Considering a New Planer

[Rich Aldrich]

Most of the last two years I have spent turning, but now people are asking about cabinets again. I have three cabinets in progress and one drafting table coming up. This all brought back the issue about the planer issue and "minor" tearout.

I have a Makita 2012NB which works well, except for minor tear out in curly wood. My most recent project is white maple face frames and there are places where the grain curls back. Tear out occurs even with very light cuts. If I could slow down the feed rate, it probably would not tear out.

I am looking at the Dewalt 735 because it has three cutters and two feed rates. Can anyone share their experience with this planer?

What about other planers? What about planers with spiral cutting heads?

I appreciate the help.

[glenn bradley]

Loss of time, material and therefor money sent me in search of a solution to the problem you describe. After careful board selection, losing a piece of material to tearout doesn't always mean that you have to re-make only that piece. If it is matched to other pieces around it you may end up remaking several parts in order to get a good look that you are happy with at the bench. I took the first step with my jointer as I really needed an upgrade in that department. I went with a spiral head and was pleased with the performance on curly and reversing figured material. When it was time to upgrade my planer I went with a spiral there as well.

The price on the DW-735 has gotten pretty high and by the time you add a spiral head, you may as well look at a larger machine. Some of the new lunchbox planers now available with spiral heads do come with carbide inserts and I would not go with one that did not. The effort involved in turning the inserts is not monumental but, it would quickly become so if I were running HSS inserts. My first rotation on the jointer came in at about 18 months. That, I can live with ;-)

A large floor standing machine is also a different tool bearing the same name to some degree. Lunchbox planers are finish planers that leave a surface that requires little surface prep following the milling operation. Larger planers use serrated steel feed rollers that can leave marks in softer woods like walnut and mahogany. I have mine adjusted to where this is minimal but will still rear its ugly head now and again. So, based on your use I would look at the spiral lunchbox units or a floor unit. They both take up about the same footprint but, the floor unit is much more powerful and much, much quieter.

The lunchbox would probably serve you better if you want to be able to get the planer out of the way during other activities. A note from my days with a DW-734 (80lbs); I was not inclined to move it around and soon built a base for it that was larger than my 15" machine occupies today. The DW-735 at 90lbs is half my body weight and not something I would move around as required. Just a batch of food for thought ;-)

[Rich Aldrich]

Hi Glenn,

One of considerations for a quality cut is number of blade passes per inch. The 735 has 96 or 179 blade passes per inch. When you look at the G0453, the number of blade passes is 76. The 2012 NB that I already own is at about 55 blade passes per inch. Just based on quality of cut, the 735 is better. Now, as far as snipe and other things, I dont know which is better. Normally, I have very little snipe with the 2012. I am not even sure if I will sell it, because it is really a nice little planer.

I am concerned that if I go to the large floor model that I will have spent a lot of money to get the quality I need.

It is interesting about marking the wood. I didnt realize the go with a different type of hold down roller.

As far as moving the planer, I made a cabinet for my planer and have it tied in with the dust collection system. I dont move it. This is another reason why I might not sell the Makita planer.

As far as noise, I think blade speed is the real noise maker. Because the blade speed is high, it is going to be noisy, but so is my Clearvue cyclone which is running whenever I use the planer. I might need double hearing protection if I buy the Dewalt.

What about Steel City? Retailers give them a lot hype, but I havent read anything from owners.

By the way, if you look a bit on the internet, there is one retailer with a decent deal on the Dewalt 735. I will let you know who it is once I decide if I am buying or not.

[Glenn Samuels]

As far as the quality of the cut, I have a 15" Shop Fox which is the same as the 15" Grizzly. I am presently using the 3 knives supplied and the quality of the cut has been exceptional as long as you take shallow cuts. My finishing cuts are around 1/32" of an inch and it works out quite well. I lowered the table rollers equal to the surface and there is absolutely no snipe at either end. (I originally ordered the Shop Fox with a spiral cutter for $1100 on Amazon. When I received it, it had the 3 cutters. The distributor told me that the spiral was a misprint and they could not give me a spiral. They ended up giving me $700 back so they did not have to pay to pick it up. What a sweet deal. I know that this is not part of the question but I had to tell someone about it.....sorry)

[Rich Aldrich]

Sound like you got a great deal. How is it for tear out? My big issue is tear out on curly wood. I am building a cabinet now with white maple (hard maple with no heart wood). I have tear out where the grain goes back on itself, so to speak - it changes direction. If I could slow the planer down, this would help. I see the planer you have has two feed speeds - that should help. What is the speed of the head?

[Michael Heffernan]

Rich,
I have a DW735. I machine a lot of tiger and curly maple. Tear out is always a concern and on my mind. Sometimes it is unavoidable even with the sharpest knives and the slower feed rate, but I've learned to almost eliminate it with practice and patience. If I am surfacing highly figured stock with random grain orientation, I resaw it to approx. 1/16" of finished dimension and take 'micro' passes with my planer. I'm talking +/- 1/128" at a time. Seems to work for me. Takes time, but it's worth it for me to avoid the dreaded tear out. As for jointing the edges, I joint one edge of the stock, with very light passes, expecting tear on figured wood. If I get tear out, I rip both edges on my table saw with my Onsrud GLR blade. Leaves a clean enough finish for edge joining boards. If there is no tearout, I just rip the opposite edge on the TS and glue the boards up.
I wish I had a drum sander or wide belt sander for these woods, as work would be easier. Maybe in the future.

[lowell holmes]

I spray maple with a fine water mist that minimizes tear out.

I'm using a 10 year old delta lunch box.

[peter gagliardi]

Tear out will not get less with thin cuts in maple, it will get worse. You need to dimension to your final thickness with as heavy a cut as the lunchbox can take- it helps to have material "backing"up the cut. Larger diameter cutter heads help as well.
peter

[Ole Anderson]

Just a note: My local mill steps to the wide belt sander on material that might chip out on the planer, even Hickory let alone curly anything. If you do a lot of that material you might want to look at a drum sander as an alternate.

[Rich Aldrich]

Thanks for the feedback. I do a lot of Oak and tear out isnt too bad. This maple looks quite plain and the tear out surprised me. I am going to definitely try the water trick.

Sounds like I should be looking for a drum sander.

[Jon Grider]

I've owned my 735 for about 8 years. Pros: fairly robust for a lunch box planer, Blades are easy to change, minimal snipe. Cons: LOUD!, disposable blades don't hold an edge for very long and are more than 50 bucks per set, rubber rollers need frequent cleaning with a cloth and mineral spirits to maintain their "bite" so boards don't hang up ,this could be from wear also. When mine dies, I plan on upgrading to a bigger floor standing unit. As an aside, the hard maple I've run through this planer seemed to have less tear out on the faster feed rate than the slower "finishing " feed rate.

[Andrew Hughes]

Back bevel the knives to avoid tear out it really works.Turns the cut into a scrape that's how I do it.I have two planers the dewalt is a good tool for small stuff so I keep it. I also like the finish from straight knives.

[Shawn Pixley]

Rich,

i have a Steel City with the spiral head. For me, it works well, but I usually resaw and flatten by plane. I work in many curly woods, the planer does the major work when I need a specific thickness. I plane and joint by hand (my favorite plane is a LN #7, that may say something about my masachistic tendencies). When my HSS gets dull in the planer, I'll replace with the new carbide spiral inserts.