Planer Opinion Needed

[Jim Eller]

I had the Powermatic 15HH but had some lack of power issues with it.

I sent it back and got the 209HH. Glad I did. Works like a charm.

Jim

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, if you feel you will have a use for a 20 inch planer, buy it.

I have a 15 inch stationary planer, which is far larger than I need because I only plane material as wide as my jointer. (I don't plane any glued up panels for example).

Your choice of a stationary planer is a good idea in my opinion, mine is quieter, faster, and has greater capacity to hog off a relatively deep first cut than the lunchbox it replaced.

As many people say, bigger is better, however that's only if you have a use for a planer that big.

regards, Rod.

[Ron Brese]

If I were in this price range for a planer I would take a look at the Woodmaster planers. They are still American made and the customer service you get from them is first rate. They also have an infinite feed rate control, which works very nicely on figured woods, where as with the planers you are looking at you probably have a choice of two feed rates. I have owned two Woodmaster planers and the 18" one I bought back in the late 80's is still be used today and runs perfectly, I only sold it to upgrade to the 25". The 25" I got is actually only a couple of years newer than the 18" and I have since upgraded it with an insert head. It still runs great. Let me qualify this statement by saying that I have no connection with Woodmaster other than being a satisfied customer.

Ron

[John Thompson]

I debated over 15" and 20" as most that are in the position do. I almost purchased the Steel City 15"... but I stumbled across the last Yorkcraft 20" and Bridgewood industrial floor morticer Curt Wilke had at Wilke Machinery before he dropped importing them.

The 20" Yorkie is idenical to the Grizzly 20" and I made the right decision at $1047. I ran an 18" bed foot-board through after glue-up last week. A 15" would have required planing and then glue-up. And of course there are times I could use one even larger than 20".

So... IMO best to purchase the largest you can if the budget and floor space permits. If you don't.... you will probably wish you did latter when you have it up for re-sale and replacing with a larger.

Sarge..

[John Economou]

Thanks for all of the excellent replies. I did pull the trigger on the 20". As I said earlier, I am new to woodworking but I hear a lot of stories about people buying small and then regretting having to buy bigger later. For me there is a fine line between what I can afford and the quality of tools. I really want to have good excellent equipment to start with, even if it takes me a longer to buy everything I need. I am still in the market for a band saw and a drill press but those will have to wait a bit.