Unlike most tool reviews where reviewer has spent 20 minutes with the tool, this is my impressions after a year of serious use. I purchased this after much research last spring. The company I work for pays out a big bonus at the end of Q1 each year. I spend a portion of it on a big ticket tool. Something I can’t justify buying out of our monthly budget. In 2020 it was a big 19″ Delta drill press. In 2021, it was this planer.
My previous one was a Steel City 13″ bench-top model with a spiral cutter using little carbide inserts. When I got it, it cut like a dream. Especially compared to the Delta planer I had previously. But, after 15 years of hard use, it was struggling. I get most of the wood I use as rough lumber, so it’s not a stretch to estimate several thousand board feet went through that thing. It had issues: the cutter head lock no longer locked, the inserts were fussy to get all at the same height. And, a cap screw fell out of it and I couldn’t determine where it came from. Seriously, I took it apart as far as I was comfortable (and that’s pretty far) and there wasn’t any likely looking spot for that bolt. It was time to replace it before it blew up in the middle of a project.
In a perfect world, I would get a https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-15-3-hp-fixed-table-planer-w-helical-cutterhead/g0891220v 15″ planer with nice cast iron tables and a helical cutters. But, my basement shop just doesn’t have room for a monster like that. One day…
After much research the best planer that isn’t a giant chunk of iron is this DeWalt. Yes, it’s only 120V, and it doesn’t have a helical cutter, it uses a set of 3 straight knives. That’s not happiness. On the other hand, it’s a third or less of the price of my dream planer, so there’s some room in the budget for upgrades.
Byrd Tool Co. makes a line of replacement cutter heads for pretty much every brand of planers and jointers. You can give any straight knife machine a helical cutter head. As long as you’re comfortable taking the machine apart to that degree. I am; they come with a parts diagram, so what the hell? Pass me the socket set. I had previously upgraded my 6″ Grizzly jointer with one of these head and it works great. They aren’t cheap. The head for this machine was over $450 including shipping and tax.
So all in, I paid around $1100 for the planer. Expensive for a bench-top planer to be sure, but still less than half the price of anything that’s a noticeable upgrade from it. Remember, this is bonus money, so we can be a little extravagant.
I purchased this from Amazon, somewhat nervously. Shipping is what concerned me. The UPS folks in my area are not gentle creatures. But, the local big box stores didn’t have any and didn’t know when they might get more stock. So, Amazon it is. Speaking of shipping, this one item made my Prime membership worth it for the year. The planer weighs 92 lbs not counting packaging. In any case, it did arrive undamaged so all is well.
A note: this planer coming is 3 varieties: just the planer, planer + tables and an extra set of blades, and planer + tables + blades and a stand. It’s up to you whether the stand is worth it or not. But, do not cheap out and get just the planer; you will be sorry. You need in-feed and out-feed tables and if you think you can save a couple bucks now and source them later, you’re wrong. They are unobtainium. Yes, DeWalt lists them as available accessories, but no one has them, including DeWalt. I didn’t want the extra blade, I had a Byrd head coming, but the tables are critical, so that’s the option I took.
The helical heads are made to order, so it was going to take a couple of weeks to arrive. No worries, I would get a chance to see how the planer did with the straight knives. Like most straight knife planers, the blades are reversible, so I had effectively 4 sets to burn through. I figured I would use them up and then install the new head.
How did they do? They did really well actually. Even on the “fast” speed the finish was better than the worn out Steel City (which I sold on CraigsList for $250, score). Just for a test I processed some of the framing I recovered from opening up the basement shop for more room. Naturally, the second board had a nail in it I missed and nicked the knives…So, I immediately got to learn how to open it up and flip the knives around. In theory, you can shift the knives left and right a smidge to cover a nick, but that didn’t work in the case for whatever reason. No worries, these are disposable and I had a whole set on standby.
Since March, I have processed a boat-load of red and white oak for various projects. A couple hundred board feet altogether. And that set of blades lasted until December. I just installed that second set of knives. It could be another year before I install the Byrd helical head sitting in it’s box under the planer.
Pros
- Blades last a surprisingly long time
- Finish is very good
- It has an internal fan to blow chips out.
Cons
- This planer is VERY loud. Over 110 dB at the machine. Add in your dust collection and it’s best done when no one else is home.
- It’s 120V, you will trip the breaker. That said, the onboard breaker as fired first every time.
- Snipe. This is endemic to these folding table planers. Assume 3″ on either end of the board are kindling unless you have the latitude to sand/plane off the snipe or hide it on the inside.
- It’s Heavy. You will want it on a cart or permanent bench.
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Overall, I am quite happy with this planer. Given the track record others have had with this model, it should last me until I am safely ensconced in my own shop building with the room and the wiring to support a big cabinet based unit.