# Comparison of Dewalt 735 and Rikon 25-130H



## drjterrell (Dec 28, 2011)

Anybody got direct experience with both of these planers? The Rikon is on sale right now and has helical cutterhead. With shipping, they're about the same price. My old Delta is about to give up the ghost.

Thanks,

Jeff


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## tyvekboy (Feb 24, 2010)

Jeff

I have had my DeWalt 735 for a number of years and for me it does the job. What I like about it is it's wide footprint, 2 speeds, 3 knives and ease of use (easy to change blades and speeds). The 2-sided blades are throw-away type.

For a home shop I think it's adequate. You'll see it in some of my project posts and my workshop pictures.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

Well the Rikon is a rebadged Steel City with accuhead type segmented cutter. It is segmented, but not truly helical. The in-depth reviews of the steel city say that tearout is not really improved over straight knife cutterheads. Also the cutters are HSS, not carbide (but I hear Amana makes carbide inserts).

I have the 735 with the Shelix head upgrade. I work with a lot of quartersawn white oak, and the Shelix leaves a glassy smooth surface with no tearout. In fact I have the habit of cleaning up tablesaw and jointer marks with a final pass at the planer. It looks so good I even plane the edges.

Either planer will probably be fine. In fact if you don't plan to upgrade the Dewalt, the Rikon with upgraded carbide cutters may be an option.


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## drjterrell (Dec 28, 2011)

This is super helpful, guys. Thanks very much.


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## WhyMe (Feb 15, 2014)

> *Well the Rikon is a rebadged Steel City*
> 
> - pintodeluxe


I don't think it's a rebadged Steel City. All those planers come from who knows what factory and they put what ever name on them as build for that brand. The Ridgid also looks a lot like the Rikon.


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## csbrown (Mar 14, 2015)

I spoke with a support guy at Rikon a few weeks ago and asked about it (Rikon has GREAT customer support … but their manuals are terrible. According to the guy, the older manuals are being re-written). 
He said that he was involved with the design of the 25-130H and it is totally new. You can call Rikon support and I bet they would talk to a potential future customer.

If you want a Rikon accessory and live near their shipping facility (in Billerica, Massachusetts) they will allow you to pick it up instead of having it shipped to you! Most companies will not do this. So, Rikon is OK in my book


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## Tigercat (Jan 9, 2016)

I'm struggling with the same 2016 decision. Seems like DeWalt must be working on a helical model. Has anybody heard any rumors? Otherwise the Rikon competition will take business from them and/or they will have to lower their price. The fact that this new Rikon already is on sale for $500 makes you think that the price of planers will be dropping. It won't be long before all planers will be helical. It may be wise to wait a while on a new purchase. Woodcraft magazine just did a review on Ricon and General helical planers vs DeWalt. They were very high on both Ricon and General. The Dewalt 735 just looks so solid.


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## RichB4U (Nov 17, 2014)

I am comparing the Dewalt DW 734, Rikon 25-130H and Makita 2012NB planers now. Can someone explain the benefit of the helical blades that the Rikon has. Right now I'm leaning towards the Makita. Any thoughts or recommendations?


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## jgred (Dec 21, 2017)

Anyone had any more experience with these two planers?


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## mrg (Mar 10, 2010)

I have the Dewalt and it is a great planer. My buddy also has the planer and uses his a lot more than I do and has had no issues with it. Great planer for the money.


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## rizzo (Dec 21, 2014)

I have not used the Rikon, but I have the DW735. I used to have the DW734 and the switch to the DW 735 was night and day. Much better cut quality and a much more robust machine. I was blown away by the "sheen" left on boards after planing. They were glass smooth and perfect. However in my experience it did not take long (only a few uses) before there ended up being tiny nicks in the blades causing subtle lines to run along the boards. I decided to pull the trigger and installed the Byrd shelix head in my DW735 and wow what a difference it made. If the step up from the 734 to a 735 was a "big step" then the step up from the straight knives to the shelix head was a "huge leap". Much much quieter, great surface, no tear out, and no nicks in the blades yet. Very happy with the upgrade. I think I would eventually like to get a full size planer for my shop, but for now the DW735 with shelix head handles everything I throw at it just fine.

