Planers Reviews

I looked at all the planers. I was going to buy a planer with AMPS being my first concern. With a 3.4 amp motor this planer did not fail once. I put this machine to work on rough cut white oak with the blades full bore, and I got tired before this Hitachi planer. My only wish is the shoe as in all planers in this class was 1 inch longer. With a longer shoe or base this would get 5 stars. At this price you cannot go wrong. Blades are a snap to change, and sharpen. This is a nice machine.

If you need a hand planer for occasional use and don't want to spend more than $100 bucks this is an excellent buy. I gave it 5 stars are mainly because this is a best value choice. I got mine on sale for $89. It came with a metal case and right angle fence. It's a quality tool and fit and finish are very good. The shoe is a little short, making it slightly unbalanced, but it still feels pretty good in your hand. Depth of cut adjustments are simple and accurate, and it will produce a very clean cut. I've had mine for 2 years and the blades are holding up extremely well. I have not had to change them or sharpen them. It takes a little practice but it will take down to 64th of an inch with very little snipe at the ends. Has plenty of power for my needs. I use it mainly on bowed studs, shaving jam extensions flush, or back planing baseboard. None of these operations require extreme accuracy, but this tool delivers very nice results. Occasionally I will use it for shaving doors and it works fine but you will likely need some touch up hand sanding.

I think this is the probably the best hand planer out there for less than $150. For under $100 you can't beat it. If you want the top of the line look at the Porter Cable 9118 but that tool is 5 times the price.

This is a significant upgrade over the older 12.5" Jet planer. Auto set knives are a breeze to set-up, and unlike the DeWalt 13", you don't have to buy the in/out feed tables. The two speed feed results in a very clean finish and the locking head dramatically reduces snipe - it doesn't stop it. I don't know why accessories for this model are so hard to find unless Jet is trying to blow out the 12.5" stuff first.

MAJOR COMPLAINT - no dust collection port, it's an option? (How to create a wood chip snowstorm in the shop? Don't use a dust collector on your planer.) Amazon doesn't even carry the optional dust port - nice touch, huh? I had to have Woodcraft order it for me and it took two weeks to get it.

I still love the finish this planer produces and it's very easy to set-up and adjust. I gave it 4 stars because they decided not to include a dust port that must cost them all of $5 to produce.

ATTN JET Product Managers: Raise the price $10, add the dust collector port, and get a MUCH HAPPIER customer. You have no price pressure at $429 - the competition is the DeWalt at almost $600 with the in/out feed tables.

This is my first thickness planer and am very happy with my purchase. I agree that a dust hood should be included and is a pretty pricey extra, but well worth it. As with my other Jet tools, I'm amazed at how well it performs out of the box with minimal adjustment.

I looked at a lot of other benchtop planers, and trusted Jet's reputation and took the plunge. The finish this produces is smooth, adjustment is easy and I get very little snipe. I was hesitant with it only having two blades, but it seems to work just fine, plus it will be cheaper when it comes to replacing blades.

I appreciate Jet's simplicity and performance. I'm sure this tool will be in my shop for many years.

Recently purchashed this planer, the DJ-20 jointer and Delta dust collector. Same time I picked up a fold-up engine hoist. These guys are real heavy. Assembly was easy, with the hoist & nylon straps to do the lifting.
The Planer works flawlessly after futzing with the roller table assembly/alignment. The largest I had to give it was 12" black walnut and it came out beautifully and without straining. Only Thing I don't like is that the dust collector (optional) port is like 5" so my hoses don't fit. And I think you really need dust collector with this thing, unless you don't mind being up to your knees in chips. Had to modify the dust collector (cut the crossbar out of inlet), either that or change it's name to insta-plug.
I was woried about the steel feed roller leaving marks but it doesn't unless you don't cut, then their minimal
Saw minimal snipe once but not since, go figure.

I picked up this planer in August and have since used it several times preparing wood for many projects. As advertised, it is very heavy and takes a number of hours to set up. Once the machine is assembled and adjusted, it does a wonderful job planing woods. It must be used with a dust collection unit as you will soon be in a mountain of chips! The two speeds are nice - you can buzz through a pile of wood in short order and then finish the boards on the slower setting - although with sharp blades, it is difficult to improve on the finish at the faster setting. The maching and parts were nearly flawless - the only fault I have observed is that one of the screws that fastend the oil gear box leaks a small amount of oil.

