Steel City 20" planer

[Bryan Cramer]

Any thoughts on Steel City's 20" planer # 40185 with the helical head? The only negative thing I see is it has HSS inserts. Maybe they can be replaced with carbide. What do you think?

[Jim Andrew]

Have you compared it with the Grizzly brand? They have several models of 20" planers. They also sell a couple of different size inserts.

[Bryan Cramer]

For the about the same price I looked at Grizzly's 20" Extreme series planer with a spiral head. It does look like Steel City offers carbide inserts as an accessory. I will probably have to call after the weekend to get more information. I wonder if a Byrd head will fit on it. I guess I will have to call them and ask. I have the tools to do the switch so it isn't a big deal. Cutter heads aside, I am getting more planer for the money over the Grizzly? Here's their flyer: http://static.squarespace.com/static/515c7e48e4b054dae3fd02a6/t/5221fbb2e4b0c808758f8b78/1377958834918/Steel%20City%20Catalog.pdf

[Bryan Cramer]

Well it seems no one has experience or knows much about this planer. I called and talked to Terry Ross at Steel City and he sent me some PDFs. The spec sheet is too big to upload, but I am curios what everyone thinks about the planer. The spiral cutter head has 40 inserts, they are HSS, but carbide will be made available later this year. Its spec sheets says 15,000 cuts per inch. Unfortunately its too early for Byrd cutter heads to be made to fit this planer. It has a serrated steel in feed roller, but an polyurethane out feed roller.This should help eliminate planer tracks, right? It also has lever adjusted bed rollers. For about the same amount of money I could get Grizzly's 20" Extreme series planer. I would think a frame style planer with a table that moves on ways is more stable overall than a four post. Which would you choose? I am leaning toward the Steel City.

[glenn bradley]

The spiral cutter head has 40 inserts, they are HSS, but carbide will be made available later this year.

This would probably make it easier on the motor as my 8" jointer has 40 inserts so the spacing is quite a bit more open.

[Michael Shoffner]

You know it's strange, anytime I see a post asking about a Steel City review there seems to be very little response. There was a lot of chatter and reviews several years ago when they first started but I've struggled to find current reviews. I was considering their cabinet saw and asked about it on several forums and got nothing back accept theoretical arguments on their use of granite instead of cast iron. I like a lot of the innovative ideas they have, but I want to know how well they execute the build too. The lack of responses just makes me wonder how many machines they are actually selling.

[Bryan Cramer]

I know someone who has a Steel City 24" drum sander. The fit and finish is similar to the Grizzly tools I have. They haven't had any problems with the company or the tool itself. Most of the reviews/ articals online are about Steel City's portable planers. This could be because the 20" and 15" planers were new last year. Looks like I'll have to make the decision myself. I really like the specs of the 20" planer and the price is right too.