Which surface planer has the easiest knife change?

[Stephen Tashiro]

Changing the knives on my old Craftsman surface planer has never been a pleasant job. Sometimes I cut myself and I'm never really sure that the knives (or "blades"?) are installed well. What modern model of surface planer has the easiest knife change procedure?

I always am tempted by the DeWalt portable planer when I see it on display. But it has three knives and I worry what changing them would involve. All I want to do with a surface planer is plane pine lumber for use in simple carpentry projects. But lumber such as 2x4's from the hardware store quickly nicks planer blades. (Perhaps I overlook some of the many staples that get embedded in the lumber.) So the trick of shifting a knicked knife over a fraction of an inch to avoid leaving a ridge is useful. But it's too hard to do on the old planer. On a planer where the knives are fixed in place by pins that go through holes in the blade, I don't know whether it would be possible to shift the knife.

[Todd Burch]

What modern model of surface planer has the easiest knife change procedure?


Those that employ a system to register the knives automatically. There are several. I don't know what is the best, or what your budget is.

[Bob Genovesi]

While I can't tell you which is the easiest, I can tell you I have Jet's 15 inch 3hp model and changing the knives on it isn't all that bad. After removing the exhaust chute the cutter head and knives are staring you right in the eye.

Knives are razor sharp and will cut the crap out of you, all it takes is one little slip....OUCH...

[Jeff Rowley]

The Dewalt's are plenty easy to change.

[Caleb Larru]

Changing the knives on my old Craftsman surface planer has never been a pleasant job. Sometimes I cut myself and I'm never really sure that the knives (or "blades"?) are installed well. What modern model of surface planer has the easiest knife change procedure?

I always am tempted by the DeWalt portable planer when I see it on display. But it has three knives and I worry what changing them would involve. All I want to do with a surface planer is plane pine lumber for use in simple carpentry projects. But lumber such as 2x4's from the hardware store quickly nicks planer blades. (Perhaps I overlook some of the many staples that get embedded in the lumber.) So the trick of shifting a knicked knife over a fraction of an inch to avoid leaving a ridge is useful. But it's too hard to do on the old planer. On a planer where the knives are fixed in place by pins that go through holes in the blade, I don't know whether it would be possible to shift the knife.


I have the Dewalt DW735 and I can change or flip (double sided blades) and have it running in less than 10 minutes. The pins don't really allow you to move them over much maybe a 1/64 of an inch. The pins have to line up for the blade to sit in there correctly to be tightened down. I plane a lot of red oak and usually get about 4 - 5 months on a set of blades.

[Myk Rian]

Dewalt 735 has 8 screws per blade. A T handle allen wrench comes with it.
You remove the top cover (4 screws), and the blade cover (3 hand screws).
Push a lever to turn the drum. 10-15 minutes.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have a Hammer A3-31 and knife change is one minute per knife.

- flip up jointer beds

- using an allen wrench loosen the screws for one knife

- remove knife holder, flip knife over, replace in machine

- tighten screws with allen wrench

That's it, one knife done in under a minute.

Of course if I'd ordered it with Tersa heads all I'd need is a piece of wood and a mallet and I'd be down to 30 seconds per knife!

Regards, Rod.

[Mark Carlson]

The Delta 22-580 13in planer has index pins so the knives are easy to rotate or change.

~mark

[Tom Hargrove]

I have worked with Delta, DeWalt and Ridgid lunchbox planers. All three were easy to work with, since the have indexing features for the new blades. You an change blades on any of them in 10-15 minutes.

Bigger planers, which don't have blade indexing features, are more of a challenge.

[Keith Starosta]

The Delta 22-580 13in planer has index pins so the knives are easy to rotate or change.

~mark

I will 2nd, 3rd, and 4th this!! I have this planer, and it's the easiest knife change of any planer I've used. The pins are a snap....no messing with a knife-setting jig.

- Keith

[Cole Dunlay]

The DeWalt DW735 is by far the easiest - I've worked with the Delta 22-580(in fact, that's the planer I own),and the Ridgid. The DeWalt is wide open from the top and offers plenty of access. Indexed knives make it a snap and you never touch the knives with your fingers - you use magnets embedded in the handle of the T-handle wrench which is the only tool you'll ever need to use on this planer.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Stephan,

Don't want to make you feel bad, but the three 16 inch Tersa knives on my MM FS-41 Elite jointer/planer, can be changed in less than 2 minutes flat and are self registering.. Always a perfect setup..

[Cary Falk]

I will 2nd, 3rd, and 4th this!! I have this planer, and it's the easiest knife change of any planer I've used. The pins are a snap....no messing with a knife-setting jig.

