My New Dewalt Planer DW735 leaving a ridge in the wood

[Joel Wesseling]

I purchased the planer today at lowes and after first pass I feel a ridge in the wood.

Should I take the trouble and return it, or shift the blades?
Could I have created the blade chip in the first pass? what other possibilities?

Thanks,

Joel

First planer I have owned:(

[mark mcfarlane]

Joel, What were you planing? Where is the ridge relative to the 12" width? If you put something through with a pebble, or nail, or staple,... you could damage the blades.

[Andrew Hughes]

Sounds about right for those darn cheapo Dewalt blades. You can get better blades from infinity tools.

[Joel Wesseling]

Hi Mark,

The first board was a piece of oak rough lumber. I examined it carefully and didn't see any foreign material but?

The ridge is about 5" from the right and I can see the chip in the blade.

I planed a couple of 6-7" boards and stayed to the left and no ridge

[Joel Wesseling]

I like Infinity. I use their router bits.

I guess I can wear these blades out first and look at infinity.

But Now I'm curious as to how much better the unit will run with some primo blades

[Charles Lent]

Is the ridge lengthwise with the wood or across it? What did you plane? How large is the ridge - can you measure it, or just see it?

No planer will plane the wood so perfect that it won't need to be sanded, and it's easy to chip a blade if it cuts into a hard knot or hits a tiny piece of stone or metal in the wood. If the ridge is very small and lengthwise along the board, you can find the offending blades and shift them slightly so that the tiny chip from each one is not in alignment, but the next time this happens you will likely not be able to shift the blades enough to completely eliminate it. That said, my 735 planer has planed several hundred board feet of hard and soft lumber and I only once needed to shift the blades slightly one time before the blades became dull and needed replacing. It was after planning a white pine board, and it hit a very hard knot, in pine of all things. I went on to plane several different kinds of domestic hardwoods without any more blade chips before needing to change the dull blades.

If the ridge runs across the board and is about 5 inches from the end, it might be snipe. Snipe is caused near the end of the board when the feed roller leaves the wood and the cutter head is still cutting. The loss of roller pressure causes a slight movement of the cutter head height and it cuts a tiny bit deeper. The 735 planers are about the most snipe free planers on the market, due to the 4 post design, which reduces the cutter head movement near the end of the board. My 735 leaves a snipe line about 5 inches from the end of the board. I can see it as a kind of shiny line across the board when the light reflects off of it just right, but it's so small that a few swipes with 150 grit sandpaper removes all traces of it. My last planer, a Delta, sometimes thinned the last 6 inches of a board by an extra 1/8". I learned several tricks to minimize this, but it was pretty much necessary to plan on cutting off and discarding the last 6 inches of every board that I planned. To me, if your final pass through your planer makes very tiny ridges in the wood that can be easily sanded off by a light sanding, that's about all you should expect from the planer, and my 735 does this very well for me. You could try carbide blades from Infinity Tool to reduce the blade chipping and extend the blade life, but these too can sometimes chip when they hit something very hard.

Charley

[Len Mullin]

You just bought the darn thing, give it a chance to show you what it can do. In your posting you admit that it may be your fault that it happened, yet you think you should return the planer. I'm sorry, but, I don't understand your way of thinking. Besides, planers are made to dress stock to size, you're still supposed to do some sanding after planing the stock.
Len

[Rich Riddle]

Install better blades or call DeWalt and indicate you received a machine with a deficient blade. The odds aren't high you caused a problem in your first pass. You also need to learn to use the machine, so give it time. Learning how to avoid snipe is a lesson in itself.

[Larry Frank]

Unfortunately, nicked blades happen. You can shift blades to help. There are lots of things that can cause a nick and you will get them. I have the Infinity blades and they are much better but you can still nick them.

[John Lankers]

I'll echo what others said, you will not be happy with the stock blades - ever. Otherwise it is a nice little machine for the money.

[Joel Wesseling]

The ridge is along the length. If I caused it, I'm unaware - reason for thought of returning it, but not going to return it.

First time I heard of snipe, but intuitively I knew to keep board balanced as it feeds in and out but now I understand with more clarity. Yeah I see a little snipe on one board, more practice needed.

Thanks for all Input.

[Jim Becker]

The simple fix for this set of knives, if the machine allows it, is to shift one of them right or left a small amount so the alternate knife/knives cut that spot. The ridge is there because all of the knifes got clobbered by whatever cause the nicking.

