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?

Regards Alan

First of all, I have to say that you folks on the right side of the
pond got the naming right on these machines.

What we Americans call a jointer will prepare an edge for jointing,
but that is a special case of what it does, which is to surface one
edge or face of a board to a single plane -- so planer seems the
logical name (as does the analogy to a hand plane)

What we call a planer does not put any surface into a plane, except by
the happy coincidence that the opposite surface is already in a single
plane. But it does create boards of uniform thickness -- which is
probably why you silly Brits call it a thicknesser.

Now if you guys would get rid of all those silly extra vowels, you
would probably have "our" language down right! g

And finally to your question -- I'd choose the thicknesser if I could
only have one. It can be jury-rigged to create a plane surface. Also,
the function of a planer (jointer US) is much easier to accomplish
with hand tools than is that of a thicknesser.
--
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