735 Planer knives - nick?

[Rick Johnston]

Very small streak has started in the finished product. I assume a small nick in the blades. It's a new machine and probably has not done over 50 board feet. I've never been inside to see how the replacement is done.
It's a light streak and would come out in sanding, but still annoying.
I'd assume if I open the machine I'd be able to see the nick in the blades. Do these blades slide any so one can offset the "bad spot".

It's off to one third of the side, so for a clear finish I can offset the board to miss.

rick

[John Fairbairn III]

The knives are held by set screws - hex bit sits in the cover (with the magnet in the handle to hold the blades while setting or removing). Yes you can slide the blades a bit the get rid of the nick.

[Rick Johnston]

I suppose a nick can manifest itself a number of ways - but it's an indentation rather raised than raised streak. Almost certain it was not a ferrous type interaction.

[Stew Hagerty]

The stock 735 knives are just OK. It's not uncommon for a "nick" to occur without ever hitting anything metal. A knot or a particularly hard spot in the grain can do it. The knives can shift, but very slightly. NOTE: the knife hold-down screws in a new machine can be insanely tight! I had to send mine to the factory repair center because I was unable to get out over half of them. They put in an entirely new cutterhead as a repair. My understanding is that they have gotten better about this and they are not coming as tight as they were for a while (lucky me). If you cant get rid of the nick, the knives are also double sided. Supposedly they can be honed using a special jig and rotation procedure so that they all remain identical.
I have switched to some HSS knives from Infinity Cutting Tools. They're not much more expensive and yet hold up much better. They do also have Carbide tipped ones which will last much longer but are 1: pricey, and 2: supposedly do not leave quite as clean a surface as the HSS knives do. Here is the link for the HSS: http://www.infinitytools.com/HSS-Kni...info/HSSK-041/

[Jim Mackell]

but it's an indentation rather raised than raised streak. .

Well, if it's really an indentation in the wood, it's not your knives that are damaged. A nick in the knife caused by a hard object would leave a ridge or raised streak as you mentioned. I have heard at least one report of such damage being caused by a loose screw. Take the cover off and check to see if one of the blade retaining screws has worked itself loose.

[Rick Johnston]

Closer inspection of the wood - it was high streak. Not deeper as I first thought. I really could not visibly see a nick after I inspected them. I did shift the blades on the cutter head. Afterwards still the small streak. I should have looked at the blades under a loupe - but not like it was going to matter.
Those screws were TIGHT!

[Jack Lemley]

I have had a Byrd head on my 735 for about two years. Inserts are original and on original side with three sides still new. No ridges at all in the lumber I plane now. Very good surface and only light sanding with 220 to get ready for finish. Byrd is expensive but well worth the money and you will really like not messing with knives for a long time. The only downside is you have to take smaller bites when planing.

Jack

[Stew Hagerty]

Those screws were TIGHT!

Told ya...

So did you shift the blades in different directions? If you shift the all the same direction it's only going to move the dinged spot. You need to leave one where it is, shift one to the left and one to the right. If it is a big ding, you may need to move two one way and one the other so that you get full coverage.

[Stephen C Cunningham]

Slightly OT
On my first blade change I used my cordless impact driver to remove. I'm pretty confident that's how they put them in at the factory. Now I do it by hand, piece of cake.

[Al Launier]

I don't know if this is of interest to you, but i picked up a set of DW&#% from Powertec on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2912692...chn=ps&lpid=82 or http://powertecproducts.com/planer-j...knives/dewalt/ . These are HSS knives. I'm basically a hobbyist so I'm not a heavy user of the planer. However, for the times I've used the Powertec knives they have cut well.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I have been using these

http://www.holbren.com/carbide-tippe...arbide-tipped/

They last much longer. They are thicker so you need to not use the retaining cover used with the regular knives or the screw heads rub against the wood (not that it says that anywhere with any documentation that comes with the blades).

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...r-DeWalt-DW735

[Bill White]

If you have a depression in the work piece, you may have some junk imbedded in a roller. Check that out too.
Bill