Dewalt 735

[Dave Malen]

Does this planer do a better job on figured wood than other planers because it has a slower feed rate option? Does anyone know if the knife issue has been addressed by dewalt?
Thanks,
Dave

[jonathan snyder]

Dave,

I e-mailed Dewalt last week, complaining about the knives. Here is their response.

"We have had several customers mention the short blade life. DEWALT has begun to design stronger blades for the DW735, still reversible and not resharpenable, but they should last much longer than the original blades."

They offered to send me a set of the new knives, which I graciously accepted.

Infinity also makes knives for the 735. I just put a set in my planner. They seem to be doing well , but I only have a couple feet of walnut and oak through them. Infinity says they will last up to 4 times longer than the OEM Dewalt knives.

Jonathan


:rolleyes: LOML insisted I put a smiley face in here!!!!

[Brad Townsend]

"We have had several customers mention the short blade life."

I bet it's more like several hundred.:rolleyes:

[Gary Keedwell]

I bet it's more like several hundred.:rolleyes:

Me too. I've had my eye on the 735 for a few years but hesitate because of all the flack I've read about the blades. When the posts start getting good raves for awhile about replacement blades....then I'll look into it again. Isn't the internet great!!!! You can hear about these things and not make as many purchasing boo boos.
Gary K.

[Eddie Darby]

Does this planer do a better job on figured wood than other planers because it has a slower feed rate option?
Thanks,
Dave
I don't see slower feed rates helping much with tear-out. The angle of attack and the grain of the wood have remained the same, so all you get is a somewhat thinner chip. I say somewhat because the depth of cut you choose will still be the major factor in chip thickness. The Time that the high RPM knives spend in the cut is very very short and the wood is only moving slower only by a small amount, so not much effect.

Some people have success with dampening the wood with a moist rag, while others try to feed the wood in at an angle that will go more with the figure in the wood, rather than the grain. On 13" planers you are limited on how much you can angle a piece of wood, but every bit helps.

Sharp knives are always helpful, as is a very thin cut.

I've seen some articles on putting a back bevel on the knives, but this is not an option with the non-resharpenable blades. The DW 733 will allow you to play with the "Angle of Attack" by putting a few degrees of back bevel on it, since the blades are not indexed. This back bevel is a very small bevel of only a few degrees, and just a little wider than the thickness of the chip you are planning to take, say 1/64" thick chip will need a back bevel just a little bit wider than 1/64".

This back bevel has the same sort of effect as going to a steeper York Pitch 50 degree bench handplane over the standard 45 degree plane angle of attack. This increased angle of attack is making more of a scraping cut.

[glenn bradley]

I agree with Eddie here: "The angle of attack and the grain of the wood have remained the same".

When I had some tearout on my DW734 3 knife planer I went next door and used my neighbor's DW735 on the slow speed. No real improvement although the smooth parts seemed smoother. This could just be the knoves no big difference. I was able to get a good surface running on my 734 with the feed at an angle after studying the grain pattern for the best shot at most of the surface. This gave me a surface that only required a little scraping to be just right.

[Gary Keedwell]

Just curious.

What is the technical reason for blades that can't be re-sharpened? Is it the height of the blade? I have read where some woodworkers have sharpened their 735 blades successfully. The blade issue is really perplexing me. (don't take much to do that):rolleyes: I'm gearing up for retirement and I have the old 733 De Walt that has served me well but am thinking of upgrading. Any input?
Gary K.:o

[jonathan snyder]

Gary,

I think the issue is that the knives are indexed to make setting them foolproof. The knives have a hole which fits on an indexing pin on the cutterhead. I had a set sharpened, and they were OK, because the guy did not remove much metal, but it cost as much as a new set. Another Creeker mentioned he had a set sharpened, but too much metal was removed, so by the time the knives hit the wood the screws holding the knives to the cutterhead also hit the wood.

I don't know why the cutterhead and knives were not designed better. I like all other aspects of the planner.

How are other cutterheads designed to deal with knife sharpening? This is the only planner I have ever used.

Jonathan

[Eddie Darby]

Just curious.

