Planer Purchase Dilemma

First and foremost, thank you for YOUR service to our country.
IMHO, you can’t go wrong with either machine for light to medium duty. Either one will occasionally do some heavy duty planing, but I just don’t like to push machines real hard.
I would verify availability of parts before deciding on the Parks. It’s a classic machine but it doesn’t offer some of the modern amenities: think spiral cutter head, variable speed feed etc.
Neither machine will produce a finish comparable to the 90+ CPI of an RBI, Belsaw, Woodmaster, or PorterCable unless you put a spiral head in the Grizzly. Maybe that’s not so important to you?
Merry Christmas!
DanK

-- Dan Krager, Olney IL http://www.kragerwoodworking.weebly.com

Hi Dan. I appreciate the kind words. Parts availibility is the big thing sticking in my head. I spoke with Grizzly and theysaid that even though the 1021 is slightly older that parts are no problem. Plus the fact of 15” vs 12” even if I don’t always need the extra width. The only reason I am doing this is my Dewalt 734 is on it’s last leg. Plus I like to buy rough sawn lumber which I feel a larger planer can handle better. So far I am leaning towards the Grizzly. What also meant a lot to me was the fact that the Grizzly rep spent a lot of time answering questions like I was spending big bucks on mew equipment and that meant a lot to me. Flyboy

-- 160th S.O.A.R

i WOULD go with bigger heavier GRIZZ

-- Stevo, work in tha city woodshop in the country

Do yourself a favour and at least look at a DeWalt new at the Home Depot on clearance now. Easily the most well regarded planer out there. You simply do not need heavy cast iron to do what modern tech can do.

-- Love thy neighbour as thyself

I will admit that my Dewalt did not owe me anything when it gave up the ghost. I ran a lot of boards through it over the years. My big thing is rough sawn lumber which I found myself going to the local mill to get planed. I feel a bigger machine will give me many years of running this kind of lumber. I have to call both guys back today and let them know which one I want. There is worse decisions to have to make in life than this. Flyboy

-- 160th S.O.A.R

so many imply that a wider planer is better
and it is nice for the occasional wide board

to me it’s true value
is in having spots for different phases of planing

like i run all my edges first thru one place
then flip over and run again

flat pieces can have a spot
where there are no nicks

new rough lumber can go thru nicks
as they will be finished or sanded later

rather than using fresh spots in it for every piece
and changing knives more often

i can get more work from it
by being selective about where i feed the boards

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

The benchtop planers use rubber rollers, which aren’t so good on rough cut boards. Both the Parks and Grizzly use a steel segmented feed roller, which will work much better. Plus, the Grizzly has a 220 v. induction motor, which is way superior to the universal motor found on the Dewalt. Do you know what motor the Parks has? I’ve seen a Parks planer with a huge 110 v. induction motor, rated at 24 amps. That would require a 30 amp. circuit. Don’t ever seem to see motors like that any more, which is just as well. Some of those motors are convertible to 220 v. operation, which is preferable if you can do it.

The point of wider isn’t always better is true. I can only think of two times that I actually ran boards that size. They tell me I can get parts for the Parks out of Kentucky but I have not verified that yet. Hi runswithscissors. I just found out that the Parks has a 3hp Leeson on it which is only a year old. It helps that he has the invoice. I know the Leeson on my Performax sander has been bullet proof. Now I probably jinxed my drum sander by saying that. My wife and I are sitting around talking about this tonight and she comes downstairs with a Grizzly catalog and asks me why I just don’t order a new one from them. Like my head didn’t hurt enough already. Flyboy

-- 160th S.O.A.R

Does this help?
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?123330-15-quot-Used-Grizzly-1021-OR-Dewalt-dw735-planer
DanK

-- Dan Krager, Olney IL http://www.kragerwoodworking.weebly.com

...others are having similar struggles. It’s a big investment and worth thinking through, but not stressing out over it.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?89560-PM-vs-Grizz-15-quot-Helical-planers

One small point. No one is making helical or spiral cutterheads for the the Parks. Grizzly keeps that option open, but in either case you might be money ahead to trade out the machine later if you need to upgrade. It’s just a machine…
DanK

-- Dan Krager, Olney IL http://www.kragerwoodworking.weebly.com

One more for comparison:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-G1021-Grizzly-planer-with-Byrd-index-spiral-cutter-Barely-Used-/271128089323?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f207e52eb
DanK

-- Dan Krager, Olney IL http://www.kragerwoodworking.weebly.com

Hi Dan. I appreciate the links. It does make good sense to think down the road that I could upgrade to a spiral cutterhead. I told the wife I appreciate the gesture but laying out for a brand new machine might be down the road. I have 8 more years until my second retirement and maybe I could make it my gift to myself. Flyboy

-- 160th S.O.A.R

PARKS!!!!

-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com