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planer knives

Started by rutkom, September 22, 2008, 10:14:55 PM

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rutkom

How long do your planer blade knives last? I have been using a dewalt 733 and only seem to get around 100-200 bf out of them. Is this normal?

This is on mostly rough oak, walnut, cedar, and cherry. They don't seem to get terribly dull but   get nicks fairly easily. In the past I taken a wetstone and honed them which helped but they still left ridges. I realize that it is important to clean off the lumber, especially with rough sawn. Cedar seems to be the worst about nicking with all the knots.

Recently I bought a 15" delta planer that needs knives. Anyone have a good source of knives or type of blades, HSS, carbide, etc? What kind of steel and grind would be best? Can I expect to get more life out of them vs the Dewalt knives?

scsmith42

I've heard nothing but positive feedback about DKG coated knives from Moulder Services Inc.

http://www.moulderservices.com/

Scott

Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

low_48

I'd say that is pretty normal wear on those blades. These planers were never designed to do heavy work. They run at very high cutter head speed to get the good surface finish. They are great for a few boards, but I'm sure not as patient as you are. 200 bd ft at a 1/32" per pass? Argh! Now my big 7 1/2 hp Yates American can run all day long taking 3/16" per pass. Sorry, just had to gloat about my $1200 planer.

bck

I usually try and stay away from knotty wood and I get a couple thousand feet  out of mine ( 20") . Knots will mess them up pretty quick.  If you are getting ridges try shifting one knife to the side a little. I have never used carbide knives , wonder how they would hold up to knotty wood ?

rutkom

Thanks for the link Scott. Any idea on price? Their website doesn't seem to be fully working.

Anyone had any experience with T1 HSS knives from Holbren's. Apparently they are pretty good knives and are much less expensive than the delta knives.

I didn't realize that the knives could be shifted. I am pretty sure on the dewalt there is no way to move them.

scsmith42

I don't know about price, other than what some friends have stated that they are much better and cheaper in the long run.

MSI's focus is on commercial  machines - they might not have anything for yours... give them a call to see.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Jason_WI

http://www.cggschmidt.com/assets/pdf/SchmidtCatalog900.pdf#page=12

These guys might have what you need. I have used there molding knives in the past.
Norwood LM2000, 20HP Honda, 3 bed extentions. Norwood Edgemate edger. Gehl 4835SXT

backwoods sawyer

Quote from: rutkom on September 22, 2008, 10:14:55 PM
How long do your planer blade knives last? I have been using a dewalt 733 and only seem to get around 100-200 bf out of them. Is this normal?
I use the same planer.
How many passes are you running each board thru?
Are you running 3" boards or 12" boards?
I ran some Black Oak thru mine the other day and it took eight passes on each board to take off 1/8" on 178 board feet that was 7"-10" wide. The knives were not fresh when I started, and are still cutting good enough to leave on for the next project. This planer is not designed for volume but does a good job of finish planing. I am setting up a bell saw planer to do most of the heavy planing and just use this planer to take the last couple passes to give the wood a good finish.
Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

Ironwood

I have a big 24" Powermatic 225 planer and it has Esta Disposa blades in it (I just started assembling a grinder to have the option of regular blades). The thin Esta blades dull quickly, as they are very thin (like yours) and my material has lots of bark edges which doesn't help. I have tried the expensive cobalt or tungsten (cant remember) that Esta provides, they were much better, but still not as good as high speed steel sharpened on the machine. Plus the cost is BIG$$$ like 4 times as much for the better blades. If I had to do it again I would have just spent the extra $ on the grinder at the auction, and trained myself to sharpen and adjust the pressure bar and not bought the Esta System. Not to knock them, but thin blades can't hold up well to heavy use.
 
Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

Greenie

We bought 4 24" carbide blades for our Rockwell - what a mistake! They cost a fortune to buy and to sharpen. The carbides nick just as quickly as the steel knives. I'd never buy them again.

Ironwood

Carbide=brittle, steel will dull but is more forgiving.


          Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

mike_van

My SCMI has 4 HSS knives, I get a few thousand bf easily.
I was the smartest 16 year old I ever knew.

50 Acre Jim

Reviving an old thread in my search for a decent, affordable planer. 

I bought a WEN 13" planer 6 months ago but now I realize it's not going to get the job done.  Kind of like mowing your lawn with a pair of scissors.  So I'm ready to chalk up the $250 to experience and find something that actually works. 

Part of the problem with the WEN is blade longevity.  Oh, and speed too.  So can I get some advice, please?   What planer do you guys use?  How long can I expect the blades to last (on Red Oak) and how much do the blades cost? 