My experience is that this is a very good quality machine.

Bob

My trust in the Delta name has not gone unrewarded. I bought this machine to be able to use timber thats just not available at the lumber yard. How did I ever get along without it. Assembly out of the box took about three hours to get everything set correctly. Instructions are clear and accurate. All the parts where included. This is a heavy monster so get a friend (four) to help get it out of the shipping wrap and in place. The blades where set accurately out of the box. The roller extensions tables never seemed to be perfectly level with the bed but this has not been a problem. The two speed auto feed works great. I have run everything from pine to green heart. Clean, smooth and no snipe. The motor never seems to have any trouble with the cuts but I do tend to be kind and keep my cuts lean. The only trouble was the power circuit for this tool. I ran a dedicated 240 volt circuit. The book said to use a 20 amp and there is a sticker on the stand that says 15 amp. I went with the 20 but the motor trips the breaker on the second or third start. This motor is a direct start ( no capacitors) so the power on startup is high. I had to go to a 30 amp breaker. If you have the space and the money get this machine, You will not be disappointed.

A solid design, easily an order of magnitude better then my old Ryobi.

I am new to woodworking so I don't know how much weight my review will carry. In any case, I purchased this item from Lowes this past weekend for $359. I haven't had much time to "play with my new toy", however, I was able to send a piece of Pine through the machine shortly after purchasing it. I haven't used a Planer since Jr High (late 70's) but setting up and using the DW734 was a breeze. This planer is amazing!

Received the planer quickly and put it to use the same day. Very little work to set it up and fasten it to a stand. Works exactly as expected. I don't know how I have completed so many projects without one. It's like my nail guns. It makes projects look better and it reduces the effort of producing furniture. I highly recommend it for any woodworker.

Purchased this product (after reading the positive online reviews here) to remove rust from the table of my Unisaw that had been in unconditioned storage for several years.
Let's just say that the results were less than what the manufacturer claims & other reviewer's experiences; it works, but not very well. I used 3 applications of this stuff, & was able to remove about 50% of the surface rust.
Now, I'm not suggesting it doesn't work, only that it wasn't a magic fix. After spending a half hour scrubbing the table, & using about half a bottle of this stuff, I figure I could have gotten just as good or better results using another method, like sanding. I'll probably resort to that at this point, & save what's left in the bottle to use as a conditioner once I get the rust removed.

I expected more. I get the same results with other products

Not a month after I purchased a cast iron table saw, we had a kitchen plumbing issue.. the sink is apparently directly above my table saw and had been dripping on it all night. Instant rust.. The entire table was brown. Never thinking this would work, I used the Topsaver spray.. Not without a bit of elbow grease, but it brought the table back to life. Amazing. As per its rust protectant qualities - I would get a spot or two here and there - and went back to using plain old wax for regular protection. However I always reach for the Topsaver when I have to remove rust from a tool. Wear a mask, that stuff stinks.

I've been trying to think under what circumstances someone would operate this (or any other) planer without dust collection. Outside? Maybe in the woods. At a saw mill? If you are using a portable planer you will not be in business for long. This Dust Connector works just fine but it REALLY should be standard, especially since a generic connector fitting is not nearly as effective. C'mon Delta.

I had the Delta 12-1/2" 22-560 planer with the dust hood and it worked better than this one.A larger opening would have been nice. The best part about it is that you can have the hood come out on either side of the planer.

A plainer creates a ton of wood chips and dust. Using this attachement for the Delta 13" planer along with a dust collector saves time. Before I had this attachment I would have a pile almost a foot deep of wood chips, which I would have to sweep and shovel into a garbage can. Now all of the chips are sucked right into my dust collector.

This is a must have for even the novice woodworker. Saves hours of clean-up time.

