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View Full Version : Dewalt 735 thickness planer - lines but no chips in knives.



Paul K. Johnson
06-01-2017, 6:36 PM
Well, on one of the threads here I was bad-mouthing the stock Dewalt knives. I said within just a few boards the knives were already leaving lines. When I bought mine I got a second set of knives in the deal so I opened it up today to put the new knives in and take one last 1/64" pass on all sides of my stock.

When I pulled out the blades I couldn't see nor feel any chips on any of the knives. They're dull as butter knives though.

On the side of the knives that contacts the wood there is a line of pitch build-up that's pretty hard so I'm sure that's what's leaving the lines.

So what I'm going to do is soak them in detergent for 30 minutes and see how they're doing. I'll soak again if it didn't loosen stuff enough to clean off fairly easily.

Then I'm going to very lightly hone the flat side on either my ultra-fine DMT or my Shapton 12K. I'll see if I can find a way to strop them afterward. Then I'll just store them until I need to swap blades.

I'm pretty for-sure going to upgrade to a Shellix before I buy new knives but that's another thing.

Anyway, I've yet to get any significant build-up on any of my saw blades and some of them have cut a lot of wood so I didn't realize that getting this kind of build-up on planer knives was even a thing. I learned something new and it's cool that the blades aren't toast. Although I was looking forward to making a couple marking knives from the used knives. Guess that will have to wait. :D

Nick Decker
06-02-2017, 5:31 AM
Never tried detergent, but this stuff works great on my saw blades and router bits.

https://www.amazon.com/Trend-CLEAN-500-Cleaner-Clear/dp/B003OC35MQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1496395705&sr=1-4&keywords=Blade+cleaner

Some kind of citrus involved, I think.

Paul K. Johnson
06-02-2017, 8:13 AM
I've heard good things about that stuff but I don't have any. I saw recently that regular laundry detergent does a good job. I have tons of things on hand that I can try but really I think even simple green will take care of it. It's hard pine pitch. None of the other woods I use leave anything on my blades. I mainly cut birch ply, cherry, hard maple and walnut.

lowell holmes
06-02-2017, 10:18 AM
I would try honing the blades and see if that helps. Maybe if you put a very slight bevel on the cutting edge it would be beneficial.
I have the 734 planer though.