Table Saw vs Jointer: Do You Really Need Both?

By Finlay Connolly

The Short Answer

A table saw and a jointer aren’t fighting for the same job, so framing this as a head-to-head misses what’s actually going on. A jointer flattens one face and squares one edge of rough, warped, or cupped lumber. A table saw cuts material that’s already flat and square down to a specific width or length. One preps the board, the other sizes it. If you’re working almost entirely with plywood or lumber that’s already surfaced flat on four sides, you can get by without a jointer for a long time. If you’re buying rough-sawn lumber from a sawmill or lumberyard, a table saw alone genuinely cannot do a jointer’s job, and no amount of fence adjustment changes that.

There’s a real workaround worth knowing about if budget or shop space only allows one machine right now: you can edge-joint on a table saw using a shop-made jig, and this guide covers exactly how, including where that technique falls short of an actual jointer.

What a Jointer Actually Does

A jointer has two tables, infeed and outfeed, with a rotating cutterhead sitting between them at table level. The outfeed table sits exactly level with the top of the cutterhead. The infeed table sits slightly lower, offset by however much material you want to remove in a single pass. As you push a board across that offset, the cutterhead shaves the low spots down to true, and the board rides flat across the outfeed table once it’s passed the cutter.

This setup is what makes a jointer good at exactly one thing: taking a face or an edge that isn’t flat and making it flat. It can’t control the thickness of the opposite face, and running both faces of a board across a jointer independently doesn’t produce parallel sides, it produces a wedge, thicker on one end than the other. That’s a job for a planer, a related but different machine that most serious woodworkers eventually pair with a jointer.

What a Table Saw Actually Does

A table saw works from a fixed blade and a fence. You set the fence to your target measurement and feed the material past the blade, which cuts a straight, repeatable line. This is exactly what makes table saws so good at ripping boards to width and breaking down sheet goods, and exactly why they’re a poor substitute for a jointer. A table saw’s fence assumes the edge riding against it is already straight. If that edge is bowed or twisted, the fence just repeats that imperfection into your cut instead of correcting it.

At a Glance

Factor	Jointer	Table Saw
Core job	Flattens one face, squares one edge of rough lumber	Cuts material to a specific width or length
Cutting mechanism	Rotating cutterhead embedded in the table	Circular blade protruding up through the table
Table setup	Infeed and outfeed tables offset by the cut depth	Single flat table with a fence
Can it flatten a warped board	Yes, that’s its main purpose	No
Can it cut to precise width	No	Yes, that’s its main purpose
Where it fits in the workflow	First step, on rough or warped lumber	Later step, once material is flat and square

Why These Two Tools Rarely Actually Compete

Long-running discussions on FineWoodworking, Sawmill Creek, and Woodworking Talk keep landing on the same conclusion: for anyone working with rough lumber, you genuinely need both machines, not because one is better than the other, but because they solve different halves of the same problem. A board fresh from a sawmill or lumberyard is rarely flat, square, or a consistent thickness. The jointer’s job is to fix the first two problems. A planer fixes the third. Only once all three are true does a table saw’s fence-guided cut actually produce the accurate result you’re expecting.

If you’re working mostly with pre-surfaced lumber, sold as S3S or S4S, meaning it’s already surfaced on three or four sides, or if your projects lean heavily on plywood and sheet goods, this changes considerably. Pre-surfaced lumber and manufactured sheet goods arrive close enough to flat and square that a good table saw alone gets you most of the way to a finished project without a jointer at all.

Can You Skip the Jointer? A Real Answer, Not a Sales Pitch

If your work is mostly plywood, MDF, or lumber you’re buying already surfaced, you can reasonably skip a jointer for a long time, and plenty of experienced woodworkers do exactly that. If you’re buying rough-sawn lumber to save money, or because your local supplier only sells it that way, a jointer stops being optional. No table saw technique fully replaces what a jointer does on genuinely rough, cupped, or twisted stock.

There’s a middle ground worth knowing about too: a table saw jig can handle edge jointing reasonably well, even if you own a proper jointer, since carbide blade teeth hold up to abrasive material like plywood, particleboard, and even acrylic far better than a jointer’s steel knives do. Several experienced woodworkers specifically use their table saw for edge jointing on those materials for exactly this reason, saving their jointer knives for actual wood.

How to Edge-Joint on a Table Saw Without Owning a Jointer

This technique has been documented in detail by both the Woodworkers Guild of America and Woodworker’s Journal, and it’s worth understanding even if you eventually buy a real jointer, since it remains useful for abrasive materials. Here’s the process:

1. Build a simple L-shaped auxiliary fence from a straight piece of plywood or melamine, roughly 4 inches by 48 inches for the base, with a vertical piece attached to form the L, wide enough to clamp to your table saw’s rip fence.
2. Install a thin-kerf, 40-tooth ATB blade. The alternate top bevel grind produces a cleaner surface on the jointed edge than a rip blade would, and a thin kerf removes less material per pass.
3. Clamp the auxiliary fence to your rip fence, then position it so the outside face of the blade is even with the edge of the fence. This is easier to feel by running a finger along the blade tooth and the fence edge simultaneously than to judge by eye.
4. Make a relief cut into the auxiliary fence itself by running the saw with the blade raised through it. This creates the same infeed-to-outfeed offset a real jointer’s tables provide.
5. Feed your board through using the newly cut fence as your guide, keeping the workpiece tight against the fence with a featherboard if you have one.
6. Check the result. If the blade projects slightly past the fence, move the fence right and take a second light pass to true it up further.

