Thread: Uses for thicknesser and jointer.

spot on ! ( in the right hands )

There is no ignorance in asking questions.....and your assumptions are right .

Originally Posted by nigelr

Sirs and Madams.
Am I correct in thinking that a thicknesser will process a given piece of timber to a uniform predetermined thickness, while a jointer will 'square' a given piece of timber to a predetermined face or edge?
Please excuse my ignorance!
Cheers.

Quite right, Nigel, but more specifically, a jointer (among a few other things it can do) dresses a single face of a board. It can take a rough sawn board and put a lovely finish on one side, and then by running that side against the fence of the machine, you get the adjacent face. If the fence is at 90 degrees, then you have, well, a square edge. But you can also set the fence to any angle, and in that way create a 45 or whatever adjacent face you'd like. You can also rebate or (believe it or not) make dowels using a jointer, but that's a different discussion.

OK...so now that you have two faces at 90 degrees, you then take it to the thicknesser and with the dressed side down, you pass it through. This will create a parallel face to the wide, flat side of the board. You can continue through as many passes as you like and gradually dimension the board to your required thickness. As for the side opposite to the edge that was machined on the planer, you take that to your table saw and rip the opposite edge off. For a better finish, you can leave it a mil wide and then take it back to the planer for a fine edge, but that would be for edge-joining boards for tabletops and the like.

A comprehensive look, so forgive me, but I don't think that you'll be wondering any more!

Michael

Originally Posted by nigelr

Sirs and Madams.
Am I correct in thinking that a thicknesser will process a given piece of timber to a uniform predetermined thickness, while a jointer will 'square' a given piece of timber to a predetermined face or edge?
Please excuse my ignorance!
Cheers.

But be aware that a jointer will also flatten (remove bow and twist) from a board. A thicknesser won't, if your board is twisted when it goes in it will be twisted when it comes out. It is usual to flatten one side of the board on the jointer and then pass it through the thicknesser. The flattened side is the reference surface.

For particularly awkward situations, a twisted board can be attached to a more rigid reference surface for the first pass through the thicknesser, or more passes if necessary. Then remove and flip for subsequent passes, to true the opposite face. This won't work if all you have is the single dodgy board, of course, or if the first stack exceeds the capacity of the thicknesser.

Cheers,
Joe

This is a very handy trick with thicknesser if you have a few lengths of timber, say some studs, you want to straighten. You gang them up three at a time side by side somewhere flat, making sure bows and wobbles are randomly assorted, and then nail them together though the side making one big board. This means that as they go through the thicknesser they are all averaged out leaving you with a good straight face. Flip them over and flatten the other side. Its remarkably effective.

Of course, just to be clear for those who are new to thicknessing, the nails are through the sides not the face being planed and must be well clear of the blades.

Berlin

Thank you all very much for your kind and informative replies, sincerely appreciated!

Originally Posted by joe greiner

For particularly awkward situations, a twisted board can be attached to a more rigid reference surface

I have some pieces of very thick melamine covered chipboard of various lengths and 300mm wide. I attach the board to be flattened using hot melt glue so it can't wobble.