Need for a power hand planer?

[Matt Day]

I'm thinking about buying a power hand planer, but I'm not sure if I really need one. Other than planing doors, do any of you use them for anything in the shop? Should I stick with a simple block plane?

[Lee Schierer]

Unless someone did a lot of work that needed a lot of material taken off, I would thing a good sharp hand plane would do the job nearly as fast and would cost a lot less. I used to think that hand planes were a lot of work until I learned how to get them really sharp. Once you get a good sharp hand plane and learn how to use it, you can remove a lot of wood in a short time.

[Craig McCormick]

I have an old Black and Decker and a newer HF model. I pretty much use them only on doors. The HF is a fantastic value. I have planed over 20 doors with it.

Craig McCormick

[Julian Nicks]

Power planers are great for installing cabintes, but not very useful in the shop.

[Russ Hauser]

I'm thinking about buying a power hand planer, but I'm not sure if I really need one. Other than planing doors, do any of you use them for anything in the shop? Should I stick with a simple block plane?

I'm building a 10 foot sailing dingy. It's made from 4 x 8 sheets of Okume 6mm marine plywood using the Stich and glue meathod. In order to get the needed length, the sheets are epoxyed together, end to end with an 8 to 1 scarff joint. I purchased a Craftsman power planer specifically for the boat project. I probably used it for 10 minutes. No mater how fine I set the cutter depth, I never felt I was in control of the cut. I put it down and continued with #4 and #8 Stanley hand planes. The results were very satisfactory. Looking at the edges if the ply sheets, it's difficult to find the scarff joints.

If you want to try a power plane, I'll let you have mine for half what I paid for it. I doubt I'll ever use it again.

Russ

[Frank Drew]

They're ok for quick and dirty work (like cleaning up a bunch of rough-sawn boards to check the grain), or for fitting passage doors. I've used mine infrequently but it's not a bad tool to have every now and then. If you don't have a specific task in mind there's no need to rush right out and get one, though.

[Matt Day]

My main thought would be for cleaning up rough sawn boards to see the grain better, but I could see other uses as well. Recon sales has a 25% off sale right now and thought that $75 wasn't a bad price. I don't need it for anything though, so I should pass on it.

[James Baker SD]

I use mine for thinning and flattening table tops made from slices of log cut from trees we had to remove. The urban lumberjacks cut quickly and not very precisely when taking the trees down with chainsaws, and only a power planer makes the job of cleanup feasible for me.

James

[Paul Atkins]

I use mine for flattening roughsawn (chainsawn) boards so I can put them in my planer. My bandsaw can only cut 12" high but my planer is 20". Another use is to plane off the corners on coopered columns on the lathe so the banjo will fit and to get a bit rounder before turning it on. On big bowl blanks I can flatten bottoms really quickly. To resaw or cut a log on the bandsaw, a flat side is very useful. I used it to flatten a half log for a rustic outdoor bench. I just used it to even out some floor joists on a slanted porch too. Generally a useful tool.

[Mike Henderson]

I've only used mine a couple of times. One was when I needed to round over (and I mean completely round) one side of a couple of oak beams about 6-7' long, and maybe 4-5" in width. That would have been a lot of work with a hand plane.

But other than than, it doesn't get any use. They're hard to control so it's easy to take too much and gouge the work. The only thing I'd recommend them for is when you have to hog off wood and can't do it with any of your existing machines.

Mike

[Sean Nagle]

I've used one to straighten up some bowed 2x4 wall framing. It didn't even do that great of a job for that task. I have never felt I needed one for woodworking.

[Zach England]

I have this Makita. Nice tool, but not as useful as I had hoped. It's good for rough work or on big objects that are too cumbersome for smaller home shop machinery. It was useful building my chicken cook and greenhouse. I've never learned how to use a hand plane properly and don't own any good ones.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GB6GREFKL._SS500_.jpg

[Stephen Tashiro]

I find that power planers tend to hack out big chunks of wood. Perhaps I am impatient and not skilled at using them. I also regard them as dangerous tools since you have an exposed cutter that you must constantly keep in mind. Just putting them down after you use them feels awkward. The cutter head is still spinning so you can't set it down in any natural way on a flat surface.

Power planers can be used in knotty wood where hand planes would catch. I think the the "philosophy" of power planers is different than hand planes. Most hand planes that I have seen have a flat bottom. The power planers have a two level base like a jointer table. So if you want to plane down an area in the middle of a long wide board with a power planer, it's hard to figure out how to start such a cut unless the high spot has a steep rise, almost like a step.

In simple carpentry, I do find the power planer useful in one situation. I use it like a v-block plane to get rid of the sharp edge where two faces of a board meet. ( My power planer has a V groove in its base.) The power planer will cut right through knots in pine. Unfortunately, it is bulky compared to a small hand plane and once something is put together, it is hard to use the power planer on it.

[Michael Prisbylla]

I only use mine for fitting doors and cabinets. I haven't found any real uses in woodworking. It's more a carpenter's tool, which is OK since I'm a carpenter, too.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Take your choice - Power hand plane or 12 ga. pump loaded w/00 buck.

Either one can ruin a piece of wood quicker that grain goes through a goose.

(I'd do Russ one better if you were closer.
I'd give you half of what I paid for mine just to see it gone.)

Well - almost..

