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Hand Power Jointer or Planer for Shaving Door Edges

6K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  Toolman50 
#1 ·
Good morning. I have a quick question that Im sure if I went to HD or Lowes I could find out but I dont that the time at the moment and figure you guys/gals will probably know the answer.

I have 5 or 6 Hollow (cheapo) doors in our home we bought that are Sticking and do not close properly. I believe from reading that I could buy a Portable Planner (Power or Hand) and run it along the edge of the doors to shave a little over so that they close. I have no problem doing this, but I also was wondering if I'm going to buy a planner, should I just buy a Jointer for future use (I would like to get into woodworking). So my question, if I buy a Jointer (Biscuit) would I beable to achieve my original purpose of taking a little off the doors to help them close. I know that a jointer cuts small notches in the boards to allow a biscuit to be glued in, but do they also true up the edge of say an entire length of my door. If this is to confusing Im sorry.
 
#2 ·
A biscuit joiner is not the right tool.

A planer is, either power or a hand plane. I've used my hand plane (I'm probably the only guy on this forum who only has one ;) to shave doors exactly like you describe. I don't have a power planer, but once the cordless Milwaukee is available I might pick it up.

Back to biscuit joiners, save your money. I'll get some argument but they're basically obsolete as a woodworking tool goes. Guys still use them for slab glue-ups to keep the boards aligned, but they add no strength to the joint.

Good luck with your project.
 
#6 ·
Generally Jointers and Planners are not the same tool. I say generally because there are tools out there that are a combination. Most of the time a Jointer and a Planner are going to be two different toolsthat do a different job.

A jointer trues edges and flattens faces of boards. A planner takes off material to reduce the thickness of a board.

A biscuit joiner has one job in life: to make holes into which a biscuit is placed.

George
 
#8 ·
confusing because I believe you are referring to something like this:

Often called a power jointer or power planer/jointer.

It might work ok but that's probably the only use you'd get out of it. And, it's kind of a crude tool. Easy to make a mess of something. For sticking doors, I'd get a little block plane.

Easy to use and you will get a lot more use out of it.

If you are looking to justify a tool purchase, I'd go for a track saw. At least 4 or 5 times more than you would have spent but a track saw has super high usability. I used mine to trim about 1/4" off the bottom of a painted interior door and the cut was super clean. No touchup needed at all.
 
#10 ·
The confusion comes from many places/people listing jointers as "jointer/planner". This is especially true when looking at used tools.

As has been mentioned jointers are generally used to true the edges of boards and/or flatten the faces. Once you've flattened the face you could run it back through to remove more material to get the board to a smaller thickness. Essentially you are now planning. Thing is, most hobbyists have smaller jointers in the 6-8" range limiting how wide of a board you can run through. This is why most folks also have a thickness planner which strictly removes material on the face of a board to reduce thickness size. A typical thickness planner in a hobbyist shop would be in the 12-15" size, meaning you can run boards up to 12 or 15" wide through.

Then you have the plate joiner (no T) in which you are referring to that is a totally different tool. It cuts slots for biscuits used in light duty joinery applications.


For your door issue you could use a hand plane (powered or not) or a circular saw, to take the little bit off that you need.
 
#12 ·
Before you spend a lot of time and money on a tool to correct doors (that are probably not even the issue), try running a long drywall screw in place of one of the hinge screws. I just bought a house knowing it had some slight foundation leveling issues, and every interior door dragged at the top of the frame. Ten seconds and one screw per door fixed them all.
 
#13 ·
I have run screws in and out of them trying to pull them in. 1 Issues I have with 2 doors is that I removed the hinges from the doors, pulled pins and left the other halves on the jams. I painted them but didnt put the same hinges back with the other halves so I think that moved them just a little bit so its off now. So instead of trying the 36 different combinations, I'd rather just take a little off the door and be done with it.
 
#15 ·
well my dad has some older planes that were his dads, so im thinking of raiding his garage and maybe I just have to replace the blade (If thats even possible) and be good to go. If not ill pick up a 15-20$ hand plane and see if that will work for the doors. They are hollow core doors so they just have the particle board edges so I shouldnt need much of a plane to trim them..
 
#16 ·
Just to add to the confusion, what we in the US refer to as a jointer, our friends across the pond call a planer. What we call a planer (or thickness planer) is called a thicknesser in the UK.

Frankly, I think the British terms are more accurately descriptive of the respective functions, although to be more precise, maybe the thicknesser might instead be called a "thinnesser", since I've never been able to get mine to make any wood thicker! ;)
 
#18 ·
Another thing you can do, if there is a slight gap on the hinge side, is bend the hing flange to close the hinge up a little, that will pull the door away from the latch side of the jamb. Just don't bend it too much or the door will bind on the hinge side of the jamb.

The way I do that is pull the pin out of the hinge, then the flanges on the jamb bend away from the door, put pins back in. If you bend the hinge too much, you can open the door and put your nail set in the hinge and very gently push door toward the jamb, that will open the hinge back up.
 
#19 ·
Engelstine
If you only have a couple of doors to shave down, I suggest a hand plane
You most likely will only need to remove a little. (3/16 or so).
Adjust the hand plane to take off very thin cuts. The thickness of paper.
Mark your door with a pencil to show the depth needed. Cut to the pencil mark.
Let us know your results.
 
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