Hand held power planer

[Bob Michaels1]

What make and model would you recommend for a hand held power planer in the 3 1/4" range for planing door edges and the like. I have a 20" PM for the shop but thought this may come in handy for job sites as well as the shop. I would only use it occasionally. I have a 40 year old Rockwell 167A that is downright dangerous to use because of the way you are forced to hold it. Thanks.

[Bradley Gray]

I have a Hitachi. Easy to control and adjust. Has a flip-up stand to protect the blade and surfaces. I bought it used on ebay for $40.

Check out "tips from a shipwright" on You Tube

[Warren Lake]

Makita 1100 its a heavy unit and a Makitcaa cordless one, Doing some roof work I found the 1100 extended out in front of me a bother, the battery one just fine for what I had to do.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I have a PC and I've never had trouble with it, although I really don't use it much. It's kind of heavy. I find hand held planers a bit tricky to use but, I suppose door edges don't really have to be perfectly straight.

[Kevin Jenness]

The Bosch is not bad, light with decent power and dust collection and reversable carbide insert knives. I use a power planer for scribing, cleaning up edges of large doors and the occasional rough shaping of a non-planar piece like the customised door sills between my addition and original house.

[Julie Moriarty]

I bought a Makita in the mid-80 when building my house. I used it a lot then but only sporadically after that. I've also abused it on occasion. Still works fine. The knives are easy to change. But there's no vac hose connection so it's let the chips fly.

[Steve Jenkins]

I have a Festool that I bought used and used it to cut the under bevel on the table I recently I recently posted. It worked great and dust collection was excellent. I have an Oneida dust deputy also which saved the bags in the vac

[Jim Becker]

Although I don't own one, I have used the Festool that Steve mentions and it's excellent, albeit at a cost. If you will be doing this kind of work on-site in folks' homes and want the dust extraction benefits, then it's absolutely worthy of your consideration. The knives are skewed for a more shearing cut, too. There are also alternative knives available for applying special effects to panels that some folks find useful for artistry without using hand planes when time is of the essence.

[Tim Bueler]

I bought a Makita in the mid-80 when building my house. I used it a lot then but only sporadically after that. I've also abused it on occasion. Still works fine. The knives are easy to change. But there's no vac hose connection so it's let the chips fly.

I have probably the same model from the same era though I am on my second or third one. Works acceptably once I shimmed the "outfeed" table. I did upgrade the knives to the reversible carbide. It's planed everything from door edges to flushing up PT joists for decks (wet, stringy). Not a lot of features but they have all been reliable within the limits of the abuse I give them.

[Brian Holcombe]

Festool, It's nice and quiet! Mainly sits in the box but when I need it, it's nice to use.

Need the big (medium I think) hose for it.

[Tim Einwalter]

I have a Makita and I'm very happy with it. Would buy it again.

[richard poitras]

Not sure if this matters but if you need to use it in a sled to power plan a large slab like you use a router for flatting large slabs you may consider the design as well,

[Bob Michaels1]

Many thanks to everyone who responded. I suspect one of the ones suggested is going to be in my shop shortly. Really appreciate the guidance. Bob

[Chris Fournier]

My DeWalt has eaten a mountain of wood. Flawless.

[julian abram]

I have used a Makita trimming doors and other projects for twenty years. It's still going strong.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have an old Stanley router head with the plane attachment and spiral head. I looks like the old PC that I used in the 70's I have planed down hundreds of hospital doors with it.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Sparked by this thread, I looked at some of the hand-held planers mentioned here. It seems most of them don't have a fence. My heavy, all metal, PC has a full-length fence that is integral to the design. How do those that don't have a fence even work ? How do you keep it square on the edge ?

[Jerome Stanek]

Sparked by this thread, I looked at some of the hand-held planers mentioned here. It seems most of them don't have a fence. My heavy, all metal, PC has a full-length fence that is integral to the design. How do those that don't have a fence even work ? How do you keep it square on the edge ?

My Stanley has a fence and looks just like the PC that I used.

[Steve Jenkins]

My Festool I had to buy the fence separately. It’s worth it

[Tim Bueler]

Sparked by this thread, I looked at some of the hand-held planers mentioned here. It seems most of them don't have a fence. My heavy, all metal, PC has a full-length fence that is integral to the design. How do those that don't have a fence even work ? How do you keep it square on the edge ?

All my Makita's came with a rudimentary fence. The second one I had got stolen from a job site:mad: including the upgraded, full length, fully adjustable fence that was available from Makita at the time. That was 15, maybe 20 yrs ago, don't know if it's still available. The one I have today I have shimmed for door edge beveling which, to me is not a precision operation, but then, a hand held power planer is not a precision machine. Good technique goes a long way but there are better tools and methods where a high amount of precision is required.

If you have the old PC planer I'm thinking of it was purpose built for door edge work. It came in a kit and was a very nice machine but way overkill for what I needed at that stage of my career. It would have been shameful to treat that machine like I have my Makita's over the years.

[Mark W Pugh]

So, what did you get, and are you satisfied?

So, for all other inputs, any reviews of the new products?

[Bob Michaels1]

Haven't bought one yet but should. I suspect it will be the Festool even though the price of admission may defy logic for a seldom used tool.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

What make and model would you recommend for a hand held power planer in the 3 1/4" range for planing door edges and the like. I have a 20" PM for the shop but thought this may come in handy for job sites as well as the shop. I would only use it occasionally. I have a 40 year old Rockwell 167A that is downright dangerous to use because of the way you are forced to hold it. Thanks.

I have a Makita one. I believe the model number is 1700 but I am not sure... bought on the end of 1980s. Actually it is my oldest power tool in use.

I had just to change the blades once as they are double edged so each one doubles the life span.

If I had to purchase another one, certainly I would go to Makita again.

[Tom M King]

My 6-1/4" has a fence, but I've never used it. I've never thought about needing a fence on the 3-1/4's.

[Phil Mueller]

You may want to check out this YouTube video by Louis, who uses them constantly. The review starts at about 2:30.

https://youtu.be/_a1HCqK5i-A

[Bradley Gray]

After seeing Louis use the Ryobi in his boat building videos I bought one, and while I don't use it often, it is great for fitting doors and cabinets.

I found a slightly used one on ebay for $40 - well worth it.

[Jim Becker]

Haven't bought one yet but should. I suspect it will be the Festool even though the price of admission may defy logic for a seldom used tool.
I played with the Festool version a number of years ago when Bob Marino came for a visit...well designed tool including the knife setup. Not inexpensive for sure, but...for someone who needs the utility and wants something that's versatile beyond straight knives, it's worthy of consideration.

[Bob Michaels1]

Thanks Osvaldo. Good to know.

[Phillip Mitchell]

One really handy thing about the Festool is that you can remove the guard on the side of the cutterhead and use as a rabbeting plane across the width of the entire cutterhead.

I find this very useful in certain situations (mostly tweaking big joinery in timber framing quickly on site, when you need to move faster than hand tools) but plenty of other situations as well. Some other power planers can rabbet up to a certain small width, but I haven't seen another that can rabbet the entire width like the Festool. The quality of the cut in tear out prone woods is quite good with the Festool as well.

All that said, it is nearly $700, but I've got enough seat time on them to know that when you need it in a professional / specialized setting then it's totally worth it.