20 vs 15 planer

[Ed Gibbons]

Is a 20” planer worth the extra money over. 15”?

[Bruce Wrenn]

If you are running door slabs, then yes. I seldom see any wood that either my 13" Rockwell, or 15" Delta won't run. anything wider than that, I would flatten with a router jig. Once I worked in a plant that made laminated beams and arches. We had a 60" Powermatic.

[Mike Henderson]

Depends on the cost difference and the space you have in your shop. Bigger is always better.

I have a 13" planer but a 25 inch drum sander. So if I glue up a panel that's bigger than 13" I can usually fit it into my drum sander.

Mike

[Patrick Kane]

Depends on how you use your planer and your access to wide boards. It’s not unusual for me to have 15”+ wide boards. What’s more, it’s not particularly practical to plane the max capacity of your machine. I often take a light pass on panel glueups, which saves time on the drum sander. If my glueup is off 1/32”-1/16” on each side then that’s a fair amount of material to take off with a drum sander. On most import machines, you get a pressure bar on 20” models that 15” machines don’t have. Finally, this just might be my silly opinion, but 20”vs15” planers are like 6-8”vs12”+ jointers. They represent a pretty significant transition beyond just the few inches of capacity. My Dj-20 would rock slightly or could be bumped around if I jointed long and thick boards. I can barely budge the 12” with all my might behind it. Similarly, I have the pm209hh, but my local woodworking friend has the 15” pm. I’ve calibrated his machine, and spent more time under the hood on mine. Besides the 5” of capacity, the 20” is 300lbs heavier, has a lot more infeed and outfeed support, and much nicer machine to operate. Obviously budget has to come into the decision for everyone, but the 20” machines are much more than 5” greater than their brethren.

[Roger Bull]

Depends on how you use your planer and your access to wide boards. It’s not unusual for me to have 15”+ wide boards. What’s more, it’s not particularly practical to plane the max capacity of your machine. I often take a light pass on panel glueups, which saves time on the drum sander. If my glueup is off 1/32”-1/16” on each side then that’s a fair amount of material to take off with a drum sander. On most import machines, you get a pressure bar on 20” models that 15” machines don’t have. Finally, this just might be my silly opinion, but 20”vs15” planers are like 6-8”vs12”+ jointers. They represent a pretty significant transition beyond just the few inches of capacity. My Dj-20 would rock slightly or could be bumped around if I jointed long and thick boards. I can barely budge the 12” with all my might behind it. Similarly, I have the pm209hh, but my local woodworking friend has the 15” pm. I’ve calibrated his machine, and spent more time under the hood on mine. Besides the 5” of capacity, the 20” is 300lbs heavier, has a lot more infeed and outfeed support, and much nicer machine to operate. Obviously budget has to come into the decision for everyone, but the 20” machines are much more than 5” greater than their brethren.

I also have a PM 209HH and love it. Besides your good points there is another benefit for the OP to consider. A 20" planer is a third larger. One third more cutting surface. By feeding boards through in different spots you can go longer before having to change blades. Or in the case of carbide inserts, rotating them.

[Rod Sheridan]

Is a 20” planer worth the extra money over. 15”?

It is if you have a 20 inch jointer, otherwise buy a planer the same width as your jointer.........Regards, Rod.

[Patrick Kane]

I have the byrd head too, which isnt all its talked up to be, but lets me cheat a little with panel cleanup. All im looking for it to do is most of the heavy lifting for my dual drum to clean up with 120/150 grit at a light pass.

Heres where i disagree with matching the jointer/planer/bandsaw capacity school of thought. I understand why people advocate for that, and im sure it works well for the, but i would probably settle for a slightly smaller jointer to have a larger planer. My hand plane skills are borderline awful, but i can flatten one face of a board for it to be usable. Quality sourced lumber is rarely more than 1/16-1/8" out of flat over 4-6' length. I also cheat a lot with removing the jointer guard and jointing a 12" wide section of the board before taking it to my work bench to plane off the remaining 1-8" of unjointed material. This can suck quite a bit, but it is doable for the right material. Afterwards, i send it through the planer, flip and repeat. The end product is nearly as good as having a 16-20" jointer, albeit, much slower. Without a wide planer, you are kind of dead in the water. Sure, you can do it by hand, but making surfaces parallel and of uniform thickness is much more difficult and labor intensive. Instead of knocking down high spots and maybe removing 1/8" total material, you are looking at 1/4"+ of total material removal. Of course, everyone will shout, "rip the board in half, dummy!", but this completely defeats the point of wide boards, imo. Most of my wide stock is crotch figure and i dont think i could ever match up the grain after ripping.

Given the choice of a 12" jointer and 15" planer versus an 8" jointer and 20" planer, i honestly dont know if i could decide. I would take straight knife versions of both if i could upgrade capacity, i know that for a fact.

