Best planer for the money

I heard HD had ridgid planers on sale for $279?

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

dewalt

-- Ike, Big Daddies Woodshop, http://www.icombadaniels@yahoo.com

I have the deWalt 735 and I can say enough nice things about it.

These are great features that appealed to me.

Weighs in at about 100 pounds so it’s fairly stable without being mounted on a bench, but not too heavy to be portable to a work site.

Good power, and a two speed feed rate make for really nice finished stock.

Good repeatable depths from the easy to read front scale.

3 knives are easy to change compared to other units, they have double cutting edges so they get twice the life and they don’t have to have individual depth adjustments per blade, easy to replace or flip and back to work.

-- I don't make sawdust...I produce vast quantities of "Micro Mulch."

Another vote for the Dewalt. If you do get it, be sure to also get the folding tables, I had really bad sniping problems with mine but they went away after I got them. Also, be sure to have some form of dust collection to hook up to it, it produces a ton of chips.

Dewalt was our sande and was awesome. I often would wonder if a cheaper planer such as the delta or ridgid would have been equally as serviceable though for the money. We now have a 450 lb 15” jet that seems to do the job we need it to do.

-- Jerry Nettrour, San Antonio, www.topqualitycabinets.net

How about the good old fashioned hand planer. lol.

-- Jeff, Laguna Hills CA

I have the dewalt love it

I had a ridgid from HD for years and it was a wonderful planer…Never questioned the money that I spent on it…4 sets of blades come with it…It did everything I asked it to do and more…Great value and great product. Ridgid stands behind their products. Buy one of these and take the money saved and buy the oscillating spindle sander to go with it.

oohhh…I used it for 5 years and then upgraded to a 3hp powermatic…The powermatic is not that much better than my ridgid, honestly!!

Grub

-- Science Teacher by Day, Wood Butcher by Night!!

If you can find one at your local HD, they are now selling the Dewalt 735 for $279. I was lucky enough to get one last week here in Va, and ordered the extension tables and matching cart from Griz, so ended up with a little over $400 total for everything. They had the Ridigid planer for $399 while I was there, but the Dewalt seemed a lot beefier unit, and for that price it was a no brainer for me to go with the 735.

If you want a 13” there is no better tool out there than the dw 735. I’ve milled thousands of feet with mine over the last 6 years without a problem.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

One of my many WWing mags just did a review on planers and the Dewalt 735 I have took ‘Top Tool’ honors.

-- Big G

I have had the DeWalt 4 years and no problems!

-- spanky46 -- Never enough clamps...Never enough tools...Never enough time.

I have the DeWalt and it is great.

according to this months issue of WOOD magazine…they reccommend the dewalt…its got a comparison of all the portable planers in there…dewalt won…then makita….then they said if you’re lookin for one under 500 they recommend the rigid

-- My purpose in life: Making sawdust

Another vote for the Rigid. Have one and it works well.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov