Benchtop planer recommendations?

[dennis thompson]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a benchtop planer? I saw one review which indicated that rhe Ridgid was a pretty good one for the price (which was about $400.)
Thanks
Dennis

[glenn bradley]

First choice DeWalt 735 (3 knives, 2 speeds), Second choice DeWalt 734 (3 knives, 1 speed), The Ridgid gets good reviews but I have no experience.

[Todd Hoppe]

I have a very good experience with the DeWalt 734. Knives are disposable, but reversible. Also, you can generally find pretty good deals on replacement knives on eBay. The only drawback (which is the same as any lunchbox planer)... its LOUD.

[frank shic]

the ridgid 13" is working well for me.

[mike roe]

i have the dewalt 734 and it hasnt met anything it cant handle - plus with a deal from amazon it was only 228.

[Gary Keedwell]

I have the De Walt 733 but they don't sell them new anymore. Too bad...it works great.
Gary K.

[Tom Henry]

I have a 13 Delta that works great...

[Ed Peters]

I prefer the 13" craftsman. It is solid, uses double sided knives and has it's own dust collection built in. I work exclusively with oak and this unit has never left me down. However, if I was to replace it, I would go with the 13"planer/moulder combination machine. It would probably spend most of it's time churning out molding but would be a reliable second planer if the need came up.

Ed

[Darl Bundren]

I have the Ridgid and like it a lot. It planes well, and I really like the depth stops--I can plane some wood; then, weeks later when I am back in the shop, I can get the exact same depth again if I need to. You'll need to get dust collection with it, though, if you don't already have it.

[Rick Gooden]

Take a good look at Makita, relatively quiet for a planer and yields excellent results.

[Jack Ganssle]

Love my Rigid. A vac works great with it, and I bet a real dust collection system would work better. For the price it comes with a stand, infeed/outfee tables, double-sided knives... and, a spare pair of those.

I had a great day today in the shop working with it and the other tools. What fun it is to have square, flat stock. Man, that sounds geeky!

Jack

[Curt Harms]

Love my Rigid. A vac works great with it, and I bet a real dust collection system would work better. For the price it comes with a stand, infeed/outfee tables, double-sided knives... and, a spare pair of those.

I had a great day today in the shop working with it and the other tools. What fun it is to have square, flat stock. Man, that sounds geeky!

Jack

It may sound geeky but it's oh so true. I had a planer before I had a jointer. Life was good with the planer but when I got a jointer and learned about face jointing, life was even better. A planer will not remove warp or twist, just make 2 parallel faces. Face jointing will make one face flat, then run that face down thru the planer to create a second flat face. Joinery is so much easier when everything is flat and square. It is possible to make a sled for a planer to flatten stock but I didn't know about that before I got a jointer.

HTH

Curt

[Gary Herrmann]

Really liked my DW735 before I upgraded.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Dennis,
I have no specific recommendation. However, here's a couple of thoughts about portable planers:

- Buy one with a locking head to reduce snipe. Portables are notorious for snipe.

- Although they say that they are portable, they really aren't. At least to my aging body they aren't. Building a nice mobile stand for it is a fun project. Perhaps one that also sports swing up infeed and outfeed tables.

- As said above, they are screamin' loud!

- The finish is silky smooth. But you can only take light cuts (1/32" max).

- They have 15amp motors. They need a dedicated 120V outlet or unplug/turn off anything else that's on the circuit too.

- Every model I've seen uses disposable blades...usually double sided though. Some can be very costly to replace $40+.

- You may want to look at factory reburbished planers. They are about $150 less and have a factory warranty.

Happy shopping,
Jeff

[Emmanuel Weber]

I have the Ridgid jointer and its working fine for me. It is very easy to get repeatable thickness and the knifes are durable. On the downside it is a noisy machine.