A lot of woodworkers’ wish lists include a 12-in. jointer to match their 12-in. thickness planer. But a 12-in. jointer is a big expense. That’s why, in recent years, combination machines have gained popularity. A 12-in. combo machine gets you both machines in one space-saving package for about the same price as a 12-in. jointer alone. Recently, I looked at two new ones from Grizzly and Laguna.

The machines are functionally alike, and both are excellent. I planed and jointed white oak, maple, and cherry with each machine and the results were impressive. If forced to pick between the two, I’d lean toward the Grizzly, mainly because of the lower price.

As an option on both machines, you can substitute a spiral cutterhead for the standard straight-knifed cutterhead. It adds about $500 to the price but requires less power and produces little tearout, even in very challenging woods. A series of multisided carbide insert cutters, mounted in the head, do the cutting. These edges last much longer than steel blades, and should one get nicked, it’s a simple matter to rotate it to a fresh edge.

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Rockler Dust Right 650 CFM

While all five of the smaller units will collect chips efficiently when deployed properly, the 3/4-hp Rockler was just a bit more powerful in our suction test.

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Grizzly G0495X Industrial Helical Cutterhead 8-in. Jointer

Regardless of the board’s grain, this jointer produced excellent results. Its fence was totally flat, worked smoothly, and locked well, staying in place even after jointing multiple edges. Getting the fence to 90° was very easy, but the 90° stop was a little tricky to set and the fence did not go back to square when using it. For those who would use it, there is also a digital depth-of-cut scale.

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Veritas Precision Square

This precision square is incredibly versatile, from checking squareness to dialing in machine setups.

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