[Mike Henderson]

And don't forget that those blades have two sides. If you damage one side, you can flip the blades and you'll get brand new edges.

I have that planer and the DeWalt blades have been good for me. I had problems with the initial blades but since that set, all the DeWalt blades I've used have lasted quite a while.

Mike

[Eric Schmid]

I switched to the infinity knives several years ago and they last a whole lot longer than the Dewalt. The infinity blades seem less prone to nicks, but do get them of course. They are also easier to hone and worth sharpening. The Dewalt blades seem to be a very hard alloy steel, which is probably what makes them brittle. It takes me about 20 minutes to change out knives, so the less frequent the better.

A quick pass with a block plane will take those ridges off easily.

[lowell holmes]

You can eliminate snipe by lifting up on the tail end of the board as feed it into the planer.
You can do this if necessary, but adjusting the inlet table to provide lift will work. It does on the 734.
I have the 734 and it is an excellent machine. I would expect the 735 to be better.

[Michael Alu]

I purchased the planer today at lowes and after first pass I feel a ridge in the wood.

Should I take the trouble and return it, or shift the blades?
Could I have created the blade chip in the first pass? what other possibilities?

Thanks,

Joel

First planer I have owned:(

There is a lot of good info here. I would suggest what Jim said and find the blade with the chip in it and move it to the right or left a hair. Also Mike mentioned that these blades are double sided so you could flip it around. I have this same planer and I have nothing but love for it. I will suggest that you hook up a dust collection system to it as this chip blower is nice, it is still needs to have a system pulling the wood chips out. I ran into this problem when I first got it. Also wear some ear protection with it. It is a loud beast.

[Mike Cutler]

Joel

All planers, and Jointers too for that matter, will do this from time to time. It's kinda like that first dent in a new car. You know it will happen, but you do everything you can to prevent it.
Unless it's really serious I would just flip a blade or move one to the left or right if it really bugs you. Me, I'd leave it and sand it out in the latter stages of the project.
My 15" stationary planer does this too. That's the reason for the 26" drum sander. ;)

[Tom Ewell]

Dealing with the blades on a 735 has to be one of the easiest I've encountered compared to other machines I've messed with.

DeWalt has taken most of the error potential out of the hands of the user by design. Even the tools to do it should be on board.

Early on I was under the impression that the stock blades on these machines were overly brittle but I also thought that DeWalt made changes and took care of it with the newer machines.

Nevertheless, nicked blades do happen regardless of the care taken to prevent it. Try some of the 'fixes' mentioned to see if they help.

Don't know if I'd throw away the existing blades to swap out with another brand yet, I flipped my blades some time ago and have a set of spares in the drawer just in case, the originals are still in the machine but I also do not depend on the planer to be my final step to prep for finish either.

[Matt Hegedus]

I have the 734 and I am a happy customer. It's my little work horse.

Of course I've nicked blades, and ended up with lines on my boards. I just plane those off w a hand plane. I use the planer more as a general thicknessing machine. Get it close then lick it with a plane.

[Joel Wesseling]

I'm really impressed with the planer. It's better than I expected.

One thing to note. The odd time when I switch i on the breaker trips. Its on a dedicated 15A circuit. Maybe happens 1 of 10 times I start it. I'll likely add a 20A circuit in the shop. Had to do this for a compressor that was tripping 15A breaker at start up. Wish they offered a 240V version.

[John Lankers]

I used to have this planer and I know it can be taxing on a 15 Amp breaker especially when it starts getting colder. If your wiring supports it you could swap the 15 Amp breaker for a 20 Amp - talk to your electrician first, or you could install a 15 Amp breaker with a time delay, sorry I forgot the correct term for these breakers. Breakers can wear out when switched / tripped to often.

[Malcolm McLeod]

If the ridge starts at the leading edge of the board, there was a chip in the blade when you bought it. If ridge starts a some other random mid-point of the length of the board, it happened while you were using it. - Whether it was some embedded debris, or just a bad blade, I'll let you speculate.

[Marty Schlosser]

Joel,

It's quit elikely there was a very small bit of grit (could have been picked up anywhere including your own shop) when planing that oak plank. As had been stated previously, the quality of the original steel blades can leave much to be desired.

[John Nesmith]

I have the same planer, and the same problem. I can't find a nick, but it doesn't matter. The ridge is removed with normal follow up sanding. It's not a big deal.

[John Lankers]

Here is a link to Dimar for good quality aftermarket knives http://dimar-canada.com/