In about a month, I will be embarking on a fairly large planing task: I have around 4 - 5,000 BF of rough-sawn lumber that I want to skip-plane & clean up.
Last year I picked up a 12" Powermatic PM100, and got it running well, but it still has the regular knives, and they are in bad shape. my original plan was to add a shelix head, but I can't afford that right now (over $1,000 with the bearings) so I'm considering getting carbide-tipped blades instead. The price per BF cut would likely end up about the same, maybe even less.
Would you do this, or get lots of HSS blades?
note: As of right now I don't even have a sharpening system. I'm looking into that now. (Any recommendations?)
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MY THOUGHTS:
The carbide-tipped are not nearly as robust as solid-carbide, being made of softer material. They actually are more prone to chipping than good HSS knives.
The carbide-tipped would still last much longer than HSS, so less hassles sharpening or changing them.
The carbide-tipped supposedly don't give as good a finish. - but maybe I shouldn't worry about this for the task at hand?
The carbide-tipped would be much harder to sharpen. - Can you even sharpen them?
The carbide-tipped would cost a LOT more if I hit a bunch of knots or embedded stones, etc.
All thought welcome. Thanks.