As my interest in playing with wood in the garage increases I am looking into acquiring a new tool. A planer in the 12" range.
Lets say I occasionally want to thin down lumber or surface rough sawn stock. Mostly hardwoods, probably nothing ever over 10" wide. For instance, right now I have a 8'X10" 8/4 slab of mahogany that I would love to take down to 6/4.
Shopping the Lowes Depot type store I see only portable Ryobi/Dewalt/Delta stuff in the $300-500 range. Looking at craigslist I see all manner of machines from $150-5000. 20 year old no-name imports, older delta, the same stuff from the home centers for a $20 price break. I also see giant vintage machines that by swapping out the 3 phase motors and a little rehab would probably eat up everything I could stuff into them.
Here is the thing. I am not interested in another hobby or project. I just want a tool, but it isn't a tool I will use much more than once or twice a month so the cheapskate part of me starts to take over. Also I have a small shop and being able to hide it under a bench when not in use is appealing.
Will the portable LowesDepot Delta/Ryobi/Dewalt do a decent job? Are they a pain to set up? Will they stay set up for extended periods of time? Is the Grizzly level a step up?
I remember the last time I used a planer for a big job it was a 70's Craftsman that needed blade adjustments every other board. That sucked, Berk that I don't want that hassle.
Help me make sawdust please.
My dad has the portable delta screwed to a table and we've been using it for close to 25 years. He runs reclaimed wood through it all the time and buys rough sawn material from the sawmill to build furniture. I would recommend it to anyone.
Good blades and good attention to detail on setup make all the difference. Ive had 220 powered machines that were a bitch, and a yardsale ryobi tailgate planer that is a pleasure. The bigger, heavier machines make better cuts and take fewer passes than the small tailgate jobs, but take up much more real estate and money. Light passes, sharp blades, waxwd tables, good setup and a tailgate planer does the job.
If the vintage CL machine was in good shape, I'd trust it more than new ones. Unless its very high dollar, new machines seem to lack the durability of old hardware.
We have this Ridgid R4330 at our maker space, and I've been very impressed with it.
I've only run pine through it, but I've seen hard maple, mahogany, walnut and cherry go through it and never hesitated. It also hasn't been adjusted in the last year. I thought the finish was very good for a LowesDepot machine. The features that make it cost more are worthless IMO, so maybe the next step down would help save a few bucks.
The only thing that slowed it down was nails in pallet wood, but I understand the blades were pretty straight forward to replace.
I have a Craftsman, same as Sunhill. Love it. Better than the home center planners. The recent Jet planer/jointer is total crap. Spend a couple hundred more and get a tool you'll have the rest of your life.
Kramer said:
I have a Craftsman, same as Sunhill. Love it. Better than the home center planners. The recent Jet planer/jointer is total crap. Spend a couple hundred more and get a tool you'll have the rest of your life.
And it looks like Sunhill is out of business. Find a good used Delta or Powermatic.
I am a woodworker (among other things). I own and older Dewalt 2 blade 12" portable planer and have used dozens of other planers up to a 3phase 40" Oliver from the 40's. Mostly I build cabinets and case work and some furniture.I find that the Dewalt is my go to planer(incidentally its also the only planer that survived the "great recession of 08'). It is simple to use and easy to change the blades when they get dull. the single biggest improvement I ever made to the Dewalt was removing the fold up in-feed/out-feed tables and replacing them with an 8' continuous in/out-feed table,with adjustable feet. When planing longer stock on the portable planers snipe becomes an issue, the longer out-feed table provides more support and thus reduces snipe.Where the portable planer fall short is in production work, i.e. thickness planing enough lumber for a piece of furniture they do fine, running a room of flooring one would probably want a larger machine.Another thing that I would look for in a portable planer is 2 speed gear box as it simply make it more versatile. However that may be overkill for your needs/budget.
Spending $350 on a planer is only going to get you to want to spend $1000 on a planer. Get a dewalt 735, and that should be all you need for a VERY long time.
If/when possible, do your planing outside, wear ear and eye pro always.
Build a sled so you can do surface jointing, and edge joint narrow boards for glue-ups.
Eventually, you can replace the cutter head in the 735 with one that takes carbide inserts, but that's all you're likely to want to do.
Keep your eyes on your local craigslists for any big industrial planers that already have a shelix cutter head going for cheap, but that's a big commitment in terms of floor space. There's a Cutech on the Eugene craigslist, which has some mixed reviews, but might be worth a demo.
In reply to Jumper K. Balls :
I started with a basic Delta bench top but I had soooooo much wood to work I bought a second one. 55,000 be ft of hardwood
I eventually bought a 20 inch wide Grizzly. That has been my go to planer
however for occasional use the bench tops are fine. Word among wood workers is the Mikita brand is a real durable one.