I picked up a GMC @ Lowes on closeout for $20.00, have used it three or four times, and each time I do I wonder if anyone ever found a use for one.

Doors?
Forget it. Way too much dust/debris.

Dremel makes a slick little plane attachment for the 400 that will run circles around the power plane & do it with a lot less mess.

[Larry Edgerton]

I trim out a lot of log homes, and they are indespensable to me. I wear out one every couple of years. I use them to quickly get a timber/log to size and then finish with a slick/draw knife. It could all be done by hand, but why?

They work great for knocking down the bump in osb decking seams when they have swollen from rain. Its amazing how many nails the carbide will cut if you go slowly.

They do take some getting used to so you don't dig in. Its in the way you present it to the piece. pressure on the nose first and pressure on the tail to finish. And a light setting and do more passes at first till you get used to it.

I never use it in my shop, and I would not think of touching a door I cared about with one, but for roughing out nad as been mentioned cleaning up rough stock, they are well worth the money. I buy mine used from people that have been frusterated by them. They are for sale all the time for less than half. I have tried all kinds, and I like the Bosch the best of what is on the market now, Porter Cable second.

[David G Baker]

I have the power hand plane that Zach has. I have had it for around 10 years and have used it maybe 5 times. When I used it, I needed it so I would buy it again just to have it around because it can really come in handy if you are in a situation where you can't hand plane a piece of wood that is set in place.

[Frank Drew]

Here's a perfect use I'd forgotten about: If you do any timber framing a power planer might be about the only tool that would clean up all those posts and beams in a reasonable amount of time; sometimes the look of rough sawn is, well, just too rough.

[Peter Quinn]

I have a porter cable Porta-plane, spiral carbide head, long stainless base, very stout fence with good angle detents. Its one of the best power planes ever made. I traded shop time for it, they don't make them any more, I wouldn't let you have it for TWICE what I paid for it! However, I would not have paid cash for it nor would I have bought another brand of power plane instead. Just not a necessity for me. I just like owning it.

I use it for trimming doors and windows and hogging off the real high spots on the occasional piece of rough lumber, and for those things it is king. I don't care how sharp your hand plane is, it isn't going to remove material nearly as fast as a good power plane. Think about that though. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? For nailing a perfect 3 degree bevel on a door edge where you are taking off nearly 3/16", on twenty doors, its perfect. For fitting an inset cabinet door with a 3/32" reveal, not so perfect. And there is a learning curve that I am still climbing, so every now and then I make a slight misstep and screw something up with it big time. At work (passage door shop) we bevel all the doors with a router and a 3 degree pattern makers bit, much faster and more consistent really.

If you need to clean up a spot on rough lumber to read the grain, I use a sharp block plane for that and wouldn't even consider the power plane an asset in that case. I bring one with me to the lumber yard and they don't mind. I think they would frown if I started plugging in my porta plane.:eek: PS: they blow shavings all over kingdom come, making a router look like a clean tool, so be ready for that. Shop vacs work but I doubt having a shop vac hose hanging off the side of a power plane will improve your facility with it in any way. DAMHIK

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a porter cable Porta-plane, spiral carbide head, long stainless base, very stout fence with good angle detents. Its one of the best power planes ever made. I traded shop time for it, they don't make them any more, I wouldn't let you have it for TWICE what I paid for it! However, I would not have paid cash for it nor would I have bought another brand of power plane instead. Just not a necessity for me. I just like owning it.

I

I wasn't aware that they were no longer making that plane. I will have to round up a spare belt and a cutter or two before they are gone.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Frank Trinkle]

I have a Ryobi corded one from the Borg, and I use it for very rough cuts only. I wouldn't use it for fine work. I only use it to trim, then go to a belt sander for more precise work.

In fact, I've only used it when I built a rather heavy work stand to trim the edges of 2X6's, and a couple of other unimportant projects. Sits on a shelf most of the time.

[David Cefai]

As a relative newbie I am still learning to use hand planes to their full potential. I have an elderly B&D power hand plane which I find I am using less and less.

Currently I'm at the stage where I'll use the power tool to get to 2-3mm away from the line, then switch to hand planing. On a surface I'll hog away the really high spots then switch to neanderthal mode.

Any more and would be risking having to "repurpose" the piece.

[Bill White]

Still have my old red Makita. Use it to taper the tops of porch railings. One of those tools that are not used often, but when needed, is appropriate.
Bill

[Roger Benton]

My partner has a festool power planer and it works very well for quickly dressing rough boards and timbers too large for our machines. The depth adjustment can be set to take very light shavings. (Obviously not as light as a well tuned hand plane.) However, the coolest thing about the festool planer is the availability of curved and grooved cutterheads, in addition to the standard straight one. These create interesting effects, as in the pics below. Not sure if that capability can justify the price to most people, but for adding unique textures to plyboo or solid wood it works a treat.

[george wilson]

Interesting textures for the Fesstool. I have a Bosch,which I bought for fitting all new doors in this 1949 house.

I find that the Fein vacuum hose (the 1 1/2" dia. one which is silver,jams into the exhaust port of the Bosch,with a 120 grit garnet paper shim. It makes for very clean planing.

I suggest that the electric plane,PROPERLY ADJUSTED,and used with discretion,could be excellent for taking the grunt work out of flattening a workbench top,followed by hand planing.

These planers can do very nice work,but you do have to develop skill and judgement to use them well.