What is the technical reason for blades that can't be re-sharpened? Is it the height of the blade? I have read where some woodworkers have sharpened their 735 blades successfully. The blade issue is really perplexing me. (don't take much to do that):rolleyes: I'm gearing up for retirement and I have the old 733 De Walt that has served me well but am thinking of upgrading. Any input?
Gary K.:o
The problem with sharpening a disposable blade is that you have to remove the exact amount from every blade. Not easy!!!! So let's say you manage to do that somehow. Now you have to put the shorter blades into a machine that is set for a blade of a certain fixed length.

I would say that probably some people have managed to *Hone* there disposable blades to get a little more life out of them.

If you do a cost analysis, and let's hope the new 735 blades do last 4 times longer, then you will find that tossing them when they get dull isn't really that expensive, since it costs to sharpen the 733 blades.

I see the advantage of the 735 is not having to lock the cutter head manually each time you change the depth of cut, better chip control, and smoother cut from the slower feed rate, to be real huge advantages. Down side is noise increase and getting to be a heavy, almost too heavy, machine to be called mobile.

I use my old 733 for figured wood, since I can put a small back bevel on the blades, since they can be sharpened and are not indexed.

[Gary Keedwell]

The problem with sharpening a disposable blade is that you have to remove the exact amount from every blade. Not easy!!!! So let's say you manage to do that somehow. Now you have to put the shorter blades into a machine that is set for a blade of a certain fixed length.

I would say that probably some people have managed to *Hone* there disposable blades to get a little more life out of them.

If you do a cost analysis, and let's hope the new 735 blades do last 4 times longer, then you will find that tossing them when they get dull isn't really that expensive, since it costs to sharpen the 733 blades.

I see the advantage of the 735 is not having to lock the cutter head manually each time you change the depth of cut, better chip control, and smoother cut from the slower feed rate, to be real huge advantages. Down side is noise increase and getting to be a heavy, almost too heavy, machine to be called mobile.

I use my old 733 for figured wood, since I can put a small back bevel on the blades, since they can be sharpened and are not indexed.
I think you can grind them to be the same height. A long time ago I used to work for Williams & Hussey and the method they used will get each blade exactly the same length, Just wondering how much stock you can take off without effecting the function. If they fix the blades to last 4X times as long, I might reconsider.
I recently bought a Tormek and having alot of fun with it. Maybe if I get the 735 I can experiment. ( Just thinking out loud).

Gary K.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I think you can grind them to be the same height. A long time ago I used to work for Williams & Hussey and the method they used will get each blade exactly the same length, Just wondering how much stock you can take off without effecting the function. If they fix the blades to last 4X times as long, I might reconsider.
I recently bought a Tormek and having alot of fun with it. Maybe if I get the 735 I can experiment. ( Just thinking out loud).

Gary K.


Help me to understand why you would want to try to sharpen blades that are designed to be disposable? If you want a planer with blades that can be sharpened and need to be set up properly, why not get a planer that has that designed in. The advantage to using disposable blades is never having to do any setup when the blades are changed - just pop in the replacement blades. It seems that a person would be wise to pay attention to the design criteria.

I will be anxious to hear some reports on the new Dewalt 735 blades. I recently bought the planer, but have not gone through a set of blades yet. If the new blades do perform much better, I'll get a set as a backup. Otherwise, I'll be calling Infinity.

[robert micley]

the knives stink in terms of life span.i own it.the feed rate is overated.my friend told me there is a comapny that feezes blades to make them last really long.i will ask him the name.has anyone heard of this.

[James Suzda]

Help me to understand why you would want to try to sharpen blades that are designed to be disposable? If you want a planer with blades that can be sharpened and need to be set up properly, why not get a planer that has that designed in. The advantage to using disposable blades is never having to do any setup when the blades are changed - just pop in the replacement blades. It seems that a person would be wise to pay attention to the design criteria.