The motor is tough, and won't quit even if you wish it would put itself out of it's own misery.
I gave it 3 stars only because of the price and ease of finding replacement blades, which is better than my experience with DeWalt and Hitachi's returned planers.
Downers are that an 8mm wrench(supplied) is dangerously loose on the 7.5mm blade bolts when you change blades, and frequent slips on the head bolts will slice you up like Freddy Kruger!
But who doesn't like a little blood and gore now and then?
Buy a Craftsman 7mm open-end wrench and grind 0.5mm off one inside edge for blade changes, then tie a dollar to the cheap Delta 8mm wrench (supplied) and heave it into the woods. That way you can say that you actually threw something away !
The old hexagonal-head bolts are still the best clamp-down system for blades, and Delta should not change that. They should simply supply a 7.5mm wrench, or upgrade the bolts to 8 mm for safety's sake.
Wear leather gloves when changing these blades, or you WILL be sorry one day !

After a little dulling of blades, the depth handle moves freely and won't stay put. Keeps you real busy.
Delta blades for this thing don't last very long at all on hardwoods (or heart-woods), but the up-side is that you can buy carbide for this machine before you will buy carbide blades for ANY other 12' to 13" planer in the mainstream market! (Lowes, Home Depot, Ace, Etc.)But of course, the carbide costs about as much as the planer ($200)! LOL !
To date, you cannot buy the replacement drive belt,though advertised, through Amazon. I have had to reconfirm my April order for 3 of them about 6 times now, at pain of cancellation, so I guess we are supposed to throw the machine away when it spins some notches off the rubber belt.
So with mixed emotions I can say,
Thanks Again, Taiwan USA !

I was looking cheap, just to clean up some rough-hewn boards. The bottom-end Lowes had was the TP-305 (12.5" vs TP-300 12.0", otherwise EXACTLY the same) for $199, so I got that.

Into and Basics
First off, the TP-305 is single speed. Fine for my purposes. As someone else said, if you're doing "fine woodworking", you'll sand with high-grit before calling it done.

Everything is metal, and the handle on top doubles as a foam covered transfer roller. It's very solid and stable, you know, for a "portable".

The belt drive is about 3/4", versus about 2" for the Hitachi and DeWalt. Conversely, the belt on the Delta is fiber reinforced black rubber, like a fan belt, rather than being clear, plain rubber.

There is supposedly a chain-drive for gear reduction, but I haven't dismantled it yet to lubricate them.

Setup
Second, it was a snap to prepare. I pulled it out of the box. It's maybe 75 or 80 pounds. OK if you lift right, or 2-person lift otherwise. It included the planer assembly, a dust chute with 2 fasteners, a hex wrench which fits in a slot on top, a magnetic blade tool, and a crank handle with hex-head fastener.

I put it on top of a table. No LRF support, and there was a little flashing on the bottom, so don't unpack this onto a nice table. Something like this should be bolted down. The deck holes are 1/4", one on each corner. I used some washers and deck screws and that was more than enough to keep it stable.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
You NEED earplugs. Yes, it is "quiet" compared to some shop planers/jointers, it's still loud. Earmuffs should be OK, but I opted for spongy/expanding 33db earplugs. No problem there, but I was definitely deaf to the world.

Also, goggles are a must. These two things are silly and simple, but just in case you didn't know. This might not be so important if they ever get immunology and organ cloning down, but since you're limited to one set of eyes right now, best protect them from flying debris.

If you want to reach, adjust, oil, or perform ANY maintenance, unplug your machine. "I thought I was safe but something fell and flipped the switch" wouldn't quite cut it with your friends.

ALWAYS operate with the dust chute in place. The motor blows air into it and it sends the chips out the back. Without it, A) You'll be covered in vertically launched curls, and more importantly B) The top of the cutter head will be exposed, which is very not safe.

Keep distractions and horseplay away from this machine. This is not a toy, it's an 8000 RPM spinning blade of doom. No playing. Period. OK? JUNIOR!?!?! Are you LISTENING TO ME! NO PLAYING. Ok. Good. Serious machine.

SNIPER, NO SNIPING!
As a portable planer goes, the fold-out tables are fairly small. I tried using Skill brand roller stands on each side to help hold the workpiece, but this planer loves to snipe on ingress.

Tilt your board down into the planer about 5 degrees, and don't cut deep and you'll limit it. Even so, every board has a 2-3" spot that's maybe 1/32" thinner than the rest of the length.

Egress snipe is alleviated by lifting ever so slightly on the workpiece for the final stretch. If you don't get it, you'll hear the motor change speed as it chews into the end. It's really just the design of the rollers. I think you'd probably get snipe even if you made your own full-length table flush with the input.

With 12" boards, snipe was not very noticeable, whereas with 4" boards, it was always very noticeable.

Blade Lifespan
The blades that came with it do well, but it's only 2 blades. It goes through them fairly quickly. Newer wood is fine. I made several passes on both sides of rough hewn cedar. All was well. I sent through some 12" rough cedar with 25 year crusty paint, and it wasn't really happy with that.

It's 2mm per turn and on 12" stock with fresh blades you can do that. When you get to 1/3 turn and it still drops the RPMs significantly, you're past the life of the blades.

I got to this point after removing 3/16ths from each side of 40 feet of 4" wide cedar, and about 1/8th from each side of a 6' long 12" piece of paint encrusted cedar. It seems that the wider board heats the blades more, especially the old, rubbery paint, and once they heat up, the edge fades MUCH more rapidly.

Signs your planer blades are dull
The machine emits dust and not curls.
The machine leaves roller rubber on the workpiece.
The wood peels along the grain in very thin strip.
The motor slows down, but there is no output.
The rollers stop feeding.
The workpiece becomes polished, even glassy.
The workpiece is noticeably warm to the touch.
Running the workpiece through a second time at the same setting till slows the motor.

Blade Replacements
I'm thinking I'll see if I can design the same at http://www.emachineshop.com out of something harder under heat, but you know, since I don't REALLY have the skill for that, I picked up a couple sets of spare blades when I got the planer. The spares were $26/set and made of "High Speed Steel". I don't know the specific grade, but truly, they went south REALLY quickly on the wider, painted boards.

Blade Swap procedures
The swap is fairly easy, though they are initially installed with an impact wrench. Breaking the screws the first time gave off sparks on three. Freaky. Anyway, you access the six screws by:
A) Unplug the machine. Yes, UNPLUG IT. Switches have been known to fail in this universe. Don't risk it.
B) remove the two thumbscrews on the top.
C) Remove the dust chute
D) Turn the head with "the tool" such that you an access one side of the head. Adjust the machine height, or rotate the head such that the tool clears the handle/rollerbar.
E) Loosten the screws such that the black plate ALMOST comes loose. Test one screw for proper sizing. I think this is about a 16th of an inch.
F) Use the little split magnet tool to scoop under the blade, lift up off of the retaining pins, and pull out.
WARNING The blade may be hot if it's recently been used, especially if it's really dull.
G) spin the blade.
WARNING The sharp side of the blade is SHARP! I know this seems like an idiot thing to say, but if you aren't careful, I will mock you for your bloodletting experience. Yes, I'm secretly watching you.
H) Slid in, align such that it drops down properly (ie, the retaining pins are in the holes).
I) Tighten the screws, starting with the ends and working your way in. In generaly, thumb-tighten all of them, then torque them down afterward to make sure alignment is good.
J) Repeat for the other side of the head. (ie. always swap/replace BOTH blades at the same time).

Miscellaneous
Check your belt shroud, a burgundy curve of plastic on the top right of the machine. Mine had too much flashing in the channels and didn't seat properly. I didn't notice until it had been carved/sanded away severely.

The deck plate is polished steel. You can see the cutter head and rollers clearly in it. It's really cool, and might come in handy should something jam or clog. REMEMBER NOT TO TOUCH THE HEAD WITH YOUR FINGERS UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE CUT.

Yes, I used first and second person in a review.

Despite the warning that this is not a toy, etc., it's VERY fun, or at least satisfying, to see what a machine like this can do.

SUMMARY
This is cheap. Snipe will happen. Rollers, an assistant, or a full-sized and aligned table are greatly helpful. Blades dull quickly on older wood with old rubbery paint.

light weight portable planers with power. Easiest one I've ever had to change blades on (only takes about 10 minutes)nice feed rate and no chatter.

Hi Guys,

I just spent a good long time researching a tool purchase. I was looking for a small planer and there are some really cool looking tools out there. I even purchased a planer, a delta 400, and ran through a set of blades testing it.

What I found out is that any planer that relies on a set of disposable blades is going to put a big hole in my budget if I actually intend to use it. And almost every small planer on the market these days has gone to disposable blades.

