![\"bed](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_2439_edited-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Stock preparation is the essential foundation<\/strong> for any woodworking project, and there are three keys to doing it well: accuracy, efficiency, and knowledge.<\/strong> A jointer-planer combo machine can be a big help.<\/p>\n There are countless pitfalls<\/strong> in stock preparation that can haunt even the most skillful woodworking that may follow. Twist, convex edges, and bowed surfaces are common inaccuracies<\/strong> that create problems. As for efficiency<\/strong>, well, I like making things and I do not want to spend forever grunting out stock, so the noise emanating from well-tuned machinery is music to my ears at the start of a project. Still, none of this works if a woodworker fails to appreciate<\/strong>\u00a0wood movement<\/strong> from moisture exchange<\/a> as well as from stresses<\/a> created in the drying process.<\/p>\n By way of explaining how I settled on the combination machine, let me recount my stock preparation history.<\/strong> I think many readers will relate to much of it. Very early on, two things became obvious. First,<\/strong> it is very limiting to use only the thicknesses available in pre-dimensioned hardwoods, and second,<\/strong> dimensioning with only hand tools<\/a> is slow and really not a lot of fun.<\/p>\n So, I got one of those ubiquitous cast iron 6″ jointers<\/strong>, and rigged up a marginally effective way to also use it as a thicknesser. Then, some years later, in the late 1980s, I bought a Ryobi AP-10<\/strong> portable thickness planer, and its 10″ capacity made me feel like I was in heaven (“. . . man”). Still, I was stuck with only 6″ of machine jointing capacity and, despite trying the workarounds found in the tips sections of magazines, I was still doing too much hand work<\/strong> and longed for more machine jointing width<\/strong>, especially since I enjoy using fairly wide boards in my projects.<\/p>\n Enter, the Inca 10″<\/strong> over-under jointer-planer. This wonderfully accurate machine, with its precise cast aluminum tables and great Tersa cutterhead<\/strong>, served well in my shop for more than ten years, perched on the feature-rich, battleship-grade stand I made for it. The only thing the dear Inca lacked was a lot of muscle<\/strong>, and so when I upgraded, I felt at peace selling it to a musical instrument maker.<\/p>\n Now, after 2 1\/2 years of using the Hammer A3-31<\/strong><\/a>, and privately answering many inquiries about it, I’m ready to write. The opening photo shows off its width.\u00a0I will discuss the A3-31 in some detail<\/strong> (spoiler alert) –<\/em>\u00a0I like it! – but will precede that with a post to consider the merits of the whole idea of a jointer-planer combo.<\/strong><\/p>\n One more thing.<\/strong> I made the case<\/a> several years ago for a portable jointer-planer<\/strong> as an excellent choice for a first machine for small-shop woodworkers making furniture and accessories. After many discussions with woodworkers during the ensuing years, I still hold that opinion, though I certainly understand how many feel a bandsaw<\/a> should be first in line (I place it second<\/a>) among other valid opinions.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that with a thickness planer as the only machine available, the initial jointing of one face by hand<\/strong> (which, again, I’d rather not do!<\/em><\/strong>) only has to produce a surface that will sit on the planer bed without twist, bow, or flex. It can be ugly with tearout, scrub plane gutters, or whatever; it just has to register on the bed so the planer can produce a flat surface on the opposite face.<\/strong> Then the board is flipped over, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stock preparation is the essential foundation for any woodworking project, and there are three keys to doing it well: accuracy, efficiency, and knowledge. A jointer-planer combo machine can be a big help. There are countless pitfalls in stock preparation that can haunt even the most skillful woodworking that may follow. Twist, convex edges, and bowed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools-and-shop","tag-jointer-planer-combo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3015"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3023,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions\/3023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Inca](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_0899_edited-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Inca](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_0903_edited-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n