[Jeff Heath]

It is if you have a 20 inch jointer, otherwise buy a planer the same width as your jointer.........Regards, Rod.

While I agree that this is ideal, it isn't a requirement. I have a 16" jointer, and 2 planers....a Powermatic 221D, which is a 20" planer, and a Whitney No. 32, which is a 30" planer. While I would love to acquire a 30" jointer (just missed one last week at auction due to uncontrollable circumstances preventing me from going), they do not grow on tree's.

As stated, with a quality jointer that has a rabbeting ledge, you can remove the guard, and run the board with overhang onto the rabbeting ledge. This allows you to flatten most of your wider board, and you can finish with a hand plane. As stated, not ideal, but is a good solution to a problem that is faster than other options. By the time you mess about with shimming a board on a sled, or setting up a router jig, I'll be finished.

I work with a lot of wide slabs that exceed the width of my jointer. I have a woodmizer, and cut my own lumber, and have a shed full of slabs that are 23" to 26" wide (max cut on my sawmill).

[David Kumm]

Keep in mind there are a couple of types of 20" planers. those that are merely a 15" design stretched or those with true chipbreakers ( often sectional ) and a decent pressure bar, heavier construction and additional rollers. Those machines are a whole different breed. I'd take a used heavy over a new light if condition was good. Lighter planers that don't have the design of the heavy ones are the ones that realaly benefit from the spiral insert head. The heavy ones, not so much. Dave

[Martin Wasner]

Is a 20” planer worth the extra money over. 15”?


Yes.


Extra words

[Robert Engel]

I have a 20" the biggest advantage is being able to plane multiple boards at once. Can save a lot of time.

I would opt for a 15" helical rather than a 20" blade model.

[Mike Henderson]

It is if you have a 20 inch jointer, otherwise buy a planer the same width as your jointer.........Regards, Rod.

There are times when I want to plane a panel that I've glued up from boards that I was able to joint on my jointer.

Mike

[richard newman]

With a wider planer if you are planing narrow boards you can use one side to remove most of the material and the other for a finish pass. It's nice to reserve keen knives without nicks for that last pass.

I have an old 20" SCM, used to have a 24" Yates jtr. Really wide stuff went thru the 37" widebelt after jointing. Down to a 16" Wadkin now, not doing big stuff anymore.

[scott vroom]

I have a 15" and regret not getting a 20" for door panels. I understand the argument of planer=jointer width as it applies to single board milling but it ignores the benefit of a wider planer for glued up door panels.

[Keith Hankins]

I have a 12 lunchbox, and I had an 18, that I upgraded to a 20 with shelix (powermatic209hh), Get the biggest you can afford. I like it for what others have said you can have a wide top go through and, for me, even with a shelix, if if get some squirely figured wood i can run it through canted (pass through at an angle) to the side to make it easier to get through.

Just my 2cw

[Phillip Gregory]

If you are buying a typical Asian four-post 20" planer vs. a typical Asian four-post 15" planer, the larger machine is about a third more expensive and a third larger/heavier. Going from a 20" four-post to a 24"+ unit is a BIG step us as the larger units are wedge-bed units and while significantly better, are vastly more expensive. I'd personally stick with either a 15" or a 20" depending on your personal preference as a 15" four-post unit is a BIG step up from a "portable" 12-13" unit. I have a 15"er and haven't had something too wide to run through it as I rarely run glue-ups through it and in my experience, a board much wider than about 8" wide has excessive cupping to try to flatten. I usually rip, face joint, plane, and then glue back together. If you thickness plane and joint all of your stock before glue-up, you can make wide glue-ups that are pretty flat and don't require much beyond a kiss with a block plane and a little sanding. I did that on a 36" wide glue-up recently. I also don't try to run multiple pieces through a planer at one time, at 30 fpm it doesn't take long to plane a piece of stock and if you are working that fast, jump above the 15"/20" four post models to a wedge bed, or better yet, a giant Buss or something of that ilk.

Now I would recommend a much wider drum or wide belt sander as that *would* be handy to run glue-ups through.

[Neil Gaskin]

We have powermatic 15hh. I wish I’d have bought the 20. Only because I’d like to be able to run more narrow boards at once. Otherwise the 15 handles almost everything I’d like to run.

[Ed Gibbons]

Thanks for the feedback. I’ve decided on the Grizzly 15” with a helical cutter. The 20” is heavier than I want to handle.

[Keith Hankins]

Post a review and pics.

[Ed Gibbons]

Will do but will have to wait. Currently Grizzly is out of stock.

[eugene thomas]

Save some money and buy straight knive planer and helix head sepertly. Only takes few hours to change out.

[Alan Lightstone]

There are times when I want to plane a panel that I've glued up from boards that I was able to joint on my jointer.

