I don't own a powered Jointer, but I wish that I did. If I had the space, I would purchase (in this order):


  1. Drill Press
  2. Band Saw
  3. Jointer


I do own a thickness planer, so, if I want to use power, I use a sled. I may knock some of the really high spots with a scrub plane (they sure do remove a lot quickly), and then I can use shims or a glue gun to fill in the gaps so that the board cannot be pushed flat. This method works best if you can apply shims (and similar) while the sled is sitting ready to slide into the planer. I usually shim with the sled on my bench and then I need to transport the entire heavy assembly without knowing things loose. One other issue with this is that milling can change the stresses in the board, so, if you set everything and then mill it "perfect" while on the sled, things may have moved a bit. They will certainly be significantly improved but may not be perfect. I suppose that there is also the question of "was it shimmed properly".