In article , Alan Penn wrote:
Hope those in the US can translate the terminology.
Question: If you could only have one of these machines which one would
you choose?

If I have the terminology right, what you call a planer we call a jointer, and
what we call a planer you call a thicknesser. Sometimes we call it a thickness
planer.

If I don't have that right, ignore the rest of this post. :-)

Being from the US, I'm going to use US terminology to avoid confusing myself.
I hope I don't confuse you in the process.

If you Google this newsgroup on "jointer planer" you'll find a lot of
discussions about this.

IMO the bottom line is that the two machines work very well in tandem, but
neither one is especially useful by itself. A jointer makes faces and edges
straight and flat, but it cannot make opposite faces parallel. A thickness
planer OTOH exists for making opposite faces parallel, but it can't make them
straight and flat without the construction and use of additional equipment
(Google on "planer sled" for more info), and it can't make edges straight at
all. So it's better to have both. Look for used equipment if your budget
doesn't permit you to buy new copies of both; you can probably get a used
jointer and planer for less than you'd pay for a new jointer. If shop space is
the constraint, instead of budget, get mobile bases for both of them, so you
can roll them out of the way when not needed. But find a way to get both.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?