Planer or Jointer First? The Honest Answer, Key Exceptions, and What to Look for When You Buy

The debate between buying a planer or jointer first has been running in woodworking forums for decades, and the conflicting opinions make the decision harder than it needs to be. This guide cuts through the noise with a clear verdict, the genuine exceptions where that verdict changes, a decision matrix for six common shop situations, and practical workarounds for getting the most out of whichever machine you buy first.

Why the Planer Usually Comes First

For most woodworkers buying their first dimensioning machine, the planer delivers more immediate value. It does not replace the jointer in the milling sequence, but it unlocks the most significant financial and material advantages available at the beginner stage.

Rough Lumber Cost Savings

The single most compelling argument for buying the planer first is what it does to your lumber costs. Rough-sawn lumber from a hardwood dealer or local sawmill typically costs 30 to 50 percent less per board foot than S2S or S4S stock from a home center. A 13-inch benchtop planer priced between $300 and $500 pays for itself in lumber savings within one or two moderate furniture projects. Once you own a planer, you have access to the rough lumber market, which means wider boards, more species choices, and thicknesses that pre-surfaced stock rarely offers.

A jointer does not unlock this cost advantage on its own. Without a planer to bring the second face parallel to the first, rough lumber still cannot be dimensioned to consistent thickness. The planer is the machine that makes rough lumber genuinely usable at scale.

The Planer Has Workable Substitutes for the Jointer's Job

The jointer's primary job is to flatten one face of a board so the planer has a flat reference surface to work from. That face-flattening job can be done with a hand plane, a router sled, or a shopmade planer sled. None of these are as fast as a power jointer, but they work and they produce a flat reference face that the planer can use.

A planer sled is a simple flat platform that holds a warped board level while it passes through the planer. The first pass flattens the top face against the sled surface. After that, the board is flipped, the sled is removed, and the planer references the now-flat bottom face to produce a parallel top face. This workaround handles moderately warped boards effectively and costs nothing beyond scrap material. It is the standard technique used by woodworkers who own a planer but not yet a jointer.

The Planer Pays for Itself Faster

Consider the math from a beginner's perspective. A typical furniture project might use 20 board feet of hardwood. At $8 per board foot for S4S cherry versus $5 per board foot for rough cherry, the savings on that one project is $60. On a $350 planer, the tool pays for itself after roughly six projects. A jointer does not generate savings of this kind on its own because it cannot dimension lumber without a planer partner.

See more: What Does a Planer Do? A Complete Guide to Wood Planers

When the Jointer Should Come First

The planer-first argument is correct for most situations, but not all. There are specific shop conditions where a jointer delivers more immediate value than a planer.

You Work Primarily With Rough-Sawn Lumber With Significant Warp

If your primary lumber source produces heavily bowed, cupped, or twisted boards, a planer sled becomes time-consuming and impractical at volume. Processing a dozen rough-sawn boards through a planer sled for each face-flattening session takes significantly longer than a power jointer pass. For a woodworker buying rough lumber regularly from a local mill where twist and bow are common, the jointer may deliver more value first.

Your Shop Already Has a Working Planer

If you already own a planer, whether purchased used, inherited, or borrowed permanently from a family member, the jointer completes the milling sequence. In this case, the question of which comes first has already been answered, and the jointer is the right next purchase.

Edge Jointing Is Your Primary Need

Glue-up panels for tabletops, cabinet sides, and drawer fronts require edges that are straight, square to the face, and smooth enough to close a gap-free glue joint. A jointer produces this edge reliably and quickly. While a table saw can produce a serviceable edge for gluing, a jointer does it faster, with less setup, and with better results on figured grain. For a woodworker whose primary work involves wide panels assembled from narrower boards, the jointer may deliver more daily value than the planer.

See more: What Does a Jointer Do? The Complete Guide for Woodworkers

The Decision Matrix: Which to Buy First by Situation

The right answer depends on what you are making, where your lumber comes from, and what tools you already have. The table below maps six common shop situations to a direct recommendation.

The majority of beginner and intermediate home shop situations fall into the first two rows: buying a planer first is the right call. The exceptions are real but specific, and if your situation does not clearly match one of the jointer-first rows, the planer is the stronger first purchase.

How to Get By With Only a Planer Until You Get the Jointer

Owning a planer without a jointer is a completely workable shop situation, particularly when you are buying lumber that is relatively flat or only mildly warped. The key is knowing which jointer operations can be substituted and which cannot.