I will be anxious to hear some reports on the new Dewalt 735 blades. I recently bought the planer, but have not gone through a set of blades yet. If the new blades do perform much better, I'll get a set as a backup. Otherwise, I'll be calling Infinity.
Just for the record, I was the other “Creeker” who Jonathan referred to whom the sharpening company removed too much metal from the blades. You asked why anyone would want to sharpen the disposable blades. For one reason was the cost. At $56 a pop for new blades, and if I could get the old ones sharpened for $20, that would be quite a savings. Especially on how poorly the original DeWalt blades held up for me. It was more or less an experiment to see if I could have them sharpened. BTW, the shop isn’t a back garage setup; they do all the knife and slitter sharpening for all the local paper mills around here.
As for a test as if there is an improvement in the DeWalt 735 knives, I cannot tell you. I just received a set from DeWalt but have not put them to the test yet. Because now I only use the 735 for my “light duty work”. Maybe Jonathan can give us a report on the Infinity knives in due time. :)
Jim

[Gary Keedwell]

Help me to understand why you would want to try to sharpen blades that are designed to be disposable? If you want a planer with blades that can be sharpened and need to be set up properly, why not get a planer that has that designed in. The advantage to using disposable blades is never having to do any setup when the blades are changed - just pop in the replacement blades. It seems that a person would be wise to pay attention to the design criteria.

I will be anxious to hear some reports on the new Dewalt 735 blades. I recently bought the planer, but have not gone through a set of blades yet. If the new blades do perform much better, I'll get a set as a backup. Otherwise, I'll be calling Infinity.
:( Gee Dave, Did someone do something to your Wheaties this morning? I am well aware of the "DESIGN CRITERIA". Just thinking I could double my money if I could touch them up a bit. I had my eyes on the 735 since it came out. I was ready to pull the trigger until I heard about the blade problems. I guess I was paying attention to something, huh?
Gary K.:rolleyes:

[Dave Malen]

I started this thread because I was thinking of upgrading my planer. I have an older Makita 12 inch (you know the one where the table moves not the cutterhead). It still works just fine(except that on a wide board say 8 + inches its thickness will vary 1/64th from one side to the other- is that fixable? - would you bother? - I did check and adjsut the extension tables - still gives the same result) . I've had it now probably eight years in my hobby shop and I'm still working on the first set of blades. I did take them out and reverse them. Boards go through with no problems and come out with a very good finish. Amazon has the new makita on weekend special for 430 including shipping, which puts it at about the same price as the dewalt with the 60 rebate. So should I just keep my planer or buy the new makita or the dewalt 735. Or maybe I should buy a lie nielsen scrapper plane and forget about the planer. This money is just burning a hole in my pocket.:D :D

[Gary Keedwell]

I started this thread because I was thinking of upgrading my planer. I have an older Makita 12 inch (you know the one where the table moves not the cutterhead). It still works just fine(except that on a wide board say 8 + inches its thickness will vary 1/64th from one side to the other- is that fixable? - would you bother? - I did check and adjsut the extension tables - still gives the same result) . I've had it now probably eight years in my hobby shop and I'm still working on the first set of blades. I did take them out and reverse them. Boards go through with no problems and come out with a very good finish. Amazon has the new makita on weekend special for 430 including shipping, which puts it at about the same price as the dewalt with the 60 rebate. So should I just keep my planer or buy the new makita or the dewalt 735. Or maybe I should buy a lie nielsen scrapper plane and forget about the planer. This money is just burning a hole in my pocket.:D :D
Gee Dave, except for the blade problem, I have heard nothing but good stuff about the 735. Chip extraction, 2 speeds, sturdily built etc. People say it is the last stop before a floor model 15". It is heavy and very noisey, though. If you don't know what to do with that money......well I'll e-mail my address....
Gary K.

[Dave Falkenstein]

:( Gee Dave, Did someone do something to your Wheaties this morning? I am well aware of the "DESIGN CRITERIA". Just thinking I could double my money if I could touch them up a bit. I had my eyes on the 735 since it came out. I was ready to pull the trigger until I heard about the blade problems. I guess I was paying attention to something, huh?
Gary K.:rolleyes:

Did my question actually deserve such a smarta** reply?

