"Pop" wrote in message
news:9wFTf.3570$hI1.3441@trndny06...
Hi all,

Birthday coming up, and I'm in a bit of a quandary. I've been
given the opportunity to pick up either a planer OR a jointer
(not both) and I'm not sure which to go for first or which
would be the most useful. I also have little experience with
either tool.

....

Wow, lots of outstanding advice came in, and I thank each and
every one of you for giving of your experience and knowledge. As
I suspected, there are some excellent reasons to want both; so
maybe next year...
Anyway, I chose the DeWalt planer over a jointer because it
looks like it fits my foreseeable needs best for the next few
months to a year. I brought it home, read all the manuals, made
copies for the shop, with print large enough to actually read,
and set to work setting it up. No idea what it'll be like a
month or two from now, but man, I'm extremely pleased with it
right now! It's one amazing machine to me, since I've never
owned either a jointer or a planer. And yeah, it makes a lot of
chips; boy, does it! I jury-rigged a shop-vac to the dust
collector shield after the second test board!! Jeez, what a hail
of wood they create!
Right now I think my only con is the dust collector: It looks
really cheap and the fasteners aren't very robust. It's made to
clip on or screw on though, so I've only clipped it. Don't think
screweing it down is a very wise idea; won't take much of a bump
to break the screw channel. Looks like more of an afterthought
than a part of the product. I'll probably make my own
eventually.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it! I've done lengths of 16"
to 8' boards with it and no snipe I could see, just a perfect
cut! Feels solid as a rock other than the chip chute I
mentioned. Now to get the table finished up for it and move it
into the shop!

Thanks, all

Pop
--
Life is to be USED,
not beautified!
--