Any love for the Dewalt DX735X? Is there a better planar in that price range?

[Justin Pfenning]

I'm considering purchasing a Dewalt DW735X and adding the Byrd insert cutter. looks like I can get this done for about $1000. I've been watching Craigslist for a used machine with around 13" wide capacity, but not much has shown up. I did have a line on an old Delta 13" machine for around $800, but I let it slip away due to the timing. I want to have something ready to make chips by spring time, so I'm not in a huge hurry. What do you guys think I should do? I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a Grizzly G0513X2 with 12" resaw capability, so 13" range on a planar makes sense to me.

Justin Pfenning

[Steve Mellott]

Justin:

When I do resawing, it typically results in relatively thin boards - oftentimes 1/4" or less. I find a wide belt sander a better tool than a planer to clean up this type of work. Just my 2 cents - others may have different opinions. PS - I do have a Dewalt 735 planer and I really like it - I just don't use it to clean up resawn lumber.

[Keith Hankins]

Well, if it were me, Id wait for a CL item to come it will happen. I waited for over a year for an old 20" to show up and was not sorry. I've had the Griz 17"hd for over 10 years now and it's a good saw. I use it exclusively for resawing. I have a Laguna resaw king carbide blade, and the finish cut is unreal! Say you are a memeber here and get a big discount.

Good luck

[Mike Ontko]

I've got the DW735 and have been happy with it so far. I bought the extension wings with it (for around $50) to support longer pieces and help minimize on snipe. And though I like the idea of switching to a helical/spiral cutter head, I'm sticking with the factory knives until they begin to show signs of wearing. Despite the obvious advantages of the segmented cutter head, there's no sense in throwing out something that's already been paid for.

[Myk Rian]

$1,000. That's about what I have in mine. No need for anything else.
I put it on a flip-top table with my sander on the other side.

[Jon Nuckles]

It is a big step above other planers of similar size that I have used. I don't know if the spiral head is worth the price of the upgrade. The straight knives give a very good finish, are easy to change, and are relatively inexpensive. You may end up wanting to change, but try it out for a while before deciding.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I love my 735. You can buy them new pretty easily for $550. I use carbide tipped straight blades and they last much longer than the stock knives. My guess is that for "easy" wood, it leaves a better surface than the helical head. That said, I think that I would like a helical head, but my 735 is old enough that I expect it to fail... but it does not.

When you start talking $1000 dollars, I start thinking about a 15" planer from grizzley, of course, you still need to add another $500 on top of that for the fancy cutter head. I like the Dewalt because of the size factor and because it works well for me.

[Scott Brihn]

I used a 735 with straight knives for 10 years. It is a terrific planer if you can deal with noise and taking off wood in small passes. The Byrd head will quiet it down some but in the end you still have noise from the universal motor (think Craftsman Shop vac from the 90s). In retrospect it would have been better for me to purchase a 15" planer with TEFC motor right off the bat.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Know anybody making a road trip to central NC soon? There is a Delta Invicta 13" with Byrd head for $900 on NC Woodworker.

[cody michael]

If you watch craigslist Ling enough you can get great deals, I just recently bought a 20 inch grizzly in good shape for 500$ works great, good dust collection, 3 horse 220 motor. For me I would never get a 120 planer. I had a ridgid 13 inch and craftsman 15 in both under powered for any size board.

[Mike Fusick]

I'm in the market for a planer for about $500. Had my eye on the 735, the grizzly and the Ridgid.

[Joe Craven]

I don't have anything to compare it to, but I recently picked up a Steel City 40200h at the local Woodcraft for $500...that was retail and cheaper than Amazon.

It's 13" w/ helical blades and, IMO, performs very well...

[glenn bradley]

No disrespect to the Steel City offering but, let's remember that those are 2-sided HSS inserts, not 4-sided carbide inserts. Your carbide inserts will last 10 times longer per side resulting in a large money savings. That being said, turning a lunchbox planer into a $1000 machine is something I started to entertain. I ended up going with a floor model with a spiral head. Here's some differences from my experience:

- The floor standing machine takes up about the same room as a lunchbox planer with infeed and outfeed tables.
- The floor model does not have the chassis flex of benchtop tools and your technique will be a bit different.
- The floor model is NOT a finish planer and the metal feed rollers can leave marks on softer stock although this can be adjusted to near-non-existent.
- The floor model is quieter.
- The Benchtop model can be moved around but, a DW735 is about 90 lbs so it is no cake-walk.
- The Benchtop model is screamer but, the helical head is said to be quieter by those that have gone this route.
- The DW735 specifically has great dust collection for those with a less than optimal dust collection system.

For almost any planer, the consideration for me is not how tall my resaw capability is but, rather, how wide my jointer is. I did not have the room for a much larger jointer than my 8" although I would love a larger one. the occasion for jointing over 8" is fairly rare for me and I do have a nice planer sled that does a great job on boards up to the width of my planer. I also have a drum sander but, generally remove saw marks from resawing with the planer; not always but, generally. This is just a choice, not a right or wrong. Just my .02.

[Art Mann]

In my opinion, Glenn gets the gold star for the best post.

[Lee Reep]

I love my DW735. I've had it for 7 or 8 years. I've not done the upgrade to helical, and not sure I ever will. The HSS knives give incredibly smooth cuts. I use carbide blades on saws and routers, but sometimes HSS is just fine. For wood turning, my HSS skew will give a far smoother cut than my carbide tool. I'd equate it to using good hand plane in terms of surface finish.

I'd recommend you use the standard knives and see if they are to your liking. You can always add a helical head later.