Dewalt Jointers & Planers
Instead of one long straight blade, spiral cutterheads have multiple smaller knives, offset from each other in a spiral around the cutterhead. Spiral knife planers yield more consistent results than straight knife planers do. As well, the blades are reversible when they dull, and if you run into a stray nail or screw with your planer, it will only damage one blade as opposed to the entire knife. Not surprisingly, spiral knife planers are often significantly more expensive than straight knife models. Fan powered chip ejection with dust collector hookup.
I can plane 500 to 1000 board feet of hardwood before I need to re-wax. This is basically the DW735 with the infeed and outfeed extension tables along with an extra set of knives. It’s the most expensive of the bench planers available from DeWalt, but then again, it’s also the very best. Another feature that is often brought up positively is how easy this product is to use. That can be the most important aspect for some users, especially those who are new to woodworking or to using power tools like a thickness planer.
It gives the wood a nice, smooth finish and the thickness is accurate. It’s heavy enough that it doesn’t jump around or vibrate excessively. You will get snipe with it unless your board is well supported dewalt accessories at both the infeed and outfeed of the machine. That being said, even without that good support the snipe will only be on the last inch or so of the board and can sometimes be sanded out.
If you still have questions about your benchtop planer, refer to your user’s manual or contact the manufacturer. Snipe refers to a line, sometimes very noticeable, left on the front or back of a workpiece where the planer has removed more material than throughout the field of the board. It’s an unsightly element that many benchtop planers leave on workpieces that pass through them.
I ended up doing everything in speed 2 because I thought the finish in speed 2 was perfect. Besides having a two speed gear box as a nice option, this machine uses three knives which is a great feature. Might be one of the reasons that speed two looks so nice. When I was looking for a thickness planer this one was the only one on amazon that didn’t have a some sort of major flaw like its competitors in the same price range. I have never had any issues with changing the knives i found them very easy to set especially compared to my jointer. As of right now I am on my second set of knives after owning the machine for 2 years.
Each insert can usually be rotated and has four sharp edges, meaning you can simply unscrew it, turn it 90 degrees, and lock into place again. They don’t need to be adjusted either, just like disposable blades. The biggest advantage of disposable blades is that they are much easier to set up and replace.
I already retired the Planar Digital and went back to my Wixey Digital. I am sure that iGaging will learn and fix these issues. Dial-in the perfect planer depth setting every time to provide the most efficient planer performance. The setup for the DeWalt Planer Stand is as easy as it gets with the predrilled holes and heavy-gauge steel brackets that support the planer. The most innovative feature of this set-up is the wheel set, which can be engaged by using a foot pedal for instant portability or disengaged to secure the unit in place. I have sharpened many planer blades, I do not know if any of them are to Dewalt 735, but at least very similar.
It’s so simple to setup that I honestly figured I’d just gotten lucky, however, I quickly learned the DW735 is just that easy to setup. Even dewalt Hand tools more impressive is how smooth the controls operate. I think the shelix is just a better performance finished product and longer lasting.