Planer gloat

[Tom Ruflin]

While I'm gloating about my new work bench I realized that I never posted a gloat for my new planner. It's a Yorkcraft 15" from Wilke Machinery. I had Wilke put a Byrd Shelix cutter head in it before they shipped it. It cuts like a dream :D. The planer has 2 speeds 15 feet per minute and 30 feet per minute. I ran some tests on some cypress and tiger maple that I had tear out problems with on my Delta 12 1/2 " planer. The cypress had no problems at the faster feed rate and the tiger maple still had very minor tear out at the faster rate. At the slower feed rate the tiger maple had no tear out. I picked it up at the beginning of this year when Wilke was having a sale, it was $700 with out the Byrd head, I believe the comparable Grizzly was and still is $850. The Byrd cutter head doubled the price but is well worth it. The 1st picture is how it was delivered from Wilke sitting in the garage. The 2nd picture is after I took the crate off, it was securly bolted to the pallets. The 3rd and 4th pictures are of the planer all set up in the shop. I used an appliance dolly and a strong friend to get it into my basement shop.

[BARRY RESNICK]

Great looking planer. Did you consider the 20" planer? If not why? If you did why did you not get it?

I have been trying to decide. I now have a 13" lunchbox planer and I don't see the 2 inches (actually 1 7/8") an upgrade. I feel however that the 20" may be too big and certainly will bump the cost up by $600 to 700 .

[Russ Massery]

Congrats Tom, I've had the same planer for about a year now. I very happy with it so far. Wish I had the Byrd head mine though.

[Eugene A. Manzo III]

You have a very nice looking piece of machinery there !!!

[Tom Ruflin]

Barry, I did consider the 20" for about 2 minutes and decided that it was just to large for my basement shop. I have reached that critical point in my shop where there just is no more room for more or larger machines. Plus trying to get them into the basement is a real challenge. I dread the day if I ever move and have to get it all out. I would really like a 12" jointer but just don't have the space so I use a sled for the planer (see posts on planer sleds).

[Jim Becker]

Congrats on that nice new planer, Tom!

[Don Bullock]

Tom, congratulations on the new planer. Your shop looks great. I also noticed the SS in the background on the second picture.

[J.R. Rutter]

Sweet! The Byrd head is a super upgrade, as you know and will come to appreciate even more as time goes by.

[Joe Jensen]

Great looking planer. Did you consider the 20" planer? If not why? If you did why did you not get it?

I have been trying to decide. I now have a 13" lunchbox planer and I don't see the 2 inches (actually 1 7/8") an upgrade. I feel however that the 20" may be too big and certainly will bump the cost up by $600 to 700 .

Barry, with all due respect, the 15" planer is in a different league than the lunch box stuff. With the 15" planer you can take 1/8" per pass full width no problem. If width is the only concern you are right, but I could never live with the SLOOOOOWW speed of lunchbox planers...joe

[Quesne Ouaques]

That is a beautiful machine. I really like the Yorkcraft brand, and the Byrd cutterhead is a great investment. Best of luck with it! :)

[Mike Cutler]

Very nice setup Tom. That machine will serve you well for years to come. I have the comparable model Jet, and it's a little beastie. The Byrd head is sweet.
Nice gloat, and nice shop too. It looks comfortable.