A disposable item is something that can be thrown away without having to pay much heed to the cost. If disposable planer blades sold for a dollar a piece, one could regard this as a fairly good deal. But the sets sell for $30-50 dollars!! And this just isn't good economy for cheap high speed steel construction that chips and dulls so easily in this application. And if the truth be told about it, they do cost only a few pennies to make, and package, and ship all the way from China.

When something is as public domain as a knife, and the complexity of manufacture less than that of a happy meal toy, and it can be turned out on a machine by the thousands per hour, there is something very wrong with charging $30-$40 dollars for it. And calling it disposable is just plane ridiculouse.

There are two big common threads in all of the reviews for small planers and they are: The blades go dull too fast, and the planer doesn't feed the wood like it should. Well this is really the same problem because when the blades go dull, the cutter head starts giving more resistance to the rollers and the boards stop feeding properly.

The way I want to use my planer, I could easily go through a couple of sets of blades a day.

So this unit is a definite pass. They have got so many reasons that a board can dull a blade they never get pinned down to making a blade that's tough enough for the job. I took my Delta back to the retailer and he graciously returned it to his vendor for reasons of customer satisfaction.

As it turns out, I'll be buying a planer with resharpenable blades (that cost less than disposable blades by the way), and a rather robust and expensive blade sharpening machine, ALL for less than the price of one of these glitzy little name brand jobs.

They didn't have a no star rating, but this one deserves it. All of the disposable blade units do. It's just plane stupid to buy a planer that uses these "disposable" blades. And it's a very simple fix for the industry to make this technology more viable. Simply ship the planers with a dozen sets of blades and offer free knife replacement for the life of the unit. Thirty dollars a dozen would be more in line with the performance of these disposable blades.

I have had this planer for two years. It is very easy to change the blades and they are two sided and can flip them around when one side dulls. It works great. I wished I had the money to buy a 15" model with an induction motor. This tool is very loud and does get hot to the touch. It does a great job and snipe is minimal. It comes with an infeed and outfeed table. This is extra on the Dewalt model. I highly recommend getting the 4" dust chute. I wished the chip/dust chute was angled to the side. This would help tremendously with guiding my 4" dust hose away from the exiting stock.

This planer delivered an even better performance than I expected.
Very smooth operation and results. Very quiet.

I just bought my 735 recently so only used it very little. I also own the Dewalt 733 planer for about 6 years so I don't think I will be disappointed with th 735. My reason for writing here is about the folding tables not both folding up when not in use.Some people are concerned because the outfeed table doesn't fold up for storage. I have no trouble folding my outfeed table up when it is not in use. Take the exhaust port attachment off, let the table stay down till you completely un wind the cord, push the table up and rewind the cord and with on wind of the cord wrap cord around the table. Finish wrapping the cord. Works fine every time for me. No design flaw here folks.

The tables are easy to install. Folds up against the planer when the planer is not used for a smaller storage footprint for the planer. The tables are easily to remove and reinstall if necessary. The table returns to the same level after removal and reinstaliation. One adjusted to match the planer's plate, no readjsutment is needed. The table is heavy, well made and not likely to flex as wood is passing over the table. Worth the money but it would have nice for DeWalt to include them as part of the planer package.

got the planer, didn't really have any problem with snipe, just kept a small amount of up pressure on the boards as they went into the planer. Works just fine. Got the tables mainly to help on the outfeed side so the smaller boards don't just drop to the floor.

The stand is good. That's the best I can say. After purchasing this planer and using it maybe 3 times it stopped feeding the stock. I had to push on the boards to get them to move through the tool. Well, the local shop "fixed" it twice then I returned it. It never worked well. The blades are also [poor]. They nick very easily.

I had this for a while...it works fine. It should have included the dust chute though.

The surface finish is ok...but you will need to plane/scrape/sand any wood run through it. I get some snipe but nothing unexpected.

I have used this product extensively for about a year. I have run some pretty heavy stuff through it--8/4 maple and a fair bit of 8/4 and 6/4 teak. I am on my second set of blades and have not had any serious problems. The stand is a nice add, but it is difficult to put on wheels without spending a fortune on pre-made caster set up. I ended up building a solid wood box with casters from home depot that is much sturdier. All in all, I think for the extra 100 bucks, I would go with the 13", 2 speed. It makes the 12" width stock work much better and it looks like a slightly heavier product, which is usefull when running 8/4 or any long stock.