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Permalink Reply by Don Goguen on January 22, 2013 at 1:23am

The sniping is a result of the release of pressure from the first feed roller.  I agree not much can be done about that.  The 4" thing is often due to the ones with folding infeed and outfeed tables.  They are somewhat flimsy and often uneven.  At least that is the problem with mine.  I use a 4' piece of melamine shelving clamped to the infeed table going all the way through the plane.  It effectively replaces the bottom bed and levels it.  For me it reduces the sniping down to that last section when the board passes the first feed roller or about an inch or so.  I  didn't explain it very well yesterday as I posted from my phone and didn't have much time.

It's a neat trick I learned from an old timer (even older than me).

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 21, 2013 at 9:19pm

Just to make it clear, unless you have a combination workshop machine (and good one is REALLY expensive), ideally you need both a surface planer and thicknesser (UK), or jointer and thickness planer as I think you'd call them in the USA. Here's a word of waning - you need to get the stock straight and square using the jointer, THEN run it through the thickness planer. If you don't true it up first with the jointer (or plane it true by hand), all you'll end up with is perfectly parallel but bent timber.

Having said this, I'd ask how many guitars you plan on making, because you can do all these jobs with a good solid bench and a handplane. These tools really are NOT necessary if you can use hand tools properly, and don't need to make 10 or 20 necks and fretboards in a batch. I made about 200 guitars before I acquired my planer and thicknesser. For the number of guitars I make these days they are essential tools, but I'm a great advocate of learning to use handtools before the pressure of time and production demands compels you to resort to power tools.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on January 21, 2013 at 11:49pm

Again, right on. Start with a good hand plane and a couple bench dogs. Look into if there's a wood working club in your region, it'll have all those nice toys for only a hundred bucks a year or so, always sharp expertly maintained by crusty old men who'll impart all kinds of wisdoms on you if you give em a chance ;)

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Permalink Reply by Josh Thompson on January 22, 2013 at 2:31am

Thanks everyone for the input.   So far I'm on build # 21, I make roughly 2-3 a month and after making these for almost a year I'm just trying to find a faster, easier or better method on making them, always trying to better my craft.

Right now I buy my lumber from the local lumber yard and it's already cut pretty well so I don't necessarily need the surface ticknesser but I am wanting to start thinking outside the box and use older wood or cheaper bough wood that I could save costs on. 

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Permalink Reply by Mark Lindsay on January 22, 2013 at 9:17am

What Don, John, and Jeff said! I agree totally that just about everything can be done without either of these machines. All they do is speed up the process.

One thing I will say, however, is that having them at your disposal whenever the mood strikes might inspire you to try reclaimed woods that you wouldn't consider trying now. If you can see a result in just a few minutes vs. putting a couple of hours into an experiment just to see if it's worth the effort, you're more likely to try. For example, I lined an entire closet with tongue and groove cedar planks I planed and shaped from a load of old fence boards. I would have never tried it if I had to do all the thickness planing by hand. Having a jointer, planer, and router table with the proper bits made the project possible. 

Excellent description, John! Truing up one face of the plank on the Jointer is essential to a truly flat plank. If the plank is cupped or warped in any way, passing it through the thickness planer will not change that.

Thanks for the explanation of using the melamine table, Don. It makes perfect sense. I'll give it a try myself. I get about 2" of sniping on my planer as is (I have the fold down in-feed and out-feed tables too) and anything I can do to reduce that is worthwhile.

If you do get a planer and jointer, Josh, be warned that you'll never look at a piece of scrap wood the same way again. Old table legs and such now look like fretboard stock to me because I know that I can resaw them to about 11/32" thick, then plane them down to 1/4" in just a few minutes. I've been known to snag a piece of firewood and resaw it to see what it looked like after planing (especially if its a hardwood.) I hardly throw anything away now. Basically, if it's still long enough to go through the thickness planer safely, I keep it to use on something  - someday...

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