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Planer and Joiner Recommendations

Started by squarpeg, February 25, 2021, 09:47:24 PM

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squarpeg

I'd like to get some opinions on what type of planer and joiner I should be looking at for a particular project. Assume all lumber is cut on something like a woodmizer LT15. I have mostly white pine on my property. The initial build project is a camp/house 800-1000 sq ft. Planed boards would be required for the finished floors, all interior walls ( instead of sheet rock ) and the exposed ceiling. Essentially imagine the whole interior is wood. Faced with a smooth side. We will paint or stain some of it, but wood it will be.  On a project of that size, what size planer and joiner would be reasonable to do the job?

tawilson

I'm in a similar situation and after doing some remodel projects using a Dewalt planer and routers to make what I needed I decided to step up my game and ordered a Woodmaster 725 molder/planer with the 3 sided molder set up to make my shiplap and log cabin siding. Processing from rough cut to finished product was taking to long. Very curious what the experienced folk around here have to say.
Tom
2017 LT40HDG35 WIDE
BMS250 and BMT250 sharpener/setter
Woodmaster 725

doc henderson

I have a 20 inch planer with straight knives and an 8 inch jointer.  Grizzly.  still about the same price I paid 28 years ago.  might have an ok resale if this is you only project or last you a long time.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

kantuckid

Several good brands of machines. Grizzly and Jet are commonly seen brands in recent years. USA brans from the past such as PM are also Asian now. Go on some woodworking boards to and see what they buy?
 My 20" is a made in Taiwan called Transpower and came in 1997 from a source in CA but who knows if their still around? It is very high quality( I worked on machinery for a living and know good designs it's top notch), triple belt, triple cutter head and I'd buy it all over again 24 years later. My 8" jointer is a Sprunger, a defunct USA machinery mfg from the past. it is heavy and bulletproof too. Look on FB marketplace, CL and ebay with shipping as part of the guideline. Any machines you buy at good price points will later sell back into the market so the better choice than buying junky stuff. 
Realize the smaller, benchtop planers will work you harder doing bulk runs. But you really don't need width to build a house so a 12-15" planer is just fine and a 4-6" jointer the same thing. See what it costs to have your own lumber run in a local millwork shop in bulk? before you buy machines, but if your buying a sawmill will you alkso begin a woodworking hobby too?
When I built my own home years ago, I had direct access to the machines in the Vo-tech schools where I worked but for my millwork I chose to pay for some machine work as an expedient (working FT while building a large home!) so I trucked many thousnads of BF of EWP to a shop where they S4S my lumber FAST! It went through a truckload in a very short time like wheee! My 2x6 T&G for roof decking and my wall paneling also from EWP were taken to another millwork shop and made there. My new room, a timberframe also built from EWP, I ran my own materials on my machines and made my own T&G 2 x6 from WWP to match the old part of the house. I used a router table and a custom 1/2 router bit set I drew up and had made.
I'm currently sawing a couple hundred sticks of 2x6 pine for my small cabin project to run even more T&G for it's roof decking. When mother nature allows me that is, which isn't often lately... :D
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

firefighter ontheside

Dewalt and Ridgid have good 12 - 13" lunchbox planers.  One of those would do you well for what you're talking about doing.  Consider buying a used one.  They come up often.  Woodworkers are always upgrading and selling their old ones.  What are you thinking to use a jointer for?  Jointer is more of a woodworking tool than a construction one.  To straighten an 8' board, you will need at least a long bed 6" jointer and more likely an 8" for the even longer infeed and outfeed supports.  Again, used jointers are usually a great idea.  Grizzly makes good ones, but also delta and powermatic.   Actually Ridgid has a pretty good 6" jointer.  Maybe consider a track saw and a good jobsite tablesaw.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Brad_bb

Even with white pine, I would not advise a "lunchbox" planer.  That is, the big box store consumer planers.  I have a dewalt 735 and it would 1) be too slow 2) would nuisance trip often because it is not meant for large planing volume, just small projects.  I would suggest you need to step up to a professional planer that is at least 220V single phase.  It will cost $3000-$7000 depending on what you choose.  I'm planning to buy a Grizzly G0544-20".  This is a spiral head planer, which can give a smoother finish, the cutters last a lot longer because they are carbide unlike the usual High speed steel straight knives,  and if you get a knick, the cutters have 4 sides and you can just rotate that one cutter to a new side.  Spiral head planers are also quieter which is a big plus.  Maybe you only need a 15", but you want a continious duty cycle and plenty of power so you can continuously plane a stack of boards.  I'm assuming you'll have a helper to either feed or catch boards.  A planer like this will have features that a lunchbox planer won't.  Some are the features to help prevent planer snipe.  Here are some listed for this planer:

If this is too much for you, another option is to farm out the planing to a local shop/person who has the equipment. I recently farmed out drying and planing and Tongue and Grooving of thousands of linear feet of Ash 2x for our horse barn stalls. I supplied the rough sawn boards. I want to say it was $1.65 or so a linear foot for all of those operations. If I didn't supply the wood, it would have been in the $4.somthing range. White pine would be easier and faster to plane than hardwood. Hope this helps.

I'm assuming you want to make one edge straight.  I don't have a jointer yet.  One alternative is to use a tracksaw or set up a circular saw on a bench fixture like this:
How to set-up a custom work bench for wood working - YouTube

Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

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