"Roger M." wrote in message
...
Seriously........Why does one need a jointer??

I have made a beautiful desk, and other furniture that have stood up to
over
20 years of my abuse. I always buy my rough lumber with one side cut
straight, and I take it home to plane, and then rip on my "General"
contractors table saw. I use old fashioned pipe clamps to hold my boards
in
place while gluing. When I take the boards to a local saw shop for sanding
even,. they always comment on how straight and even they are ( and i don't
use any type of biscuits or doweling). I will purchase a jointer if u can
tell me what benefits there are in having one. I have wondered this for
quite some years, and am hoping someone can help me. Thanks in advance.

More than likely the lumber store used a jointer to get that straight edge,
so you're basically farming that out, which is why you don't need it for
that. It sounds to me like you're not buying rough lumber but S3S, which is
(or should be) ready to plane to your desired thickness and rip to width.
People who truly buy rough lumber use either a hand plane or a jointer to
get one of the faces flat and then either the hand plane again (more power
to them) or a planer to bring it to a consistent thickness. So, if you're
buying S3S, it's relatively easy to get around using the jointer.

todd