xtjdx Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 I'm having a bad day and want to spend some money. I need a planer and a jointer but only have enough for one right now. So, should I get a 6 1/8" jointer or a 12 1/2" planer (I don't really care about doing one piece body blanks right now)? Hurry, because I'm going to go to the store in the next few minutes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 Both, they go hand in hand. I personally would get a jointer first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 Give me a minute while I think about it..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Jointer, by far. It's easier to find wood that's the right thickness and joint the edges yourself than it is to buy wood that's whatever thickness but has perfectly jointed edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP63 Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 I bought a Rigid joiner. It is big, strong and cuts like a champ...BUT... I have only used it a couple of times. Only when gluing up body planks. For the price of $300, I would have rather bought the wood and had the lumber mill do the glueing up for me and thickness sand it right after. My hardwood place does milling for a small fee. I thought I'd do more, but I didn't. Little things like back and tops for acoustics are done perfect by hand with a starigh edge. My opinion: If you are planning on doing more than a few buy one. If not, try a mill and check their prices and quality. $300 could've bought a lot of mill work and lumber. It is hard to resist the temptation of buying such awesome tools especially when you see them in poerson. Your imagination runs away with you and then the impulse buying kicks in. A drill press and a band saw? Those ARE requirements. Just my opinion. Hope it helped, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsguitar Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 MP63 Hey I have the same jointer and I love it. I got the floor model and saved like $50 because they couldn't find one in a box..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 For the price of $300, I would have rather bought the wood and had the lumber mill do the glueing up for me and thickness sand it right after. Thats fine if all you want to do is build guitars. But say you need a nice hardwood bookshelf. Or umpteen other projects. Id rather have the tool to do it myself later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 I bought a Rigid joiner. It is big, strong and cuts like a champ...BUT... I have only used it a couple of times. Only when gluing up body planks. For the price of $300, I would have rather bought the wood and had the lumber mill do the glueing up for me and thickness sand it right after. Don't you need a jointer for building necks? I'm in the process of building a couple of necks right now and am about to buy a jointer to get the neck as flat and straight as possible. This helps in getting a top notch glueing surface for the fretboard, which itself should also be a straight and flat as possible. For gluing up boards, I've always glued up straight off the table saw and NEVER had any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Alex Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 As much as I like spending money on large power tools,(my accountant will agree with that one ) I see power jointers as a waste of time and money. Get a nice hand plane, preferably a number 7. It's safer, cheaper, AND quieter. And they aren't hard to use. For the cheapest jointer available here, I could buy 5-6 used stanley 7's. And these are well looked after ones too, no rust, no chips or cracks. I got mine from an old carpenter, he even sharpened it before I collected it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 What you NEED, strictly speaking, for building necks, whatever, is a nice handplane or two. Say a #5 or #5 1/2, old Stanley that gets cleaned up. You can add a jointer plane as well, if you want. I'm a weird masochist, so I plan to stick with hand tools for surfacing stuff, then to the thickness sander, but jointing with a handplane is very doable. And it's my number one choice way to get a neck blank levelled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 +1 I have 2 pre-war jack planes, a UK made Record, and a US Sargent, and they are my go to tools for levelling neck blanks, preparing scarf joints, planing headstocks, tapering fretboard edges, jointing bodies, levelling bodies.... etc. The more I use them the more I love them. One was free (thanks Bon Papa), and one cost less than £5 from a charity shop (Thanks Dad!). Unless I suddenly get a massive workshop with limitless space, I don't see a jointer coming my way anytime soon. For guitar projects (which is, lets be clear, what this site is dedicated to) you really don't need anything bigger than a jack (no.5), and you could easily complete a guitar with that as your only plane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted July 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 I caved in, actually thought about my money situation and experience, and have decided that guitar making isn't for me. I'm going to get about a year's experience before attempting another guitar build. But will get a jointer within the next few months. Oh yeah, and I ended up picking up an amazing playing Epiphone, a Duncan 59, and a Dimarzio PAF pro. It sounds great and cost about a quarter of what it would have to build it myself at this point. Thanks for all the suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 What you NEED, strictly speaking, for building necks, whatever, is a nice handplane or two. Say a #5 or #5 1/2, old Stanley that gets cleaned up. You can add a jointer plane as well, if you want. I'm a weird masochist, so I plan to stick with hand tools for surfacing stuff, then to the thickness sander, but jointing with a handplane is very doable. And it's my number one choice way to get a neck blank levelled. For a neck, you need to be extremely accurate. I put a straightedge along the blank and I better not see any gaps before gluing the fretboard ... Hand planing works but it is a LOT of work to get right. A good plane (i.e. Veritas) with a good blade (to cut maple and hardwoods) will be in the $200.00 range. I tried the cheaper blades and I'm always resharpening and wasting time that way. Maybe I should get a new blade (Lee Valley has them for around $40.00) instead of a whole new plane. While I'm at it, I'll need a new sharpening stone - another 40 to 50 $. I'm already close to $100.00 argghgh. Are the electric jointer really not worth it? I was going to save up for one.