Looking for a decent planer

yes… $175 for a delta is a good deal

-- San Diego, CA US Navy

Ok, thanks. He also has a Delta 14” Bandsaw and X5 6” Jointer for sale as well. Just don’t really wanna spend the money for em, which is a shame cause I can get em both from him for the price it would take to just buy one of them new.

-- Location: Birmingham, AL - Stimulate this Mr. President!

The Delta planner is a good planner. I know a couple of folks that have one. I happen to have the Dewalt bench top planner. Its been great, although its a bit more in price…around $500. I believe the Delta has two sets of blades, and the Dewalt has three.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

Yeah, I like that the DeWalt has 3 blades, but for the price on this Delta I think I can live with 2…for now.

-- Location: Birmingham, AL - Stimulate this Mr. President!

You can get the Dewalt from Amazon rebuilt for around 290.

-- Chip -- Manchester, Connecticut "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

Cool. I may havet to look into that. We also have a B&D service warehouse here in Birmingham, they may have some rebuilt DeWalt’s. I just don’t check with them often enough.

-- Location: Birmingham, AL - Stimulate this Mr. President!

Chris,

Before you buy a planer, consider what you plan to use it for. I once owned a portable planer and also had 1,000 bf of rough walnut. I quickly learned that the portable was not the right tool for planing lots of rough lumber. If stacks of rough lumber are in your future, you would be better off to search craig’s list or other places for a more powerful machine. Used machines can sometimes be found for less than $500. If you are only going to be doing light planing, then a portable is appropriate.

Regards, Joel

Thanks Joel, right now I’m only planning to do small jobs.

-- Location: Birmingham, AL - Stimulate this Mr. President!

Chris,

I have several thousand feet of rough lumber through a DeWalt 733, over 8 or 9 years. It’s slower than a heavy iron planer, but it leaves a better surface than bigger machines, and mine keeps on chuggin’! I buy all my solid stock rough. After all this time, I’d probably replace it with another “lunchbox” when it dies. I rotate three sets of knives through it, and resaw the stock if I need to plane off more than enough wood to leave a 1/4” thick “scrap”.

I usually switch to my Performax 22/44 when I’m ~ 1/16 – 3/32” fat, or thicker if I’m tearing out. The sander leaves a great surface that can be finished with a hand plane, scraper, or ROS.

For $175, I’d spring for the Delta, use it ‘till it dies, and then decide if you need a bigger machine.

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

I think for this weekend I am gonna borrow the neighbors planer. I’ve gotta drive a couple hours tomorrow to go pick up 2 jointers, a scroll saw, and a stationary sander. It’s all old craftsman stuff, but hopefully it’s worth the trip.

-- Location: Birmingham, AL - Stimulate this Mr. President!