Oliver Benchtop Planer - Recommendations?

[Izzy Camire]

I bought their 15" planer in the spring and have found it to be a very good planer. If you need to call the company they answer by the 3rd ring and your are speaking to someone here in the USA.

[Randy Heinemann]

The sound level is lower than the Dewalt but you'd never want to use it without hearing protection. I haven't measured decibel level but I'm very protective of my hearing and planers, like jointers, bandsaws, tablesaws, routers, produce more noise than is safe.

[Richard Coers]

I bought their 15" planer in the spring and have found it to be a very good planer. If you need to call the company they answer by the 3rd ring and your are speaking to someone here in the USA.

What machine have you bought that doesn't have someone in the USA for you to talk to?

[Paul F Spiegel]

Thanks to everyone that offered advice, some pro-DW and some pro-Oliver. I don’t see a clear winner, but at least I have some better questions to research and consider.
Happy New Year to all !!

[Curt Harms]

You sure Grizzly owns Oliver? I thought it was South Bend or something like that. That's the kind of confusion they get for buying up old American machinery names.

Hmm, it looks like you're right. I may have confused Oliver with South Bend. According to the blurb on their web site the company moved from Michigan to Seattle in 2000 which is where Grizzly is headquartered but it appears Grizzly doesn't own Oliver. Here is a snip from lumberjock's web site:

Comments:
- One of Oliver investors that saved the company from extinction was Chiu Ting Machinery, or Geetech in Taiwan. IMHO they are one of better machinery mfg in Taiwan. They make much more than wood working machinery. Have visited Geetech in long past and saw 20" run of planers in process one time. There were 4 different colors for OEM we know and love running in same plant. They did have separate final assembly and customer inspection areas for each OEM and color, that were secured behind doors to keep competition away. OEM on-site representatives knew each other, and several of them go to lunch together (at least they did with me?).

[Jim Becker]

I've always felt that when buying new, buy a machine that has what you want 'out of the box' rather than buying then replace parts on a new machine. Grizzly's Oliver brand is supposed to be an upscale line but I have no experience.

Grizzly's upscale brand is Southbend, not Oliver.

[Brian Gumpper]

Saw a blog post once comparing the two as well as a Craftsman. Search for a comparison it's probably still out there. Onlything I remember is the DW735 is a more robust machine but that would have been my assumption. They all work though

[lou Brava]

I bought and returned a 13 inch Oliver planer to Wqodcraft, for whatever reason it would not plane an even thickness. I'm pretty sure it was a one off problem machine and I would have settled for an Oliver replacement. But Woodcraft told me deal with Oliver & that went no where so I sent it back to WC received a full refund & bought a Cutech with there spiral CH. It works great, is it as good as a 735 probably not but by the time you get a 735 & put a bryd head I'd go with a 15" planer. What I found out it seems all these bench tops (except the 735) is there basically all the same in terms of build quality, Jet, Grizzly, Wen, Cutech, Shopfox, ect are all made with the same parts and probably same factory. I've had the Cutech for about 2 years & have no complaints it leaves a very nice surface. I just ran some 8/4 QS Oak yesterday and I was surprised it really didn't bog down that little planer ! Money was the reason I went Cutech it seemed a lot of bang for the buck. If I was going to ever replace a lunch box planer I'd find the money for a 15 inch planer.

[glenn bradley]

From a Woodworker's Journal article:

In 1999, a group of investors purchased Oliver. In order to remain competitive, the Grand Rapids plant was shuttered and manufacturing was directed offshore. The company’s U.S. headquarters were moved to Kent, Washington. But curiously, one important link to Oliver’s Michigan heritage remained.

“Our last Grand Rapids plant manager, Rich Fink, bought Oliver’s remaining parts inventory plus the sales records and the old blueprints. He uses this information today to help owners of Oliver machinery made prior to 1999 restore and service their machines through his business, Eagle Machinery and Repair Company.

[Richard Coers]

Hmm, it looks like you're right. I may have confused Oliver with South Bend. According to the blurb on their web site the company moved from Michigan to Seattle in 2000 which is where Grizzly is headquartered but it appears Grizzly doesn't own Oliver. Here is a snip from lumberjock's web site:

The company was already extinct with regards to woodworking machinery when the Washington State investors purchased the name. The company in Grand Rapids filed for bankruptcy in 1986. "For a variety of reasons, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1986" From the same article in Woodworker's Journal. https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/o...espite-change/

[Andrew Hughes]

In my town there a bakery that had a Oliver bread slicer. It looks to be a hundred years old I cannot even imagine how many loaves it’s cut. I’ve seen it working a handful of times and I don’t go the bakery very often.

[Randy Heinemann]

It's really about choices in my opinion. The price for a new Oliver benchtop is $1,000. The price to buy a new 15" with a Byrd helical head is $3,200. The price to upgrade an existing old Dewalt 735 to a Byrd head is probably about $500 if you do it yourself. Or, buying a new 735 and upgrading the head to the Byrd head would cost in the range of $1,200-$1,300 doing it yourself. I wouldn't attempt it. Since I really don't generally need the additional width capacity that a 15" would give me, it seems like kind of a waste to spend $2,200 more for something I don't need. So I consider the Oliver benchtop a true upgrade at a reasonable price given my needs.

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