TIA

Jim
Go to work?  Probably Knott.  Because I cant.

btulloh

Jim, there'll be some good replies coming along but I'll throw in my 2 pesos to start.  At the minimum you need a 15" planer with a 2hp motor.  3hp would be better.  It will weigh 500-600 lbs.  Something like http://www.grizzly.com/products/15-Heavy-Duty-Planer/G0815 or equivalent.  There are lots of planers in this class from every manufacturer.  Your best bet to keep the price down is to watch CL for one.  A used planer will probably need a bit of cleaning, adjusting, and general TLC but can be brought back to life.  No matter what planer you get, you'll wish you had one wider with more power.  Something to manage the chips is pretty much a must also.  For a 15" planer you can get by with one of the bag-type dust collectors (if you don't already have one) that are not that expensive.  Lot's of people on here have had good luck with HF dust collectors.  Good luck on your quest.
HM126

barbender

I found a my Grizzly 15" planer on CL locally for $500. I already had a smaller "lunchbox" style planer. I find the Grizzly is great for heavy planing, the lunchbox puts on a better finish so they compliment each other nicely.
Too many irons in the fire

Don P

I've got the Delta 15", DC380 I think, and a little 12" Delta lunchbox. I bought their 15" because the top moves rather than the bottom. I knew I would want to run some timbers and wanted to set up roller tables front and rear so adjusting the top worked well for me. I do have a set of cheap knives as well as several sets of good steel. There is definitely a difference in longevity when I have to throw the cheap ones on.

I will offer a pet peeve of mine, metric jackscrews. I'm used to the height adjustment being based on a jackscrew with SAE threads... American. If the screw has an 8 tpi pitch I know a turn equals 1/8". If its metric I got nothing... a turn is about 1/8" on mine, that isn't quite the same.

50 Acre Jim

Spent some time on the Grizzly site and the G1033X looks to be just what I'm looking for.  Comparing it to the Powermatic, which was the previous front-runner, I'm liking the Grizzly a lot!  Especially the spiral carbide inserts cutterhead. 



Go to work?  Probably Knott.  Because I cant.

btulloh

Looks good.  I think the spiral carbide knives are a good choice.  They're a good compromise between straight knives and the Byrd head.  I doubt they eat up the power like the byrd head does.

Just my taste, but I prefer rollers instead of the machined infeed and outfeed tables.  Probably available on that planer.  Rollers usually run a bit cheaper, but who's counting beans anyway?  I just find that the rollers handle stock better and don't require as much slickum. 

I have a powermatic 15" and also a Grizzly 15".  The PM has a Byrd head, so I set up the Grizzly with straight knives for running rougher stuff than the byrd head likes to handle.  (My PM is really set up for finish work mostly.)

Anyhow, the interesting thing is that the grizzly (which is probably 20-25 years old) looks like an exact copy of the PM, with a few exceptions here and there.  The castings are the same.  They even used identical labels and placement.  (The PM does have some differences in drive belts, motor placement, etc.).  That Grizzly you're looking at looks freakishly like a PM as well.  At any rate, it looks like it would do you well.

BTW - You must have left off a zero when you said you were willing to spend $250.  I'm guessing the G1033X is probably a little more than that.

Looking forward to seeing your new planer up and running.
HM126

50 Acre Jim

Quote from: btulloh on November 06, 2017, 03:40:36 PM
BTW - You must have left off a zero when you said you were willing to spend $250.  I'm guessing the G1033X is probably a little more than that.

lol, guess it was how I typed it.  But what I meant was that I would chalk up to experience the $250 that I spent on the WEN planer that I bought awhile back.   But yes, this one is about $3,400 (delivered) and I didn't think that was too bad.  Not for a 20" planer, right? 
Go to work?  Probably Knott.  Because I cant.

btulloh

Could be I just read it wrong.

Your new planer looks great.  Now I have planer envy.

HM126

SlowJoeCrow

Quote from: Don P on November 06, 2017, 01:04:26 PM
I've got the Delta 15", DC380 I think, and a little 12" Delta lunchbox. I bought their 15" because the top moves rather than the bottom. I knew I would want to run some timbers and wanted to set up roller tables front and rear so adjusting the top worked well for me. I do have a set of cheap knives as well as several sets of good steel. There is definitely a difference in longevity when I have to throw the cheap ones on.

I will offer a pet peeve of mine, metric jackscrews. I'm used to the height adjustment being based on a jackscrew with SAE threads... American. If the screw has an 8 tpi pitch I know a turn equals 1/8". If its metric I got nothing... a turn is about 1/8" on mine, that isn't quite the same.

I have the same planer, the Delta DC380.  It's biggest benefit is that the head moves up and down, the table is stationary.  The downside to that is that knife changes are a bit harder because the motor is mounted on top in the way.  Also, you don't have rollers on top to pass boards back to the front easily.  It has been a good planer for me though.  I agree, the jack post threads are too coarse, I usually turn a quarter turn on the crank, half a turn if I want to hog a lot of wood off.  I wouldn't want a smaller planer, that's for sure.  I would like to put a spiral head in it someday.

Don P

With sharp steel the DC380 will go a turn and a quarter max but not with its mouth full. Next time you're under the hood check the rear feed chain behind the black right side cover. If it is slack enough to jump a tooth holler and I'll take a picture of my fix. I didn't realize until too late on mine, it stripped that sprocket.

SlowJoeCrow

Thanks for the tip.  I bought this one used and the rubber outfeed roller is chewed up/worn out in the center from always feeding wood in the center I guess.  I need to get a new roller sometime.

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