How far will a cheap planer take me?

[scgargoyle]

As I've posted before, I'm thinking about using some of my native oak when I build my SC house. So far, I figure 1500 bd/ft of flooring, and maybe other projects, depending on how big a pile of wood I end up with. Can I get by with a cheap, light planer ($300-$400), or should I look for something heavier? I have some other projects down the road that I could use a planer for, so I'll probably buy one instead of paying someone else to do my flooring. What size/HP/brand should I be watching for?

[thurlow]

I've had a Jet 12 inch.........maybe 12 and a half..........for about 10 years.  Planed a bunch of sawmill run and it makes some pretty stuff and blades are long-lasting, but DANG IT'S SLOW.  Would love to have something better/bigger.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 There's a Belsaw Planer for sale in the Commerce section. They ain't fast, but, I plane all sorts of HARD stuff down here with mine. I'd love to put in a Shelix Spiral head.

[Dan_Shade]

my biggest complaint with the small planer that I use is that it's almost a one board at a time operation, it really doesn't like a thick and thin, it just can't take enough off to hog several board down to one thickness at a time.

[WDH]

I have the Dewalt 12" portable planer.  Does a fine job.  Sure, it is a little slow, but the quality is dead on and I usually only do a hundred feet at a time for individual projects.  I can pick it up, take outside to a table, do the deed, and bring it back into the shop without making a big mess inside or having to have a big dust collector to handle the shavings.  I do all my planing outside, however, I realize my climate is more conducive to that than in other parts of the Forum Nation.  I catch the shavings on a tarp, and bag them for mulch (all except the walnut which gets burned).  These portable type planers really do an exceptional job for the money you have invested in them if you buy one if the better name brands.

Mine is one board at a time, though.

[jrokusek]

I have a Ryobi 13" planer.  You get what you pay for.  It does an OK job of taking off 1/32" at a time!  If you want to take 1/8" off a 4" board it bogs the thing down.  I'm a wood worker and it's OK for me, but it does take time to work your materials for a project. 

I've heard lots of good stuff about the new DeWalt that has 2 different planing speeds.  I think it runs about $500 or so.  Might be able to get by with that.

[WDH]

I too would look hard at that 13" dewalt with 2 speeds.

[Larry]

You might want to think used.  A 12” Woodmaster for $200 here.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/tls/347753554.html

I’ve bought 3 12” Belsaws for right around the $100 mark in the last year.  One 15” American for $200.

Few dollars more…might get something in the industrial category.  I won’t tell ya how much I paid for my Delta Wedge bed…probably wouldn’t believe me anyhow.

Made take some time but could be worth the wait.

[DanG]

I have the 13" Ryobi, also.  It does a great job, but is very slow.  On wider, hard boards it only wants about 1/64.  It does, however, leave a very fine surface.  It is sold as a "surfacing planer", and that is what it does.  I now have a Belsaw, so I'll use it for thickness and the Ryobi for finishing up.  Just gotta get a new infeed roller and some new knives for the Belsaw.

[Ron Wenrich]

I bought a cheap 12" planer at one of the box stores.  I planed all the lumber I used for siding, as well as the battens.  White pine was my major species.  I also planed some of my hardwoods.  It did a good job, but it wasn't as fast as the planer at the mill.  I did mainly wide boards.  Several passes to get to the right thickness.

A lot would depend on how much you're going to use it, and what you expect a small planer to do.  If you have high expectations, the small planers won't do that much.

[Don P]

I've got the 12 and 15" Delta's both are too small for my taste but do the job. The 15 takes a bigger bite and is much more accurate. The little one makes a nicer finish though less dimensionally accurate, it's knives are a whole lot better on the wallet.
The little one was a pawn shop special I'm curious if others have calipered (is that a word?) and found a fair amount of float on the little ones or if this one is just worn?

Technically unless you get sectional feed they are all one stick at a time, or they're intended to be.

[Kevin_H.]

I have had 2 of the ridgid planers, we plane a lot of green wood on one side, they are slow and we have had some problems with them holding up, the newest one about 6 mos old just shredded the infeed roller. on the up side they have a lifetime warrenty if you can do with out them as you have to send it to a repair shop.

[DanG]

I have found the little Ryobi to be very accurate.  At least I can't find any discrepancy with my rudimentary measuring tools.  It doesn't float either.  The up/down adjustment is by 2 acme screws, connected by a roller chain.  It can't float, but it can sure bog down!  Unfortunately, I let a little surface rust build up on one of the screws, and the sprocket on it slipped, so I have to do a re-alignment.  Not sure how accurate it will be after that.

[WDH]

My older model Dewalt is dead-on accurate.

[Dodgy Loner]

I have the same 12" Dewalt that WDH owns (he recommended it ), and that little thing has been a gem.  We made 1200 bd.ft. of ash and 200 bd.ft. of cherry T&G panel for our house right after we got it, and it did a great job, albeit a little slow.  Since then, I've run countless feet of lumber through it for all sorts of projects, from furniture to flooring to shelving and everything in between.  The only problem I've encountered (and this has only started recently) is that the height of the blades seems to creep up slowly while I'm planing wide stock.  I'm looking to upgrade pretty soon, but we've gotten more than our money's worth out of it and I've been very pleased with the performance and accuracy.

[TexasTimbers]

My first planer was a Penn State Super 125 12.5" It lasted for 3 years of hard use and another 3 or 4 occassional use. It is no longer made. It was good but slow. I also had the deWalt 13" 2 speed four poster. I did not like it. It was too slow and and does not have reharpenable blades. The replacement blades are expensive IMO and they do not last. Some people swear by this planer and some can't sell it fast enough.
I always preach looking for good heavy used iron. You can get into a used Delta/Powermatic/Etc. 15" or something similiar and have alot more planer than the hobby benchtop models.