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Alex Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 As I said before, get a #7 jointer plane, yes its heavy, but that's the whole point, thanks to momentum the plane does all the work. Mine cost the equivalent of $60US,sure it took me over 2 years to find one this good, but round here, you can get them down to about $15US, needing about 10 minutes with sandpaper to clean off some of the rust and grime. Sharpening stones are a waste of money IMHO. Just use sandpaper, and a sheet of glass as a backer, or wood if you are in a hurry. Most people I've seen don't even know how to use a wet stone properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 A good plane (i.e. Veritas) with a good blade (to cut maple and hardwoods) will be in the $200.00 range **Rubbish** The solution to a problem is not to throw money at it, and a $200 Veritas or $500 Lie Nielson will not work any better than a properly tuned Stanley, Record, Marples, Sargent or Millers Falls, which can be found on eBay or charity shops for relatively little cash. The expensive tools will work right out of the box, whereas the others will need tuning and sharpening - for a $180 saving I'm happy to lap a sole flat, lap the frog and sharpen the iron! I have less than £22 invested in my 2 planes, and £16 of that is new irons - not because they're no good, because they were working tools over 50 years old, so they were getting a hair short! If you're unsure what to look for in a plane, do some reading up on tuning and sharpeing. If you're worried about getting a mass-produced POS, buy a working quality (rather than collectable) tool from Patrick Leach. By all means buy a veritas or a LN, or a Jointer if you want to, but don't for one second imagine that you *need to* to build a top notch guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 I must admit that Mattia's getting to me and i brought a Stanley #7 from a junk shop for £25, spent a couple of hours cleaning it up and sharpening the blade and then a couple of days figuring out how it all went back together again I've been practising on various scrap and bits of crap laying around and i'm getting better and better. I will freely admit i've had a few disasters, all of which were salvagable by wandering into my local joinery shop and getting them to run it through their jointer - which is what i did before anyway so they're none the wiser. I think it's the old, as has been stated, what you think you need and what you actually need - i'd love a jointer but couldn't see me, at present nor in the near future, doing enough to justify the cost or, more to the point for me, finding somewhere to keep it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 I have two jointers. One for thicker hardwoods and one I use for thin acoustic woods. They do not stay in my shop. I keep them in the garage. They are very task specific and don't get as much regular use. I am very comfortable with planes and use them all the time. really you can go either way. A jointer is nice for speed and gives great results. A hand plane is pretty quick, but requires a bit of practice to get good flat square/flat surfaces. If you have several pieces to prepair a jointer is very nice. So I guess it all boils down to need and resources. There are other tools I would get before a jointer such as; Bandsaw, drill press, drumsander (personally I have little use for a planer- bandsaw and drum sander to smooth are more wood efficient). I think the guys are on target with their thoughts. Of course if you are planning any kind of runs of production for necks, bodies, binding, re-sawing etc... It will be moey well spent. Just not as big a deal for 3-4 guitars a year. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 I bought a jointer today, and given that I'd rather spend what time I have doing the real handiwork it was worth every penny. All three sets of mahogany blanks I bought from Simo are glued and curing in the workshop right now. Awesome awesome awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 I bought a jointer today, and given that I'd rather spend what time I have doing the real handiwork it was worth every penny. All three sets of mahogany blanks I bought from Simo are glued and curing in the workshop right now. Awesome awesome awesome. Which one did you get? The Delta shopmaster looks kinda neat for the price but its only 2 knives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundAt11 Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 I guess electric planers just aren't popular. I use a 13" Ridgid from Home Depot. $350, I think. It's very good. I've punished that poor machine a lot, but it still does the job. The important thing is that you can use it to square up anything up to 6.5" tall. So if you want to square up sides of a 2 piece or 3 piece body, you can (if they're 6.5" or less). I make strips, veneers, tops, etc on it all the time. I can even run guitar bodies through it. It's great in that you can set exactly how much your taking off, so you can hog away a lot of material or set it so fine that it litterally just shines up a surface. It comes in handy for other uses around the house, such as shelves, furniture building, or little wood crafts. Just set your height and toss the wood in there. As long as you're not planing a pile of rough, warped Purpleheart boards, then the blades will last a long time for light duty or occassional use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 I guess electric planers just aren't popular. I use a 13" Ridgid from Home Depot. $350, I think. It's very good. I've punished that poor machine a lot, but it still does the job. The important thing is that you can use it to square up anything up to 6.5" tall. So if you want to square up sides of a 2 piece or 3 piece body, you can (if they're 6.5" or less). I make strips, veneers, tops, etc on it all the time. I can even run guitar bodies through it. It's great in that you can set exactly how much your taking off, so you can hog away a lot of material or set it so fine that it litterally just shines up a surface. It comes in handy for other uses around the house, such as shelves, furniture building, or little wood crafts. Just set your height and toss the wood in there. As long as you're not planing a pile of rough, warped Purpleheart boards, then the blades will last a long time for light duty or occassional use. Looks like you're referring to a planer, not a jointer. Anyways.... I bought a used delta 37-280 jointer in like new condition. I don't have the time to look for a good hand plane right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Trepagny Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 A fast way to make a good joint if you dont have a jointer, is to clamp a straight board (hard plywood) on the surface to square, and routing the edge with a template bit. It's good for a body joint (you have to do 2 passes). Philippe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielM Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 do you by planer mean a thicknessplaner? I have a Woodstar P85 planingmachine which uses the same blade for jointing on the top and thicknessplaning underneath. I quite like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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