Flattening a Face Without a Jointer

The planer sled method works reliably for boards with moderate warp. Build a flat platform slightly wider and longer than the boards you intend to process. Shim the board level on the platform using thin wedges or hot-melt glue, with the concave face up. Feed the board through the planer on the sled for the first pass. The cutterhead flattens the top face against the level sled surface. Flip the board, remove the sled, and run it through the planer again. The second pass references the now-flat bottom face and produces a parallel top face.

For boards with only mild cupping or bow, S2S lumber from a dealer has already had one face surfaced at the mill. The planer can thickness that stock to dimension without any face-flattening step at all. Selecting relatively straight rough lumber at the yard is a practical way to minimize the planer sled requirement.

Squaring an Edge Without a Jointer

A table saw produces a straight edge that is square to the face and serviceable for most joinery and glue-ups, particularly when using a reliable rip fence and sharp blade. For edge-glued panels where a hair-line joint is the standard, a hand plane finish on the table saw edge produces a glue-ready surface. This two-step process - table saw rip followed by a few passes with a sharp hand plane - is slower than a jointer pass but produces comparable results on most species.

The Limits of These Workarounds

The planer sled method becomes impractical for boards with severe twist across their length, for boards wider than the sled platform, or for high-volume work where the shimming and setup time per board accumulates significantly. The table saw edge substitution produces results that are slightly inferior to a power jointer on very figured grain where the jointer's ability to read and adapt to changing grain direction produces cleaner surfaces. Neither workaround is a permanent substitute for a jointer, but both are adequate for most beginner and intermediate shop work.

See more: How to Plane Wood Without a Planer: 6 Methods Compared

When to Buy Both at Once

For woodworkers who can absorb the combined cost, buying a planer and jointer together eliminates the workaround phase entirely and sets up the full milling sequence from day one. The combined cost of a quality 13-inch benchtop planer and a 6-inch jointer runs from $700 to $1,200 depending on brand and specifications. At that combined price point, buying both together as a package purchase from the same dealer is often possible with a discount or bundled shipping.

If the combined budget is available and rough lumber processing is a regular part of the planned work, buying both at once is the most efficient path. The workarounds described above are genuine solutions, but they consume time. A full milling setup from the start means every session spent milling lumber is faster and produces better results.

When You Buy the Planer: The Cutterhead Decision

When the planer purchase happens, whether first or alongside a jointer, the single most important specification is not the brand, the table width, or the feed speed. It is the cutterhead design. This decision affects every board that passes through the machine for the life of the tool.

Why Cutterhead Design Matters More Than Brand

Most benchtop planers from reputable brands - DeWalt, Makita, Jet, Delta, Grizzly - are mechanically comparable in their feed roller and table construction at similar price points. The difference that shows up in daily use is cutterhead performance. A straight knife cutterhead on a $400 machine and a straight knife cutterhead on a $700 machine produce similar surface quality. A spiral carbide insert cutterhead on either machine produces dramatically better results, particularly on hardwoods, figured maple, cherry, and walnut.

Starting With Spiral Inserts vs Upgrading Later

Entry-level benchtop planers ship with straight knife cutterheads. The alternative is to buy the entry-level machine and upgrade the cutterhead separately, or to buy a machine that comes with a spiral cutterhead installed. The upgrade path costs more total than a straight knife machine at purchase but less than buying a premium machine from the factory with a spiral head already installed.

For woodworkers who plan to process hardwoods regularly, starting with or upgrading to a spiral insert cutterhead eliminates tearout on difficult grain, removes the periodic knife sharpening and height-setting maintenance cycle, and produces consistently better surface quality across all species. Sheartak spiral cutterheads are direct-fit replacements for most major benchtop planer brands including DeWalt, Delta, Powermatic, Grizzly, Jet, and Makita.

See more: Wood Planer Blades: 4 Types Compared and When to Upgrade

Explore direct-fit spiral cutterheads for your planer: Sheartak Spiral Cutterheads

Conclusion

For most home shop woodworkers, the planer comes first. It unlocks rough lumber savings immediately, and a planer sled handles face flattening while the budget recovers. The jointer comes first when edge jointing is the primary need, lumber is heavily warped, or a planer is already in the shop. When you buy the planer, choose the cutterhead carefully. That single decision determines surface quality on every board the machine touches.