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I am about to invest in a planer/thicknesser for my workshop and just wondering what your thoughts are on having one.

Firstly is it necessary for guitar building--mostly acoustics so far but hoping to do an electric soon
Is the combo version preferable or would separate machines be better ?
I live in Ireland so its a quite a big investment compared to Usa price wise--maybe 900 euro for a Charnwood W583 10" x 7" Planer Thicknesser or a Record planer /thicknesser

There are desk top versions but not as powerful

My wife--She who must be obeyed--seems to think I may not need it as the wood I will be buying will be already planed but obviously thats not the case as the sets I see on lone will still need thicknessing

Just wondering what you guys use for this

Thanks and happy new year to all.

Rusty

The power planer is not the best for acoustics as it tends to destroy wood at the thickness we need in acoustics A thickness sander works best.

The only advantage of a combo machine its the space savings. If you have the room separate machines usually work best. A joiner its very useful. A planner can be helpful.

tippie53 wrote:The power planer is not the best for acoustics as it tends to destroy wood at the thickness we need in acoustics A thickness sander works best.

Thats what I was wondering John but apparently this one -the Scheppach HMS2600ci can thickness down to 1mm . It has 3 knife blades for a very smooth finish .

Confused now
Rusty

I don't think you want any power machine using blades to thickness tonewood.
A planer and thicknesser or a planer/thicknesser is a must have in a woodworking shop.
Not so much in a lutherie shop. Perhaps there is a cabinet shop in your area that will thickness your
tops and sides for a reasonable fee or your tonewood source could afford you that service.
You'll need to thickness a whole lot of guitar wood to recoup the cost of a thickness or drum sander.
$700. US is entry level cost of a decent 10" drum sander. I don't include Grizzly's lower cost drum sanders
because although I've never used one, the results I've seen and the reviews I've read are not good.

-tommy

B. Howard wrote:The only advantage of a combo machine its the space savings. If you have the room separate machines usually work best. A joiner its very useful. A planner can be helpful.

Thanks Brian . Over here in Europe we call them planer/thicknessers but I think in Usa they are jointers but they do the same thing basically ie planer on top and then thicknesser underneath and the one I was interested thicknesses down to 1 mm with a very clean finish.
. Just wondering if its overkill as I have just got myself a belt/disc sander and a bandsaw so I dont know why I thought the next thing should be a Thicknesser.

I envy the choice you guys have when it comes to machinery for woodworking. I am visit over there in march--California-and will be spending some time browsing the big stores no doubt .

Thanks
Rusty

tommyboy wrote:I don't think you want any power machine using blades to thickness tonewood.
A planer and thicknesser or a planer/thicknesser is a must have in a woodworking shop.
Not so much in a lutherie shop. Perhaps there is a cabinet shop in your area that will thickness your
tops and sides for a reasonable fee or your tonewood source could afford you that service.
You'll need to thickness a whole lot of guitar wood to recoup the cost of a thickness or drum sander.
$700. US is entry level cost of a decent 10" drum sander. I don't include Grizzly's lower cost drum sanders
because although I've never used one, the results I've seen and the reviews I've read are not good.

-tommy

Thanks Tommy. You got me thinking now because I had never thought of a drum sander but over here in Europe we use different names for some of the machines,

This is the planer/thicknesser I was thinking about but perhaps youre right about using it for tonewood even though it takes wood down to 1mm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w75V4k2rebk

Then I found this and you guys are right--I dont really really need one--maybe !! My wife will be so happy !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXuh_Q02DP8

tippie53 wrote:The power planer is not the best for acoustics as it tends to destroy wood at the thickness we need in acoustics A thickness sander works best.

John, when you say Thickness sander--can you elaborate as we have different terminology sometimes over here for tools. Is it a drum sander you mean ?
Could you recommend any?



Thanks John

Zen wrote:

B. Howard wrote:The only advantage of a combo machine its the space savings. If you have the room separate machines usually work best. A joiner its very useful. A planner can be helpful.

Thanks Brian . Over here in Europe we call them planer/thicknessers but I think in Usa they are jointers but they do the same thing basically ie planer on top and then thicknesser underneath and the one I was interested thicknesses down to 1 mm with a very clean finish.
. Just wondering if its overkill as I have just got myself a belt/disc sander and a bandsaw so I dont know why I thought the next thing should be a Thicknesser.

I envy the choice you guys have when it comes to machinery for woodworking. I am visit over there in march--California-and will be spending some time browsing the big stores no doubt .

Thanks
Rusty

A joiner, or jointer depending on whom you speak with, is a tool that will put an absolutely true and straight edge on a piece of lumber indexed at a perfect 90 degrees to another face. a Planer is a tool that will surface one side of a board and make it a uniform thickness. Two different tools, two different jobs. to make absolutely square and true stock one must perform both operations.