[James Biddle]

Here is an answer I received from Dewalt when I asked them how to best use the planer to maximize blade life:

"A lot of things can affect blade life such as type / hardness of wood, moisture content, knots, cup, warp, chip removal etc. They do recommend running the wood through on the faster feed rate. That helps with blade life and still gives you a very good finish. Only run the lumber through on the slower feed rate for you final pass if needed. Heat is carried away from the blades by the chips. The larger the chips the better the heat if carried away. Keeping in mind the width and hardness of the wood, it can be better to take off a little more per pass than several very fine passes. Blade life is something that the engineers are looking into and they have plans next month to do some more extensive testing of our blades."

[nic obie]

I sure wish DeWalt would give me a new set of blades.

How did you guys get them? I emailed a nice long message to them twice and haven't gotten any reply at all. Me thinks never again Dewalt tools :mad:

[jonathan snyder]

I emailed a nice long message to them twice and haven't gotten any reply at all.

Nic,

Did you send your e-mail through the Dewalt Service net? http://www.dewaltservicenet.com/ServiceNet/new.asp

I have e-mailed them a couple of times and they have never failed to reply the next business day.

I have only good things to day about Dewalt./Delta Customer service. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=51436

I will post an update on the Infinity knives, after I use them a bit.

Jonathan

[robert micley]

they sent me a new set of blades right away.great-new sets last as long as old sets.

[jonathan snyder]

they sent me a new set of blades right away.great-new sets last as long as old sets.

That does not sound very promising!!!

Jonathan

[Gary Keedwell]

Did my question actually deserve such a smarta** reply?
"It seems that a person would be wise to pay attention to the design criteria."

Sorry Dave....Guess you forgot the question mark.....:rolleyes:

[Dave Falkenstein]

Just for the record, I was the other “Creeker” who Jonathan referred to whom the sharpening company removed too much metal from the blades. You asked why anyone would want to sharpen the disposable blades. For one reason was the cost. At $56 a pop for new blades, and if I could get the old ones sharpened for $20, that would be quite a savings...

James - Your reply got my curiosity up higher than it was, so I emailed Scott Whiting at Scott's Sharpening Service and asked, "What would it cost to have (3) 13" planer blades sharpened?"

Scott wrote back, "Assuming single edge it would be $29.25. Now if we were talking DeWalt 735 those are throw aways."

The cost for Scott to sharpen both edges of a double edged blade would presumably be twice the cost for a single edge blade, more than a new set of blades.

ps - I did not mention Dewalt 735 in my email.

[Brad Townsend]

As to the resharpening issue, obviously sending them to a sharpening service is not economically feasible. I bought a Woodcraft horizontal wetstone sharpener (the ugly green one) and the planer knife jig to go with it. Paid a little over a hundred for it (on sale at the time). I have resharpened several sets of "disposable" 735 knives twice, with very good results. In fact, I could detect no less of performance and finish quality from when they were new. I'm not grinding off lots of material, just making a few light passes over the edge. The sharpener has paid for itself several times over.

I am not the only one who has done this with good results. For those of you who buy replacement knives every time they go dull, I'm not claiming I'm right and you are wrong. I'm just saying there is another option. I would suggest that the disposable knife design by Dewalt was both a convenience and marketing decision. It was intended to make blades changes easy and to sell lots of knives. Just my opinion.

[Dave Falkenstein]

...I have resharpened several sets of "disposable" 735 knives twice, with very good results...

Brad - Thanks for clarifying. It is good to know that the 735 knives can be touched up successfully. Is it correct to assume you reinstalled the knives without making any adjustments on the planer after touching up the blades, since you did not remove an appreciable amount of the knife material?

Hopefully the improved knives from Dewalt will put this issue to rest.

[Brad Townsend]

Brad - Is it correct to assume you reinstalled the knives without making any adjustments on the planer after touching up the blades, since you did not remove an appreciable amount of the knife material?
That would be correct.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Dave

If you hone the blades on the 735, you install them as they came out. There is no adjustment possible. The blades have positioning holes that fit over pins on the head. That's the real problem. Since you cannot make any adjustment for dimension loss caused by the sharpening, you can't take off more than a hair's breadth before the blades won't work any more.
I've honed mine successfully on a Jet wet sharpener. I took a set to a sharpener, and he ruined them.

Grant
Ottawa ON