Jointer and Planer

[BlastGatr]

So I'm really interested in lutherie as a whole, and I intend to have at least one or two instruments built by the time I graduate with an Associates a couple years from now. I have a lot of the tools to do most of the process, but I don't have a jointer or a planer. From what I understand, those are almost/entirely necessary to complete a bass well. So my question is, should I even spend the money to try and start a build before I have a jointer and planer? Or should I go ahead and start, and just try to make sure I have both by the time I get to where they are needed? They seem pretty crucial to making the instruments high quality.

 

[Jisch]

I may be in the minority here, but I don't use a jointer/planer when building, I would if I needed to, but the wood that comes off my dad's cabinet makers table saw is perfect, I don't see a reason to run it through another machine.

 

[PDX Rich]

Squaring up wood certainly is more difficult without a jointer. However, if you have at least one board reference that is square, you can build a router jig to tackle its opposite face. Or, if you have one square edge of a board, you can use the table saw to rip square the opposite by having the already-square edge against a squared fence.

A squared board face can also lie on a flat surface while a router takes care of the up-facing face of the board while riding in a jig where you take several passes over the board until the excess material is removed.

Not sure how well I explained that!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I have a complete woodworking shop, including a nice jointer and a decent planer. But, still, I cut the surfaces to be glued on my instruments with routers and fixtures. I've found router fixtures to be more accurate, with less chance of mistakes.

Jointers and planers are handy to have, but I don't consider them essential for building instruments. They just help speed things up. I mostly use the jointer for putting a quick square straight edge on a rough board, in preparation for slicing it to width in the table saw. Then the planer is used to bring the board down to the approximate thickness. The router fixtures put the final precision straight edge on boards before glue up. I also use router fixtures to flatten the surfaces of, for example, a neck lamination for the fingerboard to go on, or the top and back of a body.

If you don't have the machines, you can use a traditional hand plane for the basic squaring and surfacing. It takes more sweat and time, but it will get the job done. And you can use a hand plane to true up a good router fixture. I've done it.

 

[mansjasont]

Just go to a decent lumber supplier and they'll square up and thickness for a small price usually.

 

[PDX Rich]

Just go to a decent lumber supplier and they'll square up and thickness for a small price usually.

Make sure to have an armload of things for milling since most charge by half hour or hour. Get your money worth!

I have some resaw that I need to get done, but for me, I prefer to do it myself, if at all possible.

 

[Jisch]

I called the local place about resawing the walnut for the front of my bass, after I described it he said "no way I could guarantee you'd get two good pieces out of that".

 

[mansjasont]

I just get it done when I buy the lumber and they rarely charge me.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

There are lots of workarounds without a jointer, router techniques or well tuned tablesaws, but short of the drill press mounted saf-t planer or a router jig, it's tough to accurately thickness without a planer. I have a 12.5 delta lunchbox type that works pretty well. A thickness sander might actually be more versatile as it doesn't snipe the lumber.

 

[Hopkins]

There are lots of workarounds without a jointer, router techniques or well tuned tablesaws, but short of the drill press mounted saf-t planer or a router jig, it's tough to accurately thickness without a planer. I have a 12.5 delta lunchbox type that works pretty well. A thickness sander might actually be more versatile as it doesn't snipe the lumber.

A router with the appropriate fixtures will work in place of a planer just as well as it will a jointer. You just need to build a sled.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I've seen articles in woodworking magazines about flattening a workbench using the sled method, looks like it works well, but time consuming. I used a sled setup to plane my headstock thickness. I think its a good option for pieces that are either too big or too small for a planer, but I'm glad to have my planer for everything in between.

 

[scottyd]

I built my first few using a router with a 1/4" straight bit, jigsaw and lots of elbow grease. You can sand joints with a flat sanding block and sand paper if you don't have hand planes you can get them fairly cheap, you get what you pay for but if you read up on setting a plane up and proper sharpening you can get by with cheaper tools. These days I have most any tool I'd ever need, and I do use them they aren't necessary by any means but are great time savers.

 

[Hopkins]

I've seen articles in woodworking magazines about flattening a workbench using the sled method, looks like it works well, but time consuming. I used a sled setup to plane my headstock thickness. I think its a good option for pieces that are either too big or too small for a planer, but I'm glad to have my planer for everything in between.

My planer does not get along well with curly maple or other figured woods, and my drum sander crapped out. So the router is the next best option.