Woodmaster 21" - Using as planer

[andrew whicker]

Hi,

I would love to upgrade my 12" Delta / Rockwell RC33. I see a used Woodmaster for sale in my area. Has anyone used these for planing? Good results?

cheers,

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had an 18" and it was a lousy planer. Huge snipe, poor feed performance. The rollers were much too far from the head. Maybe they're not all like that, but I was not impressed.

[andrew whicker]

As I expected. Assuming it is a 'too good to be true' tool / price.

[Bob Falk]

I am a hobbist and have an 18" woodmaster with a spiral head. Planes great, however snipe is an issue.....I always expect about 4" of snipe at each end of a board and plan accordingly. I think a woodmaster is a good machine. I have moulded a house full of interior and exterior trim, sanded hundreds of bf of lumber, and planed even more. Before I bought mine (used), my impression was that they were junk. Not true. IMO, a well built, useful machine.

[John TenEyck]

Woodmaster, Foley-Belsaw, there were several companies making pretty much the same simple, rugged, machines. I had a FB for about 5 years, 12" wide with a 5 hp motor on it that would go through anything. I made a lot of molding with it, too, not quite as nice as what my Williams and Hussey made but still very good quality. As a planer it worked fine, snipe was minimal. If I needed a planer I wouldn't shy away from a Woodmaster at a good price.

John

[Richard Coers]

If you like old cast iron, that is not the machine to buy. I tested one when working at Woodworker's Journal. I was raised as a farm boy and that machine has the look and feel of coming from a farm shop. All fabricated steel, the elevation crank was a bent steel bar with a loose wood handle on it. It did a nice job for the short testing I did on it, except for the sanding head option. This machine just used the steel bed with no feed belt to move the stock through. Once the top of the board got a little sawdust on it, the planer feed rolls had trouble feeding the board. Plenty of horsepower.

[John TenEyck]

Yep, it's a crude looking collection of stamped metal parts, bushings, and bearings, to be sure, and it runs and runs all day long w/o complaint. Guys run molding on them day in and day out. The FB machine I had had seen so much use that the planer bed was worn down in the middle from all the wood that had been across it. I filled in the swale with Bondo, leveled it, put a SS cover on top and planed thousands of BF with it w/o issue.

If you are looking for a pretty, precise machine this ain't it, but if you need a rugged and reliable one it's worth a look.

John

[Ronald Blue]

Yep, it's a crude looking collection of stamped metal parts, bushings, and bearings, to be sure, and it runs and runs all day long w/o complaint. Guys run molding on them day in and day out. The FB machine I had had seen so much use that the planer bed was worn down in the middle from all the wood that had been across it. I filled in the swale with Bondo, leveled it, put a SS cover on top and planed thousands of BF with it w/o issue.

If you are looking for a pretty, precise machine this ain't it, but if you need a rugged and reliable one it's worth a look.

John

This is the sort of info that's beneficial. Real experience doing more than just a test cut. So you wouldn't hesitate to buy one? There is a 25" for sale a couple hours from me with the helical head. He wants new price though so he still has it. I guess he feels it's worth that but not sure why. If I am paying new price I can have it delivered to my door and not have to go load it and unload it plus have a warranty.

[Warren Lake]

I have the smaller one. Paid 1,000.00 or less for it. Past owner had bent the shaft. Put a new shaft in and had a new corrugated head made. Doubled up on the bearings by putting the same second set on the outside. Its a very light machine and I only believe in mass.

Because the head is larger than stock the bearings heat up so cant run it for hours but not a big deal usually dont need to, I run it then do something else then run it again. It cuts clean. I can make a crown molding in one pass. Understand the machines have a gear motor and that has huge value. I can dial down, put a crown in and some very low feed rate and have a clean molding come out the other side. My SCM is 20 FPM and I slow it down kicking it in and out of gear that way it never gets up to speed. I need to modify it so I can dial in any feed rate like you can with the gear motor on the woodmaster. I want to step up to Micron.

[andrew whicker]

I appreciate the responses...

So it sounds like it is a good machine, plenty of power, but do expect 'unrefined' results.. i.e. snipe.

[Warren Lake]

I had no major issues with snipe. Old photos off a video camera so not great. I see no snipe.


DVC09125A.jpgDVC09132A.jpg

[andrew whicker]

Looks pretty clean to me

[Warren Lake]

IF your focus in a planer then id get a planer. I have thought about running birdseye through on straight knives to try the slow feed rates. I had a canadian General planer from new, then got an old SCM and it was better. For the amount I had put through machines id want to use a planer for planing then this for molding not as a main planer.

[John TenEyck]

This is the sort of info that's beneficial. Real experience doing more than just a test cut. So you wouldn't hesitate to buy one? There is a 25" for sale a couple hours from me with the helical head. He wants new price though so he still has it. I guess he feels it's worth that but not sure why. If I am paying new price I can have it delivered to my door and not have to go load it and unload it plus have a warranty.

I did not hesitate to buy the FB I had when I saw it for $275. I put $75 in new bushings and springs into it and fixed the dished planer bed. I ran it for 4 or 5 years w/o issue, and sold it for $450 when I bought a used Minimax J/P. I would never pay list price for a used machine and suggest you don't either.

My FB had a normal Baldor motor in it. It could and did run all day long w/o overheating. As I said, crude, rugged, and reliable machine.

John

[Warren Lake]

5 HP Leeson it didnt overheat, the bearings got hot, larger head swinging more weight.