Jointer (surface planer)

The jointer (surface planer) is the machine that performs the first fundamental operation in preparing rough-sawn timber: creating a flat reference face and an edge square to it. The workpiece is fed over the worktable—made up of two separate tables separated by the cutter head—and the rotating knives remove a thin layer of wood, producing a perfectly flat surface regardless of the initial irregularity of the board. The table length (from 60 cm on entry-level models to 180 cm on professional ones) determines the accuracy achievable on long pieces. The jointer is always the first step in the stock-preparation cycle: first the face, then the edge at 90 degrees, then the thickness planer completes the job. Without it any subsequent operation—gluing, turning, CNC milling—starts from an unreliable reference geometry.