Egos aside, how wide do you really need your planer to be? If I have an 8″ jointer, do I really need a 20″ planer to flatten the other side of the board? Yes, I could glue two 8″ boards together and plane them together, but is the quality really that much better? I have searched extensively for the answer and turned up empty handed. I am not looking to save money, I want the best tool for the job. I am hoping you have the time to share a little of your wisdom.

As with most things woodworking, it really depends on your personal work habits and the kind of projects you build, so you’ll find a lot of differing opinions on this topic. Some believe you should get as much capacity as possible, and others think you shouldn’t go much wider than your jointer bed. But even the smallest planer on the market is going to be about 12″ wide, which is significantly wider that most of our jointers. Obviously this is very handy for planing down glued up panels and skip-planing extra wide boards.

But do you really need a 20″ planer? Absolutely not! It may come in handy someday if you want to plane a super wide panel, but that rarely ever happens in my shop. Most times, after the glueup, my panels receive a little sanding/scraping/hand planing to finish them off and that’s it. So for me, 20″ is more than I really need. In fact I recently downsized from a 20″ planer to a Powermatic 15″ unit. I wanted to upgrade to a helical head and I really liked the idea of something with a smaller footprint. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I had the 20″ model for over 5 years and never used more than 15″ of its capacity. So in my shop, the 15″ model makes good sense. Its been a year since the switch and I have yet to say to myself, “Boy I sure wish I had that 20″ planer!”

What do you guys think? Would a super wide planer be beneficial to your shop, or is it merely a “nice to have” item?

Questions or Comments?You can get a hold of us by either dropping us an email at woodtalkonline@gmail.com or you can pick up the phone and leave us a message on our voice mail at 623-242-2450.

What’s on the Workbench?
Marc – Just finished the Wall-Hanging Tool Chest for the Guild.
Matt – installed his bandsaw riser block…wow that’s tall!

News:
Norm is retiring!! Woodworking Magazine interview with Russ Morash, producer of the New Yankee Workshop.

International Dress Like Norm Day
In honor of Norm Abram, the folks at Woodworking Magazine and Popular Woodworking are asking all Norm fans to dress like the man, take a photo of yourself in costume and send it to me by midnight Monday, Nov. 2, at chris.schwarz@fwmedia.com. The person who sends in the best photo (as determined by our staff), will win a great prize.

Magazine Roundup:
Matt’s Pick: A Woodworker’s Journal article on green finishing by Micael Dresdner.
Marc’s Picks: Fine Woodworking’s “How to Design Furniture” book/magazine thingie and The “Build or Buy” article in the latest issue of Popular Woodworking.

Around the Web:
A couple cool iPhone Apps to try out- ID Wood and Boardfeet
Official website for Splinter “the car”- check out the veneer loom and more
Skateboards from fallen limbs and axes

Holiday Project Templates at Eagle America – Get ‘em while they’re hot!

PBS’s The Router Workshop Video Series ($4.00 for each month)
You will receive one episode per week of the Router Workshop. There are 183 episodes in this video library.

An Interesting Scenario to ponder:
17yr old kid wants to be a woodworker. Already has some shop experience and is showing great potential. Does he aim for a woodworking school or business school?
Listen to the show to hear advice from your fellow woodworkers, as well as the staff of Popular Woodworking.

Magazine Website Roundup (Pt. 2):

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A comprehensive index of every article that has appeared in WOOD magazine

Woodworker’s Journal Offerings (Rob Johnstone – Editor in Chief, and don’t you forget it!)
Homepage
eZine (an online woodworking magazine emailed every two weeks)
There’s also two other sites of interest: WomeninWoodworking and FreePlans.com.
In addition to these websites, they also offer a fully digital version of the print magazine with supplemental digital content.
Of course there’s also an online store selling back issues, downloadable digital plans, books, CDs.
And they also have a blog page with Chris Marshall as it’s main blogger. But all of the staff at one point or another use from time to time.

Sweet Deals:
FREE Super Saver Shipping on ANY SIZE ORDER at Eagle America! Use promo code WOODTALK61 at checkout and select Free Shipping as your shipping method. (Offer valid for two weeks only, now thru 11/9/2009).

20% off Sorby turning tools and free shipping on Jet Lathes now through Nov 1st at Woodcraft.com

It Came from the Forum:
Woodworking in the Cold

Voicemail:
Roberto has a great question concerning planer/jointer blades: to sharpen or to buy?

Tom’s Tip (TomsWorkbench.com): BBQ’s make great mobile carts?!?!
Village Carpenter’s Tip: (Village Carpenter): Dental tools, for more than just torture!

Well I am currently drying some White Oak for a Captains Canopy Bed for my daughter. The wood should be ready in about three weeks or so. The wood is 5/4″ x 11.5″ x 8′. It does show signs of twists and cupping. I don’t have a 12″ jointer so how do I flatten these? Answer: Build a planer sled that was showcased in Fine Woodworking. I had seen the video and was impressed with it’s simplicity. I decided to build it to flatten the boards.

The plans called for 1/2″ plywood for the top and bottom of the sled and then plastic laminate on the very bottom of the ply to make it have less friction for the planer. I made a few changes in mine. First I bought Melamine Shelving that is 12″ x 8′ for the bottom. With that surface there would be no reason to laminate = savings of some dollars for me. Second thing I did was to buy a particle board shelf for the top = less $ then a sheet of 1/2″ plywood. I then made the rest of it like the plans called for. The wedges slide in and out of the supports to make the board stop wobbling and then it can be planed. I really like the jig and look forward to using it a lot in the future. I’ll update you all on the way it performed for me and ad any changes that may be needed. Thanks for looking, Lance Chase aka: Charger

Check out this FWW Video to see the jig in action.

Hi Marc. I only have the money to buy one tool at a time with months in between purchases. If you were going to choose between a planer and jointer, which one would come first?

And here was my reply:
Hey Doug. Excellent question. If I had to pick only one, I would get the planer first. That way you can at least get your lumber pretty darn close to flat and parallel. Furthermore, you can resize your lumber when necessary. And for jointing tasks, you can always do a few tricks at the tablesaw, or use a router and a straight edge. Or just invest in a nice long jointer plane. I’ll tell ya, these days, I would be lost without both the jointer AND the planer. So sad.

But that’s just my opinion. I think Doug would be best served hearing everyone’s opinions about this question. So what would you find most useful on it’s own, the planer or the jointer?