Trying 2 decide between a Woodmaster and a Hawk Woodworking (RBI) Planer/Molder/Sander/Rip Saw....

I don’t know anything about either machine. I own a Belsaw 12” planer Molder and I’ve not used it for 3-4 years. I ‘ve bought the molding knives for outside suppliers. The usually have them in stock or the grind them for you. I believe the last one I used was in Canada. that I got them.

You can probably find the knives on the web.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

knives are not the problem. They can be had easily both stock and custom. I don’t use one of these machines since I rarely need to run moldings. What is your application for this? When I need custom stuff, I either figure a way on my router table of farm it out.

-- making sawdust....

we are restoration molding manufacture (small company). we have both machines both are equal . wood master 718 will do anything with in reason this machine will save you money. Wood master will work with you if get the pro-pack and don’t need some of the stuff .wood master has a power platform so you can run a router to make things like wainscot. one thing if you are making molding run a 2 knife set up we never sand . we run everything from Baltic birch to black walnut. gene gnjwoodwork@aol.com

I’ve got a Woodmaster 712 and I’m very happy with its performance. I only use one knife setup and with the variable speed feed you can run it as slow as needed to get machine mark free moldings.
What I like the most about my Woodmaster is the gang saw option. You can run your stock lumber through the gang saw and every piece is exactly the same width. Just try to do that with a 16 foot long board and a table saw!
As for getting molding knives the turnaround is about 4 days from when the order is placed and when you are putting the knife in your machine. They have a good selection of ready made knives, and will grind one exactly to your specifications.

The planer does a very good job and will hog off a lot of material in one pass, but you do need a good dust collector to take care of the wood chips or it will plug up.
I could go on, but people would think that I might have stock in the company. (I don’t.)

-- Jim

I own a 25” woodmaster 4-in-one. It is heavy duty and handle 3 profiles at once.I am getting the attachment to do three sided molding soon. It is a great machine.