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And, yes, it takes its toll on the blades. A neighbor makes fun of how often I change the blades with the hickory but then, he has a six thousand dollar planer. Also, I use Mineral Spirits to clean the bed every so many board feet. I've been planing rough sawn hickory with mine since I got it. But, I came in and read the reviews before purchasing this planer (my older brother also got one) and several had some really good suggestions on how to minimize the issues that come up. For my budget, this was and has been a good purchase for me. Using wax paper on the bed every so often really helps.
I get about 70 bd ft before I need to change the blades but since they're double sided, I really get about 140+ bd ft per set of blades. I routinely use it to plane rough hardwoods such as maple, oak, hickory, and walnut. I have been using this planer for about two years and still love it. I always run the boards over my joiner first, otherwise this planer has trouble with warped and rough boards. I'm very happy with this planer and I would buy it again anytime. I love how easy it is to change the blades, even thought they are rather expensive.
with that said, here is my review:The planer itself is not enough to give cabinet grade finishes. Also, I'm more a weekend warrior. It increases the precision of the tool overall. Where I have had problems with snipe is when the wood i'm planing is slightly warped.
the second addition (this is the expensive one) is the carbide knives. and the planed surface is perfect in my opinion. Those blades will wear down very quickly. I have no idea why these were not included with the planer.
I wanted a quality bench top planer instead of a stand-alone due to limited space (still have to get the car in the garage). The carbide makes a noticeable difference on how the planer sounds (less load on the motor). I have run a few bf of white and red oak thru it so far with the new blades(i will update my review as i get more use out of it). I added the runout tables (for 50 bucks) and it drastically reduced if not eliminated the snipe.
The first addition is the runout tables. Next project is and 8/4 cherry kitchen table. unfortunately snipe is unavoidable in this situation and i don't think any planer would make that different. The factory blades would hold up if your planing 1/32 at a time and your not planing any extremely hard woods like Teak (and honestly i wouldn't feel comfortable planing mahogany with the factory blades). I don't do woodworking for a living, i do it for fun. I am very pleased with the planer. If your planning to take large cuts with the factory blades you can forget it. I have it and love it.
I have no idea. I knew this when purchasing the planer and soon after i purchased the carbide knives (250 bucks) from Infinity Tools (you can find it here on amazon). This was also my first planer. You have to put another 300 dollars into it for that. I always due a lot of research before buying any expensive new tool and this was no exception. It is virtually impossible to eliminate snipe without them. total i have 800 bucks invested into it which is still under 1500+ for the stand-alone and i feel i am getting the same quality and durability.If you want to spend more money: wixey makes a digital readout gage (about 50 bucks again) that bolts right up to this planer. I am looking forward to seeing how the planer performs.I gave this planer 4 stars mostly due to the cost to get it up to my standards.
Those blades took my dewalt planer to a whole new level. so i couldn't justify 1500+ for a stand-alone. A lot of people have reported the blades Dewalt supplies do not hold up. why would you ever make a cutting tool out of HSS for this application. They're made of high speed steel, not carbide.
That was $27.42 plus tax and gas for a two hour drive. I'm shopping for something else. Flipping the blades was easy, but at $55 for new ones this could get expensive. On the first project, it lasted all of an hour of light use before the drive belt broke. I should have read other reviews before purchasing this thing.
Unfortunately, we let it sit un-used for over a year so it can't be returned. I bought it for my wife to use in her clock shop for the occasional replacement of a panel for a cuckoo clock. Then the blades were dull within another hour of use. I love all the rest of my DeWalt tools, of which there are many. We never tried to take off more than 1/32" at a pass from clean clear walnut.
I knicked the blades on the first pass and continued to knick the blades on subsequent passes. After planing about 10 to 12 board feet, the blades again were so badly knicked I stopped and got my trusty Delta 22-580 13" planer and finished the job.I returned the Dewalt to the dealer for a full refund. This planer with the knives supplied currently is unacceptable for the highest priced portable planer on the market. I bought this planer and returned it after 1 week. Again great customer service and could be a great planer if they could only solve their knife problem.I am a professional cabinet builder and have planed several thousand board feet of a large quanity of different species of woods from pine to hickory.
Used a walnut 1 x 4 that had previously been planed and sanded just to try this planer. I contacted Dewalt and they immediately shipped a new set of knives that I received 2 days later. Great customer service.I replaced the knives and started to plane approx. 100 board feet of poplar.
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