Mike

+1

Blah, blah, blah. Fill up the minimum # of words.

[Chris Hachet]

Will do but will have to wait. Currently Grizzly is out of stock.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Almost 3 years alter they are short on stock on planers.

[Rod Sheridan]

Is a 20” planer worth the extra money over. 15”?


Sure, if you have a 20 inch jointer to go with it.....Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

There are times when I want to plane a panel that I've glued up from boards that I was able to joint on my jointer.

Mike

I agree Mike however normally my glue ups don't require more than a card scraper.

To me being able to true up the material is the most important step.......Rod.

[eugene thomas]

so guess if only have 8" jointer better find 8" planer?

[Alex Zeller]

I went with a 20" planer simply because I wanted to be able to feed more than one board at a time. Often I'll stagger them so one board comes out and I feed the next one in and then the next board is coming out. That being said it's heavy and quite large. It's also why I went with a 4 post planer vs an older Powermatic. If you have to move tolls around your shop a 20" planer is going to be that much harder than a 15" planer.

[johnny means]

It is if you have a 20 inch jointer, otherwise buy a planer the same width as your jointer.........Regards, Rod.

It's standard practice to joint, glue up, then plane to finished thickness. I could probably do 95% of my jointing with a 8" machine and none of my planing with a similar sized machine.

[Rich Aldrich]

I went with a 20" because I tripped over a good deal and that's what I was looking for. I use it for multiple boards at at time because I have access to skip planed and rough cut hardwood at work. Also, I leave panels thick and plane to final if they fit through the planer. I might not be as good as other woodworkers, so that's what I do to get the job done.

I think how the lumber is kiln dried is a lot of the issue. We make sure the lumber goes through a stress relief cycle ( over dry and remoisturize) before drying the lumber to final moisture content. The lumber does stay how you machine it.

Lumber that isn't stress relieved pinches back together after the blade on the table saw. It definitely takes more energy to dry lumber this way, but our boiler fuel is sawdust and waste, so the fuel portion is free - actually a way to get rid of waste that would otherwise be a cost.

[Joe Albrecht]

Hi I know this thread is kind of old, but I'm wondering this question. Looking at used planers. I can get a newer 15" Grizzly with helical head for $2400, a PM Model 15 with shelix head for $2200, or a Grizzly 20" straight knives for $2200. I realize this is based on what I do, but being a new hobby of mine, is it better to have the extra 5" capacity or higher quality cuts from the 15" since I may rarely go beyond that size? I appreciate help deciding. (Or maybe you would advise saving up and getting a 20" with helical head).

[Michael Burnside]

Hands down, 15" with a better head. And you are right, it matters what you do, but if you're new, I'm guessing you might want to build a table or a dresser with real wood faces or maybe a nice cabinet or perhaps a night stand? You don't need 20" to do any of that. In fact 12" is sufficient. Why? Well if you don't want that nice table to be as curvy as a mountain road, you better make sure the widest board is around 6" or less. Plane boards to thickness, glue up into panel width you need and cut to dimension. I've build some incredible furniture with a 12" planer.

Bigger is not always better. Bigger can sometimes be just more expensive and not much else. Even if you live and die by the "I'd rather not need it an have it than not have it and need it" sword. Now, if you're a full production shop interested in making money and saving maximum time...buy two 20" planers. :D

[Bill Dufour]

As a general rule the wider the planer the longer the minimum length is for work to be planed. This minimum is basically the center to center distance of the infeed and outfeed rollers.
That does rule not really apply to a jointer. Except a larger jointer will tend to have bigger diameter cutter head and a bigger gap between the tables to clear it
Bill D

[Holmes Anderson]

Depends on your expectations and how you use your planer. The 20" capacity is very useful if you run glued-up panels. As some have pointed out, the difference isn't just 5" of cut capacity. The 20" four-poster probably has a pressure bar and adjustable feed rate, which the 15s sometimes do not, so the 20 may give a better surface with less snipe. Some have suggested the 20 has the advantage of allowing gang-planing but 4-post planers don't have segmented feed rollers etc so gang-planing with a 4-poster is not recommended IMO. I wouldn't buy a machine based on the cutters because the cutterhead can be replaced in a few hours. You can't add on a pressure bar and 5" of cut capacity.

[Rod Sheridan]

There are times when I want to plane a panel that I've glued up from boards that I was able to joint on my jointer.

Mike

That’s true Mike, however I never do that,I find the most I need is a card scraper…….Regards, Rod

[Michael Burnside]

That’s true Mike, however I never do that,I find the most I need is a card scraper…….Regards, Rod

I'm of the same opinion. Barring any arguments whether or not that's good on a helical head (I tend to think it's fine if you clean periodically), I find anything left is gone during surface sanding.