WOOD Magazine – October 01, 2019

W

hen it comes to f lattening and

thicknessing lumber, a jointer and

planer are like love and marriage in

the old song: You can’t have one without the

other. So combining both similar machining

operations—spinning a cutterhead to f latten

a surface—in one machine would seem like a

marriage made in heaven. And it can be, once

you get past the sticker shock.

But let’s do the math: Most of the combo

machines in our test cost from $2,955 to

$5,700, and will both face-joint and plane

stock up to 12" wide. As you can see from the

chart on the next page, a benchtop planer

with that capacity costs only a few hundred

bucks, but to make the jointing capacities

even close to equal, you’ll need to drop at

least $3,000 on a 12" jointer. By the time you

figure in the additional benefits of 3+ hp

motors and spiral cutterheads with four-

sided carbide cutters, you’ll start to see a

combo machine as a smart investment.

Jointer/Planer C

42 WOOD magazine October 2019

You use

a jointer

to flatten a

board’s face

and create

a straight,

square edge. A

planer, then, machines

the board to finished

thickness and parallel

to the jointed face. A

planer cannot flatten a

board without the use

of a jig or sled, and a

jointer cannot reliably

make parallel faces.

(^) SHOP TEST