A slow planer will not keep you satisfied long unless you really are going to use it for one moderate size job and plan to sell it after that.

[Dodgy Loner]

A slow planer will not keep you satisfied long unless you really are going to use it for one moderate size job and plan to sell it after that.

That's not true until you use a professional model.  Until then, you don't know what you're missing .

[TexasTimbers]

I don't see how paying more for the lack of speed makes it any more tolerable. Slow is slow. It is relative of course. A planer that will run 40 fpm will not help much when you are planing figured wood. You still have to go slow in that case.  But we don't even know if we same on the same page. I have a "professional" model planer and I have had cheap planers. Slow is slow any way you measure it.

. . . . .  Can I get by with a cheap, light planer ($300-$400), or should I look for something heavier?          . . .

I was trying to give him my take on that part of his question. I think he should avoid a cheap, light, planer unless as I said, he plans to use it for this one job and get rid of it. I would not be happy with a cheap, light planer at all but I am trying to put myself in his shoes and think about it that way. He obviously needs a planer to perform this one job, but I am trying to get him to realize once he buys it, he will use it and will probably regret having only spent $300 - $400 on a planer.

[Modat22]

I have a newer dewalt 735 and love it, its slow and the shaving ejector will clog with trying to hog 1/8" off boards but it sure makes pretty boards (until you hit a piece of dirt and chip the knives in 3 places). Blade changes are fast and easy but the throw a ways knives are too expensive IMO for runs of any size unless the wood is clean.

[Dodgy Loner]

I don't think you understood what I was saying, kevjay.  You said that a slow planer will not keep you satisfied for long.  The point I was trying to make was that if you have never used a fast planer, then you have no point of reference, and therefore you might be perfectly happy with a slow planer.  I ran thousands of board feet through my $400 planer and never gave a second thought to the speed until I used a professional model that did the same amount of work in a third of the time.  Now that I've seen how good life can be, I'm planning to upgrade my planer, but I certainly don't have any regrets about buying the cheaper one.  It has served me well for many years.

[TexasTimbers]

I see your point now Dodgy Loner. We were just not on the same page.
Because even though I had never owned a fast planer, until I did, the whole time before that when I had slow ones, I still knew they were slow because it was taking a whole lot longer than I figured it should.

[Warren]

I've put better than 1500 bf of ERC thru a Dewalt 734 12" planer in the past few months.  Finish is good.  But verrrryyyy slow.  With 10" to 12" wide cedar, maxed out at 1/32" removal per pass.    If you are doing a one time project to build the house and then never expect to do wood working again, cheap might be O.K.  But if you have intentions of doing future woodworking projects, I think you might be better served with a faster, more durable unit.  I am poking around to find one with a wider cut and more HP for regular use.

[Cedarman]

My first planer is a 20" Northwood that I bought in 93 for about 3300 bucks.  It has seen major use, but is still a good machine.  Last job was 600  6x6x8 cants S2S. Would take 1/16" of of 3  6" boards at the same time at 20 some feet per minute.

Warren has first right of refusal on this machine.

My new machine bought in 98 is a Northteck 26" for about 7 grand, 6 years later I upgraded it with a helical head for another 3 grand.  It will take 5/16 off at 15" wide continuously.  We hog junk cedar into shavings for a specialty product.  Have run 100s of thousands of feet through it.

There are good used machines out there.  Buy the heaviest machine you can afford to buy.  Used planers hold their resale value if taken care of.

[Faron]

Ron White might tell you a cheap planer will take you all the way to the scene of the crash.   Sorry, I resisted the impulse as long as I could.  I think Cedarman is right, buy as you can manage.

[scgargoyle]

Maybe I'll keep my eyes open for a big old-timer. As a toolmaker. I could easily resurface and rebuild a planer, so as long as the 'iron' is good, I could get 'er going.

[DanG]

Another alternative for you would be one of the old Belsaw planers.  They seem to be in good supply.  I recently bought one for $200, and ordered new feed rollers and knives for it yesterday.  The order came to $141 including shipping, so I'll have about the same money in it as I do in that wimpy little Ryobi.

Oh yeah, to answer the original question in the title of this thread; The cheap planer will take you all the way to the realization that you need something better.

[scgargoyle]

Being a toolmaker, I should know better that a wimpy little tool is not gonna make me happy! Thanks for the heads-up on the Belsaw.

[solidwoods]

Flooring will require:
Planer, 12"ers are fine.
Jointer- you have to straighten the edge.
Table saw- rip to width
Miter or Radial arm saw- chop out defects (compound miter saw to angle the ends if you are not coping the flooring ends.
Shaper- 2 passes 1-T  1-G
Powerfeeder for the shaper (you may not think so ,, but I'ma tell'in Ya you'll need one )
Dust collector-your choice here, but its nice for mountains of shavings

The above will allow you to machine to a reasonable degree of accuracy (have to have that)

OR-
Take it to a shop with a 4 side moulder, my rate is: your lumber random  size .70sq' through the moulder.

So depends on which way you go.. 1 way may be cheaper, the other leaves woodworking tools that can continue to make $.
jim

[Cedarman]

We use our WM in place of the rip saw and jointer to prep the wood for the moulder.  Gets uniform widths and a nice straight edge.  Boards with too much side bend are whacked in half first.