Steps for truing stock.

Absolutely necessary. A flat face to work from.

Joint (make flat and straight) one face (reference face) so you have
something to true (reference) the remaining three sides to. Not to be done
on a planer because the feed rollers will push out any warp and it will
reappear as the stock exits the planer. For the same reason use very little
down force when jointing.

Joint one edge with the reference face against the jointers fence. This will
give you a straight edge that is at 90 degrees to the reference face. Also
an edge to reference the next edge.,

Rip a second edge on the table saw with the reference face against the table
and the reference edge against the fence. Try to do it on the jointer and it
will give you a straight edge but not one necessarily parallel to the first
edge.

Now you can plane the piece to a proper thickness with the reference face
flat down on the planers feed table. Since the reference face is flat the
planer has no warp to press out so the face being planed will be not only be
flat but parallel to the reference face.

The jointer performs the two most critical steps in the process (the
reference face and edge) but, with sufficient dicking around, there are work
arounds. but, without the dicking around, the planer will not perform the
functions of a jointer and the jointer will not perform the functions of a
planer.


--
Mike G.
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Blake McCully" wrote in message
...
I'm very new to woodworking. I've been scrolling for a little over a
year.
I know what a planer does and how to use it, but I've never really known
what a "jointer" did. I thought it was something like a biscuit cutter or
something. Last nite I was reading a book and the writer was describing
that you needed to run your wood through a planer (know what that is) then
a
jointer to make snug joins. Well, I had an epiphany!! A jointer does the
same thing that a planer does, except it does it on the edges rather than
the face.

Well, I thought that I could use something like that, cause let's face it,
scrolling a long straight line leaves something to be desired. I usually
try to straighten out the edges on my belt sander, but that doesn't work
too
well, especially if the piece is too long to use the disk side.

OK, here's the question, thanks for your patience. If I am scrolling the
sides of a box, let's say, and I want to run the finished pieces through a
jointer, will I be successful if neither edge is "machined". Geez, I'm
not
sure I'm making sense. Anyway, I cut out the top and the bottom edge of a
box. They both turn out to be sorta wavy, if I put them through a
jointer,
will that work?

Yeow, anyway, please send me an answer to removing the
nospam first.

Any help will be appreciated.

TIA

Blake