On 29 Sep 2004 03:28:22 -0700, (Eric Anderson)
wrote:

In the past few years, the tool manufacturers have come up with low
cost options to larger, more expensive tools (e.g. the portable
planer) and innovative tools that solve problems that have existed
forever.

One conflict that still exists that I have not seen a good solution
for is a jointer that matches the width requirements that an average
woodworker has. I have boards that are nearly always wider than 6
inches. Not by much, but wider none the less.


sounds like you should be shopping for an 8" jointer.



I don't want to rip
them. I can hand plane them and I know there are several innovative
solutions for jointing wide boards, but a jointer that more nearly
matches the planer but is not thousands in cost, hundreds of pounds in
weight or 10 ft. in length would be as innovative as the portable
planer was when it came out. I know the general consensus is that you
can't get around the length or weight (and therefore the cost), but I
am sure most people thought that you could never get a $250 planer 15
or 20 years ago.

that'd probably have to be 25 years ago. ryobi came out with the ap10
at least 20 years ago.



Most 7 inch wide boards are not 10 ft. long. when I
joint them.





There have been combo jointer/planer machines in the past, but they
have been pricey and apparently not viewed as the solution because I
don't see them in quantity for sale anywhere. Most of the posts
discussing them on the rec date from about 1996.

Well, does anyone else feel this way, or am I alone in being concerned
about this?


I'd love to have a 16" jointer and a 16" wide planer. I have neither
the floor space nor the capital for it though. and a combination of
the two sounds like a nightmare to keep serviced.

here's one of the problems with combining the two- in order for it to
make any sense from a machinery point of view you'd want to dual
purpose the cutterhead. since planers generally have the cutter over
the table and jointers have it under you either have to be able to
remove the upper half of the planer (and be fiddling with the tables
all of the time) or have 2 sets of tables, with the planer running
under the jointer, which pretty much leaves you with really short
jointer tables. there are machines that get around this by having 2
cutterheads side by side, but they have narrow jointers.