Mortises and tenons, socks and shoes, soup and sandwiches, chewing gum and school desks … some things just go together. When it comes to properly preparing wood, a jointer and a planer are just such a dynamic duo.
The inconvenient fact that trees grow with round trunks, and we must extract rectilinear boards from them, is why proper stock preparation is so important. What is “properly” prepared stock? Well, the ideal piece of wood has two surfaces that are flat in length and width. Those faces should be parallel with one other, and there should be a least one edge that is exactly 90 degrees to the faces. In addition, the board needs to be surfaced to the thickness required for your specific task at hand. Working in tandem, jointers and planers allow you to
