Knives for 20inch Planer

[John Karam]

Hey guys, I have some questions about planer knives. I found someone who is selling a 6 months old powermatic planer and the machine is in perfect condition (from what I can tell). He said he went through one set of knives quickly cutting burned wood (and ran into metal). He replaced the knives and used it for about 100 feet of hickory.

He demo'd the machine for me cutting a 10 foot hard maple board about 6 inches wide. The cut was smooth however there were consistent streaks down the length of the board created (they were noticeable to my eye from about 3 feet away). From what I could tell it seemed that the knives had been chipped in those positions. He is offering me the planer for $1500 (new $2000) with the extra set of knives included.

Now my questions are how much does it cost to replace a 20inch set of knives? Is it more likely I will be able to have the blades resharpened for cheaper and whats the cost? Also, how difficult is it to replace planer knives perfectly, do I need any special equipment? Perhaps it would be better to leave the knives until they are dull and just sand out the streaking?

Thanks for the help everyone

[Alex Shanku]

Hi John,

If you are looking to get new knives, take a look at G.G. SCHMIDT

http://www.cggschmidt.com/products.html

They make excellent quality knives for many applications and will resharpen your old knives if you need them too.

[Josiah Bartlett]

You can temporarily get around that by slightly offsetting one knife from the other, then the grooves don't line up.

[Ben Abate]

John,

Depending on what you what to plane will determine your cost of the knives. You can purchase cobalt knives, carbide, or HHS. I used to have an RBI 20 inch machine and the knives were about $150.00 per set of 4 knives. Not so bad and I got pretty good mileage out of them. They are HHS. As Josiah mentioned just off set them 1/8 of an inch and you'll never see the chip mark. Here's the sales pitch; if the machine that you are going to purchase uses 20 inch by 7/8 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick knives I still have a new set and I'll let them go cheap. I have no use for them. $1500.00 doesn't sound too bad if the machine is in perfect condition if a new one is $2000.00. Powermatic is about as good as it gets without spending $10000.00 on one.

My two cents.

good luck.

[CPeter James]

That sounds like a good price. Learn to remove and replace the knives and do it when they START to get dull. I can take the knives out of my 15" Jet planer, sharpen them and put them back in under 45 minutes with no jigs other that what came with it. It is like voting in Chicago - early and often. Changing planer and jointer knives is not rocket science and too many people are afraid to try.

CPeter

[John Karam]

Thank you all for the advice, I will be talking to the guy in the morning. Sadly he just called me and told me someone else was looking at it now...so assuming they don't buy it, it's mine.

Ben, thanks for the offer, I will let you know if i need them :)

[Lee Hingle]

Ben,
If John doesn't need your knives, please send me a PM. I have a brand new Grizzly G0454 and am looking for a spare set for when I send these out to be sharpened. I will have to check the size and make sure they are the same as you have.
Thanks,
Lee