15 hours ago, Dadio said:

Every one has their opinion,I guess. I totally disagree with getting a planer.

Different strokes, I suppose.  I always say if we all had the same tastes, needs, and wants, we'd all be trying to marry the same woman.

 

Two things a planer can do: 

1. Allow you to buy/use rough-sawn lumber

2. Allow you to be free from having everything made from 3/4" lumber

 

To me, those are important.

 

I got a planer when my dad salvaged about a dozen logs and we had them sawn up from downfall of a tornado that went through the family farm.   It also allowed me to make several hundred small boxes using 1/8 - 1/2" stock.   Could I have done it with a #7 and #4 plane?   Maybe, but not without a lot of work and a lot of skills development.

 

If you need both and have a limited budget, you might watch Craig's List and such for a used Shopsmith from a widow or heir.  $400-500 is the going price around here for the Mark V and one or two SPTs (Single purpose tools -- belt sander, jointer, band saw)  It has a good drill press and with the SPT, a decent, though small, bandsaw.   It also gets you a 12" disk sander, lathe, and horizontal drilling machine.   The table saw is the weak link in the system, but you already have one of those and you might use it do a secondary operation, say, dadoing, without having to switch over your main saw if it's set up for something that you don't want to have to reset.  My BIL used one for over 50 years as his main tool and convinced me to buy one when starting out.  I got frustrated with the table saw functions so bought a dedicated table saw, but still use it for its auxiliary functions.

 

39 minutes ago, kmealy said:

My BIL used one for over 50 years as his main tool and convinced me to buy one when starting out.  I got frustrated with the table saw functions so bought a dedicated table saw, but still use it for its auxiliary functions.

 

If you've got the space Keith's idea is a good one. @Gene Howe and @FlGatorwood on this site do some pretty amazing work with their SS. May be others too?? With patience & diligence you can find a pretty nice one with at least the attachments Keith noted easily in the price range he noted. Central Indiana the CL prices are pretty similar.

 

As for a planer, I went a lot of years without one...had some stuff milled at lumber yard, relied on a friend a few other times, but if your primary wood source is pallets, I'd highly recommend your next purchase be either a planer or at least a jointer. Again, either CL or yard/garage sales being patience you can swing some deals. I picked up a Jet 12-1/2" (no longer made by Jet) bench-top, NIB for $100. I see bench-top models for $100-$200 pretty frequently. If you have some Pawn shops near-by, check them out too...see planers there fairly often also. There a number of ways to get quality, affordable tools to build your capabilities without breaking the bank. Planning & patience is the key.

1 hour ago, steamshovel said:

It comes to a question. Which one do I buy and which one do I not buy. Can one or the other live without the other. Sometimes you may need both to complete a project, get both.

 

Problem solved

yup...

Today I stopped by a rough lumber store. They had a Jet planer/jointer combo in one. It was 10".

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 20169 yr by ACR_SCOUT
Added link to the planer.