Woodmaster Planers and Sanders

[Dan Chouinard]

I see Woodmaster currently has some attractive incentives. What is the general opinion of their products? I am considering the purchase of a 26" single drum sander and 12" planer for my one man cabinet shop. The sander would primarily be used for doors.
Thanks

[Bruce Page]

Dan, do some searches here on the Woodmaster. You'll find that they are pretty well thought of.

[James Malcolm]

I bought a Foley-Belsaw 12" at auction and Woodmaster was VERY helpful in checking to see if their parts would work. The customer service associate had one of their managers call me back very quickly and he measured the parts for me right over the phone. I'm very pleased with the service they provided to a non-customer and would definitely buy from them in the future.

[ed vitanovec]

I have a Woodmaster 718 and its really well built. I've used the Planer, Rip Saw and Molding knives and am very happy with the way the machine performs. It is nice to have the variable speed feed for Planning. I bought mine from the second owner and neither owners ever used the machine, so I got a new machine for a bargin price. I have seen the 38" & 50" single drum sanders and was impressed with them but 2 guys beat me to the sale so all I could do was look at them. I have called on Woodmaster a few times and their customer service has been great. I bought some accessories from them and one I would recommend is the hood hinge kit, I just tilt the hood out of the way to work on the machine verses lifting the hood on and off. Another thing about Woodmaster is they are made in the USA, something that is becoming really important to me.

Regards!
Ed

[David Kumm]

Are you using the planer for molding or just planing. I have a woodmaster 712 and agree it is a good machine but it is not a great planer due to its molding capabilities. To accomodate the molding knives it doesn't have a chipbreaker or pressure bar directly next to the cutterhead which compromises the cut quality vs a traditional planer. The infeed and outfeed roller are the hold downs and are positioned away from the cutterhead. A great molder, a mediocre planer. If you are planning to sand frame and panel doors compare sanders with an aluminum head vs those covered with rubber. Get opinions on both. I prefer the Performax-Supermax version but have not used the Woodmaster so I can't give advice that means anything there. Dave

[Chip Lindley]

Woodmaster drum sanders are top notch! I have the pleasure of owning a Model 7520 38" double drum machine with 7.5hp. It is arguably the best drum sander out there! I highly recommend any of the Woodmaster drum sanders!

~~Chip~~

[Greg Portland]

I see Woodmaster currently has some attractive incentives. What is the general opinion of their products? I am considering the purchase of a 26" single drum sander and 12" planer for my one man cabinet shop. The sander would primarily be used for doors.
ThanksI have the 718 combo machine and use all 4 functions fairly regularly. Note that the drums on the stand-alone sanders are larger (6" vs 4") and they will not heat up as much versus the 4:1 machine. As a planer, the tool is on par with any of the large floorstanding planers you can buy + it adds the moulding, ripsaw, and variable feed features.

You may want to seriously consider getting the sander attachment for the planer so you can have 2 grits running at once (dedicated sander + planer/sander).

[Bob Falk]

I also have a 718 that I bought used that I have been generally happy with. I would recommend searching for a used machine as it will save you big $. I paid $1300 for my lightly used, 5 year old 718, but I know others have paid much less.....

IMHO, I don't think the planers are the best. I haven't been able to get the snip out of my machine and so always go to my Robland J/P for planing (very, very little snip, so the infeed and outfeed rollers must be better designed/built). I have a dedicated sander, so can't comment on the sanding drum as I haven't used it. Nor the ripping blades. I do, however, love the molding ability of the Woodmaster and have done all the window trim in my house (historic English Tudor) using Woodmaster's custom knife grinding service.....so, as a molder, i would say it excels....as a planer, it's not my favorite. My $0.02. bob