knives for the dewalt 735

[John Kali]

Does anybody make better knives for this machine, the factory knives dull very quickly, and at 55 dollars a set I dont want to be replacing them every month or so.
Thanks in advance!

[Don Bullock]

Call DeWALT and complain. I've read that others complained about the knives and DeWALT sent them a set. According to the posts I've read, some planers were shipped with knoves that didn't hold up as well as they should. It wouldn't hurt to try. The worst they can do is say, "No."

[Fred Voorhees]

John, I have to ask....what are you feeding through the machine? I have the 735 and have been using it for about three years now and still haven't rotated the original blades to the second side yet. They are still giving me creditable service. Maybe I am one the lucky ones.

I will say this..I just had a good experience with DeWalt. I recently had a small jam up with the machine and needed to take the cover off and get inside. I went looking for the manual where I keep all of my shop machines manuals and for some godforesaken reason, I couldn't find the manual for the planer. I searched high and low for it.....couldn't be found. I decided to call DeWalt to see if they could send me another copy. Heck, I would even be willing to pay for a replacement. Well, I called and the person I spoke with was pleasant and offered a free manual replacement and would send it out toot sweet. There was recently a thread on this forum pertaining to DeWalt replacing prematurely dulled knives and I simply asked if that was true. He actually told me no that they couldn't do that. I found that somewhat puzzling since I had read about so many woodworkers experiencing the opposite. Mind you, I hadn't actually even asked about getting a new pair for myself, I simply asked if it were their policy to supply a free replacement if the originals dulled rather quickly.

A few days later, I got a package that had DeWalt in the return address spot. Oh, Ok, my manual has arrived. Nope, it was a set of new knives for the planer. I hadn't even requested them. A few days after that....my manual came also.

[Allen Bookout]

Infinity has knives and I have had really good luck with their products. Not cheap but high quality which can result in savings in the long run.

[John Kali]

I just got my planer about two weeks ago, and ran a few cutting boards through. They are made of walnut and hard maple, I know these are hard woods, but the planer is only two weeks old and already chips in the blades are creating verry noticable lines in the wood. I know I can move the blades slightly side to side to eliminate this problem, but what do I do when this problen reapeeres in another two weeks? Also it seems as though the chips in blades are getting larger with every use, making the lines bigger and more noticeable.

That said, it is nice to know Dewalt is good about fixing the problem and sending replacement set!

[John Kali]

Infinity has knives and I have had really good luck with their products. Not cheap but high quality which can result in savings in the long run.

Cool thanks!

[Mike Henderson]

DeWalt used to make the manual for the 735 available on the web (in PDF). If you can't find it, I have a copy that I downloaded about a year ago and have posted it here.

Mike

[Dave Malen]

John,
I don't think you can move the blades side to side on the dewalt 735. The blades are indexed. Like fred I've had mine a while with no problems at all.
Dave

[John Kali]

Thanks for the help everyone, maybe I am just worrying too much.

[Brad Townsend]

I just got my planer about two weeks ago, and ran a few cutting boards through. They are made of walnut and hard maple, I know these are hard woods, but the planer is only two weeks old and already chips in the blades are creating verry noticable lines in the wood. I know I can move the blades slightly side to side to eliminate this problem, but what do I do when this problen reapeeres in another two weeks? Also it seems as though the chips in blades are getting larger with every use, making the lines bigger and more noticeable.

That said, it is nice to know Dewalt is good about fixing the problem and sending replacement set!

Like you, when I first used my 735, I was so taken with that beautiful glass-smooth surface that it was a bit of a downer when the first lines showed up. I've used the machine two years now and I've learned that when the lines show up, the knives are not to be considered dull. They still plane wood. You just have to resign your self to the fact that you will have to sand. There is no free lunch. The lines actually sand out very easily. A planer is a dimensioning tool, not a finishing tool. In spite of its beautiful surfacing with new knives, the 735 is no different from any other planer it that respect. The knives will still plane many board feet long after those nick lines first appear.

The other encouragement I can offer you is that I have had good success at resharpening the "disposable" knives. I bought a Woodcraft horizontal wetstone sharpener with an optional planer knife jig on sale for a little over $100 and a lite sharpening with it will make the dull knives perform like new. I will resharpen them twice before pitching them. (It might even work for a third resharpening, but I never pushed it that far.) The sharpener has paid for itself several times over.

[John Gregory]

I just got my planer about two weeks ago, and ran a few cutting boards through. They are made of walnut and hard maple, I know these are hard woods, but the planer is only two weeks old and already chips in the blades are creating verry noticable lines in the wood. I know I can move the blades slightly side to side to eliminate this problem, but what do I do when this problen reapeeres in another two weeks? Also it seems as though the chips in blades are getting larger with every use, making the lines bigger and more noticeable.

That said, it is nice to know Dewalt is good about fixing the problem and sending replacement set!

Are your cutting boards end grain? Planing that can be hard on planer knives.

[John Kali]

Thanks again everyone, great responses!!

[Steve Prill]

Actually, you can move the blades side to side. The blade indexing pin holes are slotted a bit to allow side movement but not depth movement. I install new blades with all the blades positioned to the right or left. Then when the nick-lines really start to bug me, I just move one blade and the lines are gone. You can move at least two blades over the life of the blade edges for nickless planning (moving the third blade just gets you back to your original set of nicks). Since the blades are double sided you can get at least six nickless shots at planning (the original install plus two reindexes).

Cheers,
Steve

[Keith Beck]

Call DeWALT and complain. I've read that others complained about the knives and DeWALT sent them a set. According to the posts I've read, some planers were shipped with knoves that didn't hold up as well as they should. It wouldn't hurt to try. The worst they can do is say, "No."

Yep, got me a free set this way. I actually just e-mailed them via their website. Never got a response back from them, but the knives showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks later.

Keith

[Fred Voorhees]

Are your cutting boards end grain? Planing that can be hard on planer knives.

Exactly what I thought when I saw that. End grain = tough planing. I personally wouldn't consider such a thing.