Hand Electric Planer

[Derek Cohen]

About a year ago I purchased a used Festool EHL 65EQ-Plus ...





(Photos taken at purchase)


I have planed down slabs and other boards too wide for my Hammer A3-31. More recently, it flattened a slab which became a bathroom counter top. This is a small plane, very light and capable if being used one-handed. Relatively quiet, with superb dust control, and good control/adjustment of cutting depth. The blade is easily replaced (first thing I did) and skewed for a smoother cut. It may not get used much, but I am very pleased to have it when needed.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Becker]

Derek, while not so much in your particular furniture wheelhouse as evidenced by your many projects, Festool offers several knives for that nice tool that will do things like emulate hand-hewn surfaces. I played with that when I had the tool for a week years ago and it was pretty kewel.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Jim. I did not know this, and will look into the knife situation.

Regards from Peth

Derek

[Warren Lake]

good point on the lead. Not had to do that work and any refinishing was a scraper then stroke. Some stuff lac reducer wash down.

[Bill George]

I've got it narrowed down to a couple and this would not be used hardly at all. The Bosch planer PL1632 seems to be fine, Except for this confusing statement in the description "ELECTRONICALLY COUNTERBALANCED SINGLE-BLADE DESIGN SYSTEM
Automatically positions blade at ideal cutting angle; reduces drag, enabling faster operation and smooth cutting."
What are they saying???

I might go with a new or used one or a new Preformax

Soo that model just has One blade kind of a downer in more ways than one, ended up ordering the two blade one with a carry case and extras. The Performax line is pretty decent now, much better than it used to be I have several of their tools and they are fine.

[Howard Rosenberg]

Re the Bosch unit, maybe just call their head office to speak to a technical expert - each answer will prob generate new follow up questions on your part.

But from what I've seen, Makita seems to be the go-to for all kinds of tradesmen. Bulletproof, well-made and built to be serviced when / if it fails.

[Bill George]

Re the Bosch unit, maybe just call their head office to speak to a technical expert - each answer will prob generate new follow up questions on your part.

But from what I've seen, Makita seems to be the go-to for all kinds of tradesmen. Bulletproof, well-made and built to be serviced when / if it fails.

I am confused by your answer? I just said I am ordering the two blade model from Bosch, I did not post a question. I have tools from Bosch and DeWalt, they are both repairable.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The old Ryobi came with its own honing guide. I have managed to hang on to the honing guide and blade setter. I learned a lot about sharpning by following the instructions that came with the planer. I used the idea of the Ryobi honing holder to make a maple honing holder for jointer knives. It works great. The old planer is looking rough and has had several cords. I will post an image next time it comes out of the van.

IMG_2223.jpg a similar one from the web Screen Shot 2024-08-07 at 9.00.56 PM.jpg

[Bill George]

Interesting. There is a old Stanley J5 I think for sale here locally and it looks like the 1950-1960 age for $50, I might see what shape its in they say it Runs!

The Festool planer is still sold, for $600 plus even on Amazon for folks who are interested.

[Rich Engelhardt]

When it comes to hand held power planers, this guy has it nailed - JSK Projects
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...UqlrwGOSIesSce

[Rick Potter]

That JSK guy is fantastic. I watched his video on making dowels...it showed four ways to make them in about a 10 minute video.

Back to planers...This thread convinced me to dump my 30 year old B&D cheapie for a Ryobi 18V cheapie. $57 from HD for tool only, and I got an18V ROS free. I can run them both with my Makita batteries using an adaptor I bought when I got my Ryobi 18G finish nailer.

These tools will be handy when I am working on rentals. I hate to leave expensive tools laying around when other workers may be around.

I once lost a toolbox that I took to rentals. Just the usual hand tools, all stuff I picked up here and there, but It cost me over $200 to replace them with HF stuff. I left them in the house overnight. It was locked, and I think the old tenant got them, as I had not changed the locks yet.

[Alex Zeller]

What are you planning on using it for? Just curious. I got a cheap Porter Cable one from Lowes that I mainly use to flatten wood turning blanks. I found the rough cut chainsawed edge to be a bit hard to lay flat on the bandsaw when cutting the blank into around shape. I thought I would use it for other projects, like cutting the bottom edge of a door that dragging but found using a circular saw with a sharp blade and a straight edge (or a track saw) produces a nice flat straight edge. So it mostly just sits on a shelf.

[Mark Wooden]

I have a corded Dewalt power plane; uses reversible carbide knives (that are the same as Makita's). Not expensive and does what one would expect from a hand held tool.
Accuracy to .002"?.
No.
But fine for cleaning up the edges of stock, plane a door if you're careful and do the initial scrub work on rough sawn lumber.
Had mine for about 18 years.
I feel its a good value