If you get the 735, get the shelix, it is worth every penny!!!


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## jgred (Dec 21, 2017)

> I have not used the Rikon, but I have the DW735. I used to have the DW734 and the switch to the DW 735 was night and day. Much better cut quality and a much more robust machine. I was blown away by the "sheen" left on boards after planing. They were glass smooth and perfect. However in my experience it did not take long (only a few uses) before there ended up being tiny nicks in the blades causing subtle lines to run along the boards. I decided to pull the trigger and installed the Byrd shelix head in my DW735 and wow what a difference it made. If the step up from the 734 to a 735 was a "big step" then the step up from the straight knives to the shelix head was a "huge leap". Much much quieter, great surface, no tear out, and no nicks in the blades yet. Very happy with the upgrade. I think I would eventually like to get a full size planer for my shop, but for now the DW735 with shelix head handles everything I throw at it just fine.
> 
> If you get the 735, get the shelix, it is worth every penny!!!
> 
> - rizzo


Thanks. How difficult is the Shelix upgrade?


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## pontic (Sep 25, 2016)

Got the 735. No complaints.


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## rizzo (Dec 21, 2014)

> Thanks. How difficult is the Shelix upgrade?


Really not too bad. There are quite a few videos out there on youtube taking you through the steps. The only tricky part is getting the belt off and back on, but I figured out a trick for that with a visegrips that made it pretty easy. The whole process took me about 40 minutes or so. However if I ever had to do it again, I would be able to easily do it in half that time, now that I know what the "pain points" are.

I reccomend watching the video series start to finish, so you know what you are getting into before you actually start. Then if you can have a computer or iPad there with you, it is a big help. Make sure you have snap ring pliers (both expansion and contraction ones) Other than that the tools are very basic and you likely already have them.

I like the Jeff F. Video, even though he makes couple mistakes.. (take note of his comment to have the machine in the "dimensioning" setting as it make it much easier to achieve one of the steps).

If you feel you are at all handy, you can for sure do this upgrade.


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## jgred (Dec 21, 2017)

Thanks, I watched them - he's quite the snap ring wizard…


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## Dutchie7 (Oct 3, 2019)

Thank you for all your comments.


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## wildwoodbybrianjohns (Aug 22, 2019)

> I am comparing the Dewalt DW 734, Rikon 25-130H and Makita 2012NB planers now. Can someone explain the benefit of the helical blades that the Rikon has. Right now I m leaning towards the Makita. Any thoughts or recommendations?
> 
> - Dale


I have the makita2012. The decibel marketing thing is just that, it is quieter, but its still loud when cutting, you need ear-protection anyway. The anti-snipe feature works very well, no complaint there. I do get tearout on crazy-grain wood like olive, but when the grain is more or less all running one direction, the cutters leave a fine finish. I also clean-up edges sometimes. You can flip the blades, so thats a bonus. When I read comparisons between the two-cutter makita, and the three-cutter dewalt there wasnt much of a difference in ratings. I went for the makita because its cheaper here in Spain, american product has a high import tax, and replacing two cutters as opposed to dewalts three seemed a cheaper option.


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## Sean_W (Apr 5, 2021)

for what it's worth, I know this is an old thread, but for anyone that comes across this as I have this may be helpful. I have owned the Rikon for nearly 2 years. I have plans to replace it for the following reasons. 
1. The infeed and outfeed tables have a lot of flex to them making it impossible to reduce snipe to acceptable levels. 
2. The HSS cutterheads wear very quickly. I run mostly cherry through it and am ready to replace nearly 50% of them. 
3. It has 26 cutterheads and they are only 2 sided. you can buy in sets of 10 and they are $58 for HSS or $89 for carbide. If I want to replace all the heads I'll be out $180 and in the same position in no time. 
4. I have a 1.5 HP dust collector hooked up to this and still think chip collection could be better.

hope this helps someone. The segmented heads are marketed as helical type for a reason. They are not one in the same. I wish I would have bought the Dewalt.


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