Where This Jig Falls Short of a Real Jointer

Be clear-eyed about the limitations before relying on this as your only jointing method. It works well up to about 3/4-inch stock. Beyond that thickness, results get noticeably worse, likely because a thin-kerf blade only supported from one side starts to flex slightly under the load of thicker material. It also only handles edge jointing, not face jointing. A jointer can flatten a cupped or twisted face; this table saw technique cannot, since it has no way to reference and remove material from an uneven face the way a jointer’s offset tables do.

It’s also genuinely slower to set up than just flipping on a real jointer. Experienced woodworkers who’ve used both are honest about this: if you already own a jointer, you’ll usually still reach for it first for straightforward wood edges, and save the table saw jig specifically for abrasive sheet materials or for situations where you don’t have a jointer available at all.

Which Should You Buy First?

This comes down to what you’re actually buying lumber as. If you have easy access to a lumberyard with affordable rough-sawn stock, several experienced woodworkers specifically recommend prioritizing a planer first, since it can true up a board that’s already reasonably straight even without a jointer, and a jointer second. If your board stock tends to be bowed or twisted rather than just rough-sawn, a jointer becomes necessary sooner, since a planer alone can’t fix a board that isn’t flat to begin with.

If you’re working primarily with sheet goods and pre-surfaced lumber, prioritizing a genuinely good table saw makes more sense, and it’s worth choosing carefully since fence quality varies enormously between portable and cabinet-style saws. Our Best Cabinet Table Saw guide is worth a look if accuracy and a quality fence matter more to your work than jointing capability right now.

And if you decide the table saw jig approach makes sense for your shop, at least for now, our Jointer Jig for Table Saw guide goes deeper into building and dialing in that specific setup.

Combination Machines: A Space-Saving Middle Ground

If shop space is the real constraint rather than budget, it’s worth knowing combination machines exist specifically to address this. Some combine a table saw with a side-mounted jointer sharing the same base. Others, called jointer-planers or over-unders, combine jointing and planing functions using a shared cutterhead. These machines take up meaningfully less floor space than owning each tool separately, though switching between functions takes more setup time than a dedicated machine, and settings sometimes need to be re-established when switching back.

Common Mistakes People Make

• Assuming a table saw can flatten a warped or cupped board the way a jointer does, when its fence only works correctly against an already-straight edge
• Buying a jointer before a planer when working mostly with rough lumber, when a planer alone often gets you further with straight, unbowed stock
• Using a full-kerf or low tooth count blade for table saw edge jointing instead of a thin-kerf, 40-tooth ATB blade built for the job
• Trying to push material thicker than about 3/4 inch through a table saw jointing jig and being disappointed by the results
• Attempting to face-joint using a table saw jig, which isn’t built for that job at all, only edge jointing
• Buying a used jointer without expecting some adjustment or blade reinstallation, since even quality used jointers commonly need this

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a table saw replace a jointer entirely?

Not for rough or warped lumber. A table saw’s fence assumes the edge riding against it is already straight, and it has no mechanism to flatten a cupped or twisted face the way a jointer’s offset infeed and outfeed tables do. For pre-surfaced lumber and sheet goods, a table saw alone is often enough, since that material arrives close enough to flat and square already.

Do I need a jointer, a planer, or both?

For genuinely rough lumber, most experienced woodworkers say you eventually need both, since a jointer flattens one face and squares one edge, while a planer makes the opposite face parallel to the first and brings the board to final thickness. If budget only allows one right now and your lumber is reasonably straight to begin with, a planer alone gets more people further than a jointer alone does.

Can I use a table saw to joint an edge instead of buying a jointer?

Yes, with a shop-made auxiliary fence jig and a thin-kerf, 40-tooth ATB blade, following the same infeed-outfeed offset principle a real jointer uses. It works well on stock up to about 3/4 inch thick and only handles edges, not faces. It’s also a genuinely good technique for jointing abrasive materials like plywood or plexiglass even if you own a real jointer, since carbide blade teeth hold up to those materials far better than a jointer’s steel knives.

Which should I buy first if I can only afford one machine?

It depends on your lumber source. If you’re buying pre-surfaced lumber or working mostly with sheet goods, prioritize a quality table saw, and pair it with our Best Table Saw Blade guide to make sure you’re getting clean cuts from it. If you’re buying rough-sawn lumber regularly, a planer, and eventually a jointer, becomes necessary sooner, since no table saw technique fully replaces flattening a genuinely warped board.

Is it worth buying a used jointer to save money?

It can be, but go in aware that used jointers, like bandsaws, often need adjustment, and the knives may need reinstalling after sharpening. This isn’t a reason to avoid buying used, but it’s worth factoring into your budget and expectations rather than assuming a used jointer will perform perfectly right out of the box.

Bottom Line

A table saw and a jointer solve different problems, and treating this as a competition misses the point. If your lumber is already flat, square, and surfaced, a good table saw does the vast majority of what you need. If you’re working with rough-sawn stock, a jointer stops being optional, and pairing it with a planer is what actually gets you flat, square, consistently thick boards ready for the table saw’s fence to do its job accurately. The table saw jointing jig is a genuinely useful stopgap, and even a permanent technique for abrasive materials, but it isn’t a full substitute for a dedicated jointer once your lumber needs real correction.