Woodmaster 718 as a dedicated planer

[Keegan Shields]

I've been looking for to upgrade my DW735 with a used 15" planer for a few years and I keep seeing very reasonably priced Woodmaster 718 units (some with their helical head). I know they have the ability to do drum sanding, rip sawing, and molding, but how are they as dedicated planers? I am wary of machines that can do lots of different things as they tend to require a lot of fiddly setup time when switching over. I already have a 25" drum sander, so for me the modularity doesn't have an advantage. Generally, the Woodmaster machines seem pretty light weight compared to a dedicated 15" planer and they sit pretty low to the ground.

On the plus side, the units I see come with a Leeson TEFC 5HP motor, which is nice.

So, would you consider a Woodmaster 718 as equivalent to a Powermatic/Grizzly/Jet 15" planer?

(yes I've searched the SMC archives and the googles, but haven't seen this question asked)

[Jeff Roltgen]

Good question - pondered the same for larger capacity 25" width from them. Honestly dismissed them completely, based on the concern that it's bed looks like sheet metal. No cast iron? Yikes.
Perhaps my concerns are unfounded, so hoping someone with experience with a Woodmaster chimes in here.

[Warren Lake]

on mine I took out the shaft got a larger shaft and had a corrugated head made. THey are light machines but must be a lot better than those lunch box things. It has a real motor on it and most important it has a speed control that you can dial in so if you had figured wood you could slow the feed. I wish I had that on my SCM invincible.

I dont run it long as the bearings heat up as the head I put on is large. Then I doubled up on the bearings as well but over all its a light machine. It can do very good quality mouldings at least mine can with the head I put on and corrugated knives.

Like all things it depends on the work you do and how you work. You might be happy with a 2 HP table saw I wont be type thing. For small run custom work I do it does a good job, The old guy laughed at it till I ran a birdseye crown moulding in front of him in one pass and he smiled and turned red. Thing is the stickers in the shop he ran would run all day but he would likely break the woodmaster by lunch time. All depends on what you do.

Im using this till I get a Micron or something similar with the same abilities only more weight.

I dont know about the change overs have no interest in that use it only as a moulder. It works and does fine, wish it was heavier. So far I make crown or some other moldings on this rather than a shaper. Wood lays flat on its back cutter head above right away that is good, its easy and it does it one pass for the most part depending on what you are doing.

You will need someone who uses it as a planer to tell you. the head I had made is six inches so likely could not plane too much more width than that. If i had a wider head id try it on figured wood provided the width would work. The Speed control is a good thing and the only thing better than the SCM, rubber rollers are good but on my 50 year old jointer planer would have been replaced a number of times by now. Pluses and minuses to all stuff.

[David Kumm]

The straight knife version lacks chipbreakers and pressure bars due to the need to accomodate molding knives. A helical head compensates for that but while I like my WM a lot for molding, it isn't a great planer due to the design limitations for a straight head machine. Dave

[David Zaret]

i've owned three woodmasters over the years. started with an 18", moved up to a 25", then went to a 12" dedicated to moulding. i had a spiral planing head on the 18", and the 25", and planned on using them as a primary planer. i had a terrible time with it. the machines were horribly underpowered (especially with the segmented head), and the 25" had "integrated snipe" that we actually spent a day chasing with woodmaster, with measuring equipment, and proved that the frame was actually bending causing the snipe. they took the 25" back, and sent me a 12", which i use to this day for mouldings (along with my W&H). that was the last time i'll use a woodmaster as a planer. it's a very lightweight machine for serious planing.

all of this said, i know that others have been satisfied with the woodmaster as a primary planer. maybe i have unrealistic expectations, or maybe my particular machines had issues. but, burned into my memory is attempting to plane material, with a sharp byrd head on the 18" woodmaster, and nearly stalling the head, over and over again.

my current planer is a new SCM L'Invincible. granted, it was $20k, but it meets my expectations!

good luck with whatever you do.

-- dz

[Keegan Shields]

Thanks for the responses. I suspected as much given the low prices and how they sit on CL in central Texas. Woodmaster doesn’t have much about the planer mode, most of the content on YouTube is about making moulding or skip planing lumber at a sawmill. Looks like a cool machine but probably not as a replacement for a conventional 15” or 20” helical planer.

[David Zaret]

FWIW - the 12" woodmaster makes a nice moulder. it does things that the W&H can't do, and i won't sell it. but, i'll probably also never put the planer head back in it.

-- dz

[Bob Falk]

I have a 718 and agree with above statements. While it is a versatile moulder (I made all the trim in my old house remodel) and the sander works well (I prefer it to the old Performax 25x2 I owned), planing is not snipe free. I am a hobbyist and don't try to push the machine too hard (I never plane much over 14" wide and always take lighter cuts). I have found the snipe issue to be lessened since I bought the indexed head.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had a 718 that I used solely for planing, and it was not great. The rollers are too far from the head, which makes snipe worse than it would have to be. I would not have one again, there are better machines out there. I had a 15" Delta clone for a few years till this summer, and it was a far better planer than the WM, though it was pretty low-end.

[Alan Gage]

I have a 718 that I picked up on a local auction and then added the spiral head. It came with the pro kit (saw blades and sanding drum).

As a planer it's head and shoulders above the lunchbox planer I had before. I have a sawmill so run mostly rough sawn material through it and it's so nice to be able to take 1/16"-1/8" per pass as opposed to the lunchbox, which was something like 1/32".

Mine has a 5hp motor but for a 5hp motor it's not very large and gets hot when planing for extended periods of time, although it's never shut down. I have an old 12" belsaw with a huge 5hp motor and that sucker can chew through wood for hours and not get hot. I'm pretty sure from the factory they offer different grades of motor.

It snipes, I wish the feed was faster, and I wish it could take a little deeper cut (I usually stick to 1/16" on wider/harder woods. Last night I was doing 1/8" with no problem on 6" cottonwood). If I had my choice of planers it wouldn't be on the top of my list but it does well, the price was right, and I've made great use of the ripping attachment. I've since got a powerfeeder for the tablesaw and haven't used the ripping attachment since.

On the plus side it is nice to be able to quickly back off the feed speed when you hit a thick/figured spot in the wood.

Alan