- Keith


+ 5, 6, 7 and 8.:D

[Frank Shannon]

If you're talking about portable bench top planers I would guess that the new Steel City 40200H with the helical head would be pretty easy to deal with. It's about $600.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Tersa for straight knives

https://woodtechtooling.com/TERSA/TersaCutterSystem.html

[Larry Edgerton]

My Tersa headed SCMI is the fastest I have seen.

4 knives, just over two minutes when I was racing myself. It usually take me about five, and about 1 minute to shift. Perfect every time.

[Myk Rian]

What it really comes down to is how much you are willing to spend.

[guy knight]

Byrd head in any machine why change knives when you can flip a cutter every other year or so

[John Thompson]

You ask which "surface" planer has knivees easiest to change. I have a Steel City 8" jointer that has reversible knives with a pin index so you just turn them over and re-tighten the screws with no jig required.

Now if you meant "thickness" planer.... you already got oddles of replies to that question. :)

No attempt to be a smart-*** but... a surface planer is actually what we call a jointer here in the U.S. A thickness planer is generally just called a planer here in America. Not a big deal but it will confuse someone that is a member from across the pond if not clarified.

Sarge..

[glenn bradley]

+1 on ease of DeWalt's system.

[John Carlo]

When I first got my 22" PM, I took dial indicator readings at various points along all four blades relative to their height above the cutterhead. A friend had surprised me with a precision machined half round cross section of a piece of pipe drilled and tapped to hold a dial indicator. The average of these readings would be my target for subsequent replacements.

The design of this cutterhead is such that springs are pushing up on the knives while you are locking them down with the gibs. PM supplies a registration tool for setting the knife height above the cutterhead. Still, I like to check the final settings with the dial indicator for some extra assurance that I did it right.

Final advice: Don't quibble about a couple of ten thousandths of an inch. This causes blindness and your wood will never know the difference in the finished product. Be sure to thoroughly clean the cutterhead of sawdust and resin before setting the blades as this can throw things off quite a bit.

[Chip Lindley]

Stephen, your *old* Craftsman planer should be one of the many made by Belsaw for Sears! Unless it is REALLY old, there should be 2 jack screws per knife to adjust their height! What could be simpler? If you use a dial indicator to reference the height of each knife from the cutter head at both ends, you can adjust 3 knives *dead on* within minutes! Shifting knives could not be easier! Just loosen the jib and shift the knife. Retighten!

IF, your planer is REALLY OLD, and lacks the jack screws, you DO have my sympathy! I struggled for too many years without them on a jointer AND planer! I would be Trading UP also, but not DOWN to a lunchbox planer! Hold out for a good deal on a 15" cast iron planer! Many are out there for little more than a *lunch* will cost you!

[Peter Quinn]

What planer has the easiest knife changes? The one where I work is fantastically easy. When the knives are dull or seriously nicked, somebody says "Hey Tony, its time to change the planer knives", and Tony being a highly skilled woodworker and engineer in charge of a myriad of things maintenance wise and other wise changes them out on Saturdays when the shop is closed. :D

Maybe I can ask Tony to go to your house? He sure won't come to mine I can tell you. I have to change mine myself. Not so hard after the first few hundred times.

I have a dewalt 735 as a backuo and jobsite planer, its so easy to change knives its hard to describe. Child's play. Short of that terminus or tersa quick change are probably the easiest, but a terminus head is big bucks as are the planers that come with them stock. Perhaps a spiral index head is an easy exchange too, but again, at some significant cost.

[Robert Meyer]

My Delta 13" 2 speed planer has indexing knives that allow for a quick (under 5 minutes when you know what your doing) change. However this is the only good point to a horrible machine. Sharp knife, dull knife, you still must push each and every board through with bruit force.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I'm glad to be educated by all the replies. Is my planer REALLY old? I got in the 1970's.. Hey, it's younger than I am!.

On phenomenon I notice about my "old" Craftsman tools is that if I go to the Sears website and try to find parts information by entering the model number, i never find them listed.

[Fred Voorhees]

Stephan I have the DeWalt and I just recently changed the blades on it. Nothing could be simpler. An easy off top and an equally easy to come off blade cover reveals the blades and from there, it is just a matter of backing off about eight screws and you are gold. The blades self register and in fact, have a bit of side to side play to them so that should you get a nick in one of them, you can adjust a blade to make up for that. Very easy blade changes. You can probably do the entire job in about twenty minutes and get back up and running.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

My Tersa headed SCMI is the fastest I have seen.

4 knives, just over two minutes when I was racing myself. It usually take me about five, and about 1 minute to shift. Perfect every time.


I really doubt that anything beats the Tersa system for speed, and accuracy.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

You ask which "surface" planer has knivees easiest to change. I have a Steel City 8" jointer that has reversible knives with a pin index so you just turn them over and re-tighten the screws with no jig required.

That's purdy much what Hammer does. Pins across the innards of the empty slot and holes in the blades. Pretty quick and easy. And there's adjustment if you want it.