We can only tell you so much based on our experiences. and we all have different needs and different wants for our machines. the machines you see in shops/website are designed to cater the need of most people (like 67%-90%) traditionally people use the jointer to get a nice straight line for panel glue ups (actually you want a slight concaveness to have a better glue joint). and that usually is below the 200mm mark.

Some of us use our machines as a hobbyist, some of us use them as a production machine.

yes longer bed is always better than shorter beds, just like wider planer is always better than shorter, but will you have enough room? my jointer/planer is only 510mm wide but I need a clear space of 1400m to operate it safely (400mm behind the machine + 1000mm of the machine itself)

Originally Posted by P.W.H.

Ever tried putting a 2.4m stick 200x55 mm over the top of a jointer? It's not comfortable, to say the least.
Holding it down and expecting to get a nice cut all the way along ....

Regularly, but I was probably using a larger machine than you

Doing 5.1m x 180 x 38 Blackbutt (edges only) was fun...that was a 2 man job

It is rare that one puts multiple pieces through a jointer, but a common practice on a thicknesser. Therefore the extra width comes in handy.

Hi all,

Thank you to all respondents. I was just trying to get my head around the why's, the wherefore's, and the relationships between these two items before purchasing.

As Poundy said, I would rather buy smart buy once and all your comments/suggestions are helping me to get my thinking a bit more in order.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by P.W.H.

Ever tried putting a 2.4m stick 200x55 mm over the top of a jointer? It's not comfortable, to say the least.
Holding it down and expecting to get a nice cut all the way along ....

...

It is very rarely that I want to joint something that long. I would never do so with a rough sawn board that length, where it is planned that will be cut up into shorter lengths. Planing/Jointing a long board is wasteful of timber since you will need to remove more to get it flat than if the board was shorter. Therefore always cut to the approximate length you need before jointing. This is one of the reasons why a long jointer is less important than a wide jointer.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you Asharper for the question, and to everyone for the great discussion. I am currently considering both of these machines, and which would be better to get first, and this has been a great help.

Regards

Bauldy

If you are not going with a combo, they say its best to get a thicknesser first. This is because there are some other ways to flatten boards.
In my case a little 2nd hand jointer came up so I acquired that first.



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