Are any of the inexpensive Dewalt 735 HSS knives of high quality?

[Randy Heinemann]

Are any of the sources for Dewalt 735 HSS knives on Amazon or other online sites any good? There seem to be a number of economical vendors for the 735 HSS knives but, of course, they are not economical if they don't even last as long as the Dewalt OEM knives. I am aware of Infinity and the possibility of carbide tipped knives but am not sure whether that is worth it. I have seen mixed reviews of those over the years and my HSS knives have always serviced me well. I even purchased a honing jig that seems to extend the life of the HSS knives at least 1 sharpening which cuts my cost in half.

I would like to find a less expensive, high quality source for the knives though. My standard sources have now become much more expensive over the past couple of years.

I know others recommend the spiral heads with carbide knives, but installation of the Shelix (or other) head is a little beyond my expertise and I really don't want to spend the time or the money right now since my planer is well over 10 years old. Plus, it works well for me just the way it was sold; with HSS knives.

[Mark Rainey]

Randy I picked up Powertec blades on Amazon, 2 sets of 3 blades for $42 2 years ago. I see they are now 59.99 on Amazon. They lasted a real long time for me. I just popped my second set in last week.

[James Jayko]

Going exactly the opposite way, I upgraded to a Shelix helical cut head. Each cutter has four cutting edges; while its a ~$500 outlay to upgrade it, it made a world of difference in cut quality and noise. And now a nicked cutter head, after you run through the other 3 cutting surfaces, costs about $1 to replace.

[Mel Fulks]

HSS doesn’t mean much now. The “old style” thick knives of hss depended partly on that thickness to get rid of heat. That’s why some shops
I worked in that always bought cheap knives were able to make them work, even they tore out big chunks of wood …they stayed sharp….
that was the important thing !! There are some more expensive knives for your machine that claim to be the real stuff. I would try them.
In fact , some shops only bought the cheapest steel , tore the wood out real bad . But was an opportunity to the buy an expensive
sander !

[Randy Heinemann]

I completely understand if 735 users replace the HSS heads with the Sheliz head and, if I were to have to replace my 735, I would definitely lean toward doing that on a new machine. However, with a 15-year old machine (I calculated it and found it was older than I thought), it's entirely possible it would just be for a relatively short time period. Plus, for me, I don't feel that the HSS knives perform all that poorly and they have served me well over the entire time I've owned the 735 without any problems at all. If I used it for production or planed wood everyday, maybe... It makes no sense to me to spend at least $500 on the Shelix heads, disassemble and reassembe the machine to install it when my planer works just fine. I'm just looking for a good price on HSS steel replacement knives. The 735 just works well as is. I rarely mess with something that's working for me in the shop.

[Bob Betker]

I don't know if these are in your price range but Infinity Tools offers a replacement set of HSS knives for the DW 735, they are currently going for $90. I've liked their saw blades, haven't had a need yet to replace my planer blades.

[Mel Fulks]

Forget “high speed steel”. Demand M2 or T1 steel preferably printed on the cardboard or invoice ,or both ! Many sellers think anything is
high speed that will spin fast. Ive had them tell me on the phone “ let me tell ya what they are all buying “. “NO” is the answer to that.

[Andrew Hughes]

I had the carbide tipped knives from infinity in my 735. It was a good machine it didn’t snipe at all. I also invented a fixture for sharpening dewalt knives if anyone is interested I will post a pic.
I would not recommend a insert head for the 735 it’s not designed for carbide inserts. They don’t cut wood the same way knives do. You just asking for trouble.
My powermatic planer has a insert head it can barely take a 3/32 deep cut full width in hardwood. It even has a small tab in the front limiting the depth.

[Mel Fulks]

T1 and M2 ARE High Speed steel. Some of the stuff I’ve seen …and had to use, was not high speed. The name is now a generic slogan.
I once cleverly detected that the steel in a bosses planer was NOT “ high speed steel” JUST BY LOOKING AT IT ! No , didn’t have a bunch
of nicks….had NO nicks. Steel was jus bent over!

[Rick Potter]

Andrew, I would like to see that jig....pics please.

[Andrew Hughes]

Andrew, I would like to see that jig....pics please.

Its this one I’ve shared before. The angle cut on a tablesaw is 45 degrees same as the bevel on the knives.
The cheap plastic diamond hone is a smith. Very inexpensive they used to sell them at Lowe’s for 27 $

[Randy Heinemann]

Bob Becker: I have known about the Infinity site for quite awhile. I thought about trying their carbide tipped knives also. Over the years, I've seen mixed reviews on both the Infinity steel and carbide tipped; some good and some indicating less than satisfactory life. At this point, I might try one set of the steel just to see if they are better than Dewalt's knives. The thing is, I'm one of those people who just hasn't had a lot of trouble with the factory knives. That's all I've bought. Now, though, they haver become much more expensive and may be comparable to other company's knives, especially if the other ones last longer.

[Randy Heinemann]

Mel, I misspoke and wasn't careful of my terms. The Dewalt knives are M2 and that is what I've been using. I wouldn't want to get anything less than that.