24" planer ?

[Reed Wells]

I am seriously thinking about buying a new 24" planer. I am in the research stage right now, so any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Most of my tops in my furniture business are 22" deep, 8/4 white pine. Some of the desks are 72"+ long. I presently use a Performax 22/44 to surface the glue-ups, but pine tends to be quite a job, constantly cleaning the belts while using them. I have looked at the Griz, don't remember the model, and it seemed like a decent machine. But like I said, research comes first.
Any help guys? Thanks, Reed

[lou sansone]

After a bunch of research a few years ago I ended up with a 24" casadie planer. I think it has some of the best design features on the market. They now all come with tersa heads ( my unit is pre tersa head) , except for that I would put it right up there with the other Italian machines. Now if you are loaded then consider a martin. I had a 20" grizz and put a bunch of stock through it, but the overall quality of the machine is so so

here is the link that will show all of my planers features
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19463

they now come with tersa heads !


Lou

[Paul B. Cresti]

Reed,
I would not even consider a planer without a Tersa head, at least for me. You might want to check out this one

http://www.minimax-usa.com/jointer-planer/formulasp1.html

I do believe they have a 24" model, I think, so ask them.

[tod evans]

yup paul, minimax is offering a 24" now. nice unit! .02 tod

[Brian Coe]

I just went thru the same decision-making process. I don't know what your budget is, which will make a big difference in your options. For my budget, I was looking at older, used powermatics/deltas, the Grizzly offerings, and the newest 24" model from Wilkes Machinery in PA. For a variety of reasons, I ended up choosing the 25" Woodmaster. It arrives today in fact, so maybe in a couple of days I can post some comments on whether it meets my needs/expectations. For me a big part of the decision came down to size/space I had in the shop to dedicate to the tool, and some of the older machines (which I normally prefer) simply have too much space/power requirements when you get to the 24" size.

Good luck on the decision!

Brian Coe