Do I need a Planer

[putttn]

Wondering if I need a Planer when I already own a Jointer and Drum sander? I also have the Conical Disc.

[Jack Wilson]

That really depends on what you are making. Certainly you can get away without one; but I personally use mine on every project.

Do you use rough lumber or pre-milled?

How do you flatten your parts now and glue ups now?

[jsburger]

Wondering if I need a Planer when I already own a Jointer and Drum sander? I also have the Conical Disc.

It depends on what type of stock you are going to use. A thickness planer is used to machine a piece of wood to a certain thickness with the sides parallel. None of the tools you mention will do that. If you use rough sawn stock it is a must.

[putttn]

Most of my prjects will center around box making, birdhouses and general outdoor projects needed for our small ranch.
Really a mix of lumber. Whatever i can scrounge up and a lot of cedar for the birdhouses.
I doubt I'll ever build fine furniture but outdoor furniture will be a small part.

[jsburger]

Most of my prjects will center around box making, birdhouses and general outdoor projects needed for our small ranch.
Really a mix of lumber. Whatever i can scrounge up and a lot of cedar for the birdhouses.
I doubt I'll ever build fine furniture but outdoor furniture will be a small part.

Well, if you are going to use lumber that needs the flat faces milled then you need a planer. I would think at same point you will want a planer.

[dusty]

NEED...that is a powerful word. It is my opinion that if you "needed" a planer you would not have to ask.

With what you said you build, I would say that a planer might be real nice to have but at the same time you will spend many shop days without using it. I have a a Shopsmith planer and I use it with almost every project I work on BUT I buy rough cut lumber for many of my projects and I resize a lot of construction grade lumber.

EXAMPLE: I need a piece of 2"x2" but all I have in the shop is commercial 2"x4" which we all know is not 2"x4". Therefore, I need to create my dimensioned piece and for that I will certainly use both the jointer and the planer. I don't "need" a jointer or a planer to do that since there are other ways like hand planes.

[putttn]

I guess my point is that since I already have a jointer and two ways to plane with the Drum sander and the Conical sander, I'm not sure the planer is that much faster/better than the two ways I have to sand the lumber.

[rjent]

Personally, I would say yes. I don't use it on every project, but when it is needed, it is handy to the point of being irreplaceable.

JMHO

[ERLover]

For what you do I would say no, out door stuff can be Ruff, and not parallel faces. But as your wood working matures, a planer wood be nice, just Watch CL for a lunch box 12-13" one, stay with DeWalt 13", be patient.

[reible]

First and foremost do you think you want a planner or do you think you would rather not have a planner?

There are many ways of doing projects without having one and that includes always working with dimension lumber that is already been planned for you. It might cost a bit more but if you don't do much of that work then you could save money and space by not having one.

If you want one then there is no rule that says you can't find either a used one or a new lower priced unit. Just because we are a shopsmith site doesn't mean we all have all shopsmith equipment. I for one do not have a shopsmith planner but I do have a planner.

At this point in my life I buy very little ruff sawn wood so that part of the equation of having one no longer applies. I do find that I have the need to resize wood for thickness so that is it prime function now. If I had a good way of doing that other then the planner I might even think of parting with mine. I do have a 6" jointer but it is so much easier to just use a planner for this operation.... and I also have a thickness sander which could be used for changing the thickness of wood if you don't mind it taking forever.

For the one function alone I will keep my planner and if it dies I will get another.

My brother in northern WI makes huge numbers of birdhouses every year, 800 would be a low number and most years it more like 1200. He doesn't have a planner so if all you want to do is make birdhouses then you can for go the planner.

If you are at all like me then you will find your shop changes over time. Back in the 70's I was big into hand tools and now I'm lucky if I do one project a year with just hand tools. I still like them but the time it takes and the skill level you have to maintain just don't interest me any more. The last couple of year I've been getting in to turning projects, more then at any other time in my wood working... things change. At one time I had more than a dozen router table in the shop, while I still love routing and routing projects they just took up too much room.

So if you want one get one, if you don't want one don't get one. If in 6 months you change your mind part with it if you got one or get one if you didn't.

Ed