Makita 1806B 6-3/4" Planer experiences?

[andy Needles]

Hello all!

Makita 1806B 6-3/4" Planer (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004YOD2/ref=e_deav_acc_1_1/002-1435118-9539219?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance)

Any one had any experience with this monster? It looks as though it would be good for roughing out larger slabs? I have a friend who has one, and swears by it. Or am I just trying to talk my self into a useless tool.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Andy Hoyt]

In my former life as a timberframer I had one of those (or its Hitachi equivalent) duct taped to my right hand all the time. It's an awesome tool. Suggestions would include many extra sets of knives and brushes. If you want to simply flatten wide slabs you'd be wise to round over the corners of the knives so they don't cut. This makes feathering one pass into the previous one much easier.

[Don Frambach]

I tried to use a planer (a little smaller than that) to flatten panels several years ago. Perhaps it was me, but I failed miserably. Now I use a 4x24 belt sander with an 80 grit belt.

[Vaughn McMillan]

I have the Bosch equivalent to the Makita planer (I went with the Bosch because it had a stouter fence). I've used it successfully to trim doors, but my attempts at panel flattening (flattening cutting boards, actually) left me with about as much belt sander work as if I'd not used the planer at all. Had I known about Andy's trick of rounding the corners of the knives, I might have had better success. (I also suspect my technique was largely to blame.)

Be advised that this type of planer can go through a power cord in the blink of an eye and a flash of electrcal goodness. It's a clean cut, though. DAMHIKT ;)

- Vaughn

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

All the makers seem to make them, they still make them, they have been making them for 20 plus years, so I'd think they must have a use, now if it will be of use to you, that depends on what you want it to do.

I recently bought the Ryobi version, big sucker it is, heavy too, but for flattening rough timber and even bowl blanks, it works very well.

Cheers!

[Alan Turner]

I have one of these monsters. It will cut wood faster than you can imagine. I acquired it as part of an estate that I bought, and have only used it for flattening a slab enough to register it to let a planer chew the other side flat. It worked well, but I don't think I would be skilled enough to actually produce finished, furniture grade, work with it.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

It worked well, but I don't think I would be skilled enough to actually produce finished, furniture grade, work with it.

Alan, I do not think it was even intended to do that.

I see them used here in Japan for building wooden houses, which is much closer to timber framing than the 2x4 stick stuff.

Cheers!