New Planer and Jointer

[Bradley Gray]

There are two 12" jointers for sale on OWWM

[Zachary Caldwell]

Shop size is 30x50 (mostly dedicated to woodworking). Mostly building furniture, vanities, maybe small kitchens down the road. My theory is on this kind of stuff is I'd rather buy once cry once.
I am really leaning towards the combo units because of the jointer size and price, but am really unsure.
I am a one man operation so change over time really doesnt bother me as long as i dont have to re align everytime between changes.

[Jim Becker]

The single thing you have to consider relative to using a jointer/thicknesser combo, Zachary, is planning your work. Folks who like to jump back and forth between those functions will be uber-frustrated. Folks who work more methodically will handle most, if not all of their flattening as a big batch and then set things up for thicknessing and leave the machine that way for most of the project. If they have a sliding table saw, they can even eliminate the edge jointing in many cases by straight lining on the wagon after material is flat and thicknessed. It's a workflow thing... Now if there are multiple folks working, separates are absolutely the way to go. Interestingly, there are some people who opt for a J/P combo and largely only use the jointer function while employing a separate thicknessing machine. Why? Cost. In some cases, you can buy a very nice combo with wide jointing capability for less than a big, dedicated aircraft carrier jointer separate unit.

[Alex Zeller]

For me it's often I find something in the wood, a void or a knot for example, that doesn't show itself until thicknessing. I like leaving wood in the rough cut state until I'm ready to use it. So I don't like to process any more wood than I need for the project. When I reject a piece I can just walk over to the jointer and process another board. I've never used a combo machine but when this happens I try not to make any adjustments to the planer so I can make the new board the same thickness as all the others. Like Jim says, a combo machine comes down to your workflow and if you are ok with losing planer width to gain jointer width.

[Keegan Shields]

I have a Hammer A3-41 and the ~16” width is great. I held out for a wider unit mostly because I wanted longer jointer tables. It works well. Moving from separates to a combo unit wasn’t a big deal - and I’m not that organized.

[Warren Lake]

plan whatever you want stuff happens. More so depends on the work you are doing as steps can be different. Have combo and seperate but all on the combo. works fine not an issue. Separates will get fired up soon.

[Derek Cohen]

The single thing you have to consider relative to using a jointer/thicknesser combo, Zachary, is planning your work. Folks who like to jump back and forth between those functions will be uber-frustrated. Folks who work more methodically will handle most, if not all of their flattening as a big batch and then set things up for thicknessing and leave the machine that way for most of the project. If they have a sliding table saw, they can even eliminate the edge jointing in many cases by straight lining on the wagon after material is flat and thicknessed. It's a workflow thing... Now if there are multiple folks working, separates are absolutely the way to go. Interestingly, there are some people who opt for a J/P combo and largely only use the jointer function while employing a separate thicknessing machine. Why? Cost. In some cases, you can buy a very nice combo with wide jointing capability for less than a big, dedicated aircraft carrier jointer separate unit.

I completely agree with Jim. This is my experience, too.

I love my Hammer A3-31. I also have their K3 slider and N4400 bandsaw, and have nothing but good experiences with my local Felder. The A3-31 has been reliable and produces very accurate dimensioning (with the digital depth gauge). Its 300mm width is enough to cater to >95% of my needs. I do not require extensions to the tables for long boards (I am planning on a new diningroom table in the future, and will do so then).

Having said all these nice things, I would switch the combo A3-31 to separates in an instant if I had a large enough space AND if I could justify the expense. I plan well, so have not felt inconvenienced much, but I would love to be a little lazy and not have to think about the sequence needed. Really, this is not a big deal for me, since I have half a double garage, and could not justify more purchases (I’d rather be married to my wife than to any woodworking machine). I get so much pleasure using the A3-31, the quibble is a minor one, but if the lottery came in ….

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rod Sheridan]

I have a Hammer A3-31, bought my first one in 2008, my second in 2010.

They’ve been great workhorses, accurate, good power and feed speed. Wouldn’t hesitate to buy it again.

I also have a Hammer B3 jointer/planer……Regards, Rod

[Jacques Gagnon]

Similar experience here.

I am a hobbyist working in a small shop (280 square feet single car garage) and 2 years ago decided that I needed to « create space ». I passed my 3hp cabinet saw, 15 inch four post planer and 8 inch jointer to my talented son and ordered
both a Hammer A3-31 and Hammer B3.

In spite of my attempts at properly planning the sequence of operations I often have to convert functions on the machines. Separate machines were a « nice to have » element but I can manage very well with the conversion aspect. An extra minute for switching from one function to the other is not going to impact my life that much . The metric analog depth gage is great as Derek indicates. This is a key factor, in my opinion, when considering combination machines. The ability to go back to a given measurement quickly and accurately is alleviating a lot of the challenges associated with changing functions on the combination unit.

This week’s projects included helping a friend’s son to work on rough sawn 2+ inch oak ranging from 6.5 to 7.5 feet long. Both machines allowed us to handle the job easily and the end result was great.

As stated by others, this decision has a lot to do with how much of both space and money you wish to « invest » in machines. One final point: the service and support from Felder here is top notch.

Regards,

Jacques

[Jack Lilley]

I have a 15" Jet planer that I bought new 20+ yrs ago. I have a Byrd head in it and have run thousands of bdft of hardwood thru it, it still works great. I also have an 8" long bed jointer with a Byrd head and it does a nice job as well. I would like at some point to get into a 16" jointer/planer combo. One reason is space the second being having a 16" jointer would be convenient at times.

[Phillip Mitchell]

I guess I will present a different approach. My shop is very small at >500 sq ft (~18’ x 28’) and I have large separate milling machines and no regrets.

I have a 1940 Oliver 166BD (12”) jointer with a modern Terminus indexed straight knife cutterhead and a late 70s era SCM S50 (20”) planer with a very nice digital read out on the bed raise and lower and a 4 straight knife cutterhead. I could joint and plane all day (and sometimes do) and these machines will not even break a sweat and give me amazing results.

I would be frustrated with the workflow limitations of a combo machine. There are many times in the way I prefer to select and process rough lumber for projects where I am rotating back and forth between the bandsaw, jointer and planer. The shorter beds on most combo machines I have seen would not work well for some of the larger work I do. The Oliver has a total length of 100” which makes a huge difference in easily jointing 7-8’ door stiles and the like with minimal fuss.

If I had 1800 sq ft to work with and a decent budget there is no way I would limit myself with a combo machine.

Also, I paid ~half of the price of a new Hammer A3-41 for both of my machines combined (within the last 3-6 years.) I know tracking down used machines and dragging home old iron isn’t in the cards for everyone, but just presenting it as a viable option, especially if you are budget minded and wanted absolute top quality at the same time.