Recommendations on desktop planer around $3-500?

[JavadS]

Been looking at Amazon reviews, the Dewalt 13" and Makita have good reviews, anyone with personal experience or recommendations? Thanks! Javad

[engr_dave]

The Dewalt 3-blader is pretty rugged and effective for a desktop planer. My friend did all of the millwork for a 4000 sq ft house in solid knotty alder (including making his own doors, cabinets, baseboards and trim) using one.

[ugly woofer]

I have the 13" delta....its works well, and you probably know that delta and dewalt are owned by the same company, the biggest difference I can see is that the delta is only a single speed unit, but if you take light cuts it really isn't a problem, but having said that if I were to do it again I would most likely buy a 15" helical planer for a few hundred more. My thought is buy it once and be done.....I've never said gee I wish I would have bought the smaller one.

[JavadS]

Great advice guys and Thanks Nick! This unit looks interesting Cutech 40200H-CT 13" Spiral Cutterhead Planer - Professional Model https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011QLKNZ8..._ykIUxb8R5B0NC

[skatz]

I have no hands on with these, but Wood mag Oct '16 issue picked the Porter Cable bench top jointer for their Idea shop.

[JDCrae]

Helical cutterhead is going to be the best factor to look for if you can afford it. They give a much better cut, stay sharper longer and are stronger. There is a company out there that makes helical cutters for current planers, but they are incredibly expensive. Grizzly makes some nice planers that I personally am looking at. Currently I am using an old Bosch router. Despite only being a 10 inch router, it has been doing a good job for my projects.

[jhollander]

I use the Dewalt 734, which has worked well for me. Mostly light passes. Decent performance on wavy grain.

[Anji12305]

Is the intention to use solid wood in building speaker cabinets, or another application? Without a companion jointer, to get a flat reference surface - a lunchbox planer will only make opposite faces parallel. If the usage is only for a few cabinets, consider having an established cabinet maker mill pieces for you. That leaves the casual user money ahead to buy nicer stock, veneers, etc. Anyone considering such a purchase should also invest in dust control. Nothing throws chips like a planer. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[1100xxben]

My father bought a DeWalt 735 about 12 years ago. I used it several times and the finish that it can produce is absolutely amazing. I bought one about 7-8 years ago and have had no problems with it. I use it on lots of hard woods (walnut, oak, maple, ash) and it works great and produces the smoothest finish I've ever seen right out of a planer. I have it hooked to my dust collector and it gets about 99.9% of the shavings. It is a little on the slow side, but that's why it produces such a smooth finish. One of the nice things about it is that it has an automatic locking bar, so you don't have to set and release it before/after each pass. If you think you need a helical cutter head, there are aftermarket heads out there, but they are pricey. Honestly though, the finish from this planer is quite spectacular. Personally, I'd rather save my money on a helical cutter head and use it to purchase a drum sander some day.

[skatz]

My apologies, a brain fart. I thought you were after a jointer, not a planer for some reason.

[JavadS]

I have a few goals in getting a planer, certainly all for light hobbyist use.

1 - At my company we get lots of pallets and I've been looking at them lately and some are made from some very nice hardwood, would be fun to turn this into a source of speaker building materials, as well as the idea of reclaiming this wood for life of sonic purity.

2 - there are some really nice small lumber processors out there that fell oak and walnut tree then sell off the wood.

Thanks!
Javad

[JavadS]

JDCrae can you check out the cutech planets on Amazon, they look promising and have some good reviews.

Thank you for the votes of confidence in [email protected] , my only concern is rapid dulling of the cutter blades, not an issue?

Thanks!
Javad

[1100xxben]

JDCrae can you check out the cutech planets on Amazon, they look promising and have some good reviews.

Thank you for the votes of confidence in [email protected] , my only concern is rapid dulling of the cutter blades, not an issue?

Thanks!
Javad

The inexpensive blades that come with the planer and the stock replacement blades can dull quickly if you use them on a lot of really hard wood. They are double edged blades, so once they dull, you can flip them around. However, the blades are indexed and not adjustable... this is both a blessing and a curse. It is stupid simple to install the blades as all you have to do is drop them in place and torque them down. There is absolutely nothing to adjust to get perfectly flat cuts, but that also means the blades are disposable and cannot be sharpened. You can buy a set of carbide blades that will last significantly longer, but they are pricey, and all it takes is one missed nail/staple/rock to put a notch in your blade and ruin it.

[JDCrae]

JavadS - I did check out the link. The spiral head certainly is an improvement over straight blades, but the problem I have with it, is I would not mess with something designed to be slightly better than the straight blades, but knowingly worse than helical. In my opinion- if you can't afford a helical, search on CL for an old Delta, Bridgeport, Powermatic or Grizzly. The old were built much better, much stronger, and typically had better blades too, which would be sharpened instead of replaced.

At the end of the day- most people I know don't use a planer for finish work. That is for card scrapers, hand planes, or sandpaper if you are a sanding kind of guy. The thickness planer, as it is aptly named, is only designed for thicknessing material, milling it down to size. It was never intended for finish work. Quality among some planers are in fact pretty close to finish quality, but honestly don't think that was the intention. Designed to shorten finishing work? Sure, designed to eliminate it, ? No

[1100xxben]

JavadSAt the end of the day- most people I know don't use a planer for finish work. That is for card scrapers, hand planes, or sandpaper if you are a sanding kind of guy. The thickness planer, as it is aptly named, is only designed for thicknessing material, milling it down to size. It was never intended for finish work. Quality among some planers are in fact pretty close to finish quality, but honestly don't think that was the intention. Designed to shorten finishing work? Sure, designed to eliminate it, ? No

I completely agree with this and tried to convey it in my earlier post, but JDCrae worded it so much better than I. This is why I said I'd save my money on a helical cutter head and buy a finish drum sander instead.