Wood Planer

[Sumboodie]

I'm looking to get setup with a wood planer to do moldings for my place.

I'm either going to use rough cut (sawmill) or may have to cut 2x4s and 2x6s in half.

3/4" boards at the store are stupid expensive last I priced them out.

I'm not a wood worker, so I don't need a crazy high end unit. I used to have access to a big 240v Grizzly planer, maybe 20"?. It worked ok, though sometimes wouldn't feed boards well and you'd have to force it through.
We did tens of thousands of bd ft on it though.

There's a 13" Rigid with a stand for sale locally for $300.

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Or this Grizzly that will be about $450 all said and done:

12-1/2" 2 HP Benchtop Planer at Grizzly.com

<h1>G0505 12-1/2" 2 HP Benchtop Planer</h1> <h2>An affordable and entry-level benchtop wood planer.</h2> <p>The G0505 12-1/2" 2 HP Benchtop Planer was designed to be lighter to carry around and provide finished cuts faster, without lacking muscle or design quality.</p> <p>Control thickness...

www.grizzly.com

 

[Sumboodie]

Considered just leaving the rough cut as is, but it's a ***** to work with as there's nothing square to go off of.

 

[RTM]

Are you doing curved moldings, or just went rectangular molding?

Shoe Molding vs Quarter Round: What's the Difference? | The Finished Space

If you're trying to decide between Shoe Molding vs Quarter Round, which one to use in your home, it's essential to know their differences.

metrie.com

If you just want nice rectangles, a Joiner is the tool of choice. A planer just makes things skinnier. Doesn't make the edges or flats straight.

Or a hand plane and a bit of practice.

Being in Alaska, are you doing Log built, where the rough cut will work? All I know about AK home building comes from this guy

Home on the Yukon

pdknz - the new blog in LiveJournal. There should be new interesting records soon.

pdknz.livejournal.com

 

[kbeefy]

Dewalt is the gold standard in DIY/hobbiest planers.

I cheaped out and got a Wen, then I upsold myself on the more expensive model.

It's worked fine so far.

If you buy used, run a board through it before purchase to make sure the blades are decent.

I agree with RTM, you might be better served with a jointer.

 

[Maui]

If you want to crank out moldings, a shaper is what you will need.

 

[Sumboodie]

Are you doing curved moldings, or just went rectangular molding?

Shoe Molding vs Quarter Round: What's the Difference? | The Finished Space

If you're trying to decide between Shoe Molding vs Quarter Round, which one to use in your home, it's essential to know their differences.

metrie.com

If you just want nice rectangles, a Joiner is the tool of choice. A planer just makes things skinnier. Doesn't make the edges or flats straight.

Or a hand plane and a bit of practice.

Being in Alaska, are you doing Log built, where the rough cut will work? All I know about AK home building comes from this guy

Home on the Yukon

pdknz - the new blog in LiveJournal. There should be new interesting records soon.

pdknz.livejournal.com

2 flat sides and I will table saw the other 2 sides.

 

[Sumboodie]

If you want to crank out moldings, a shaper is what you will need.

Just need ~3/4"x4 or 6" boards. Will knock down the 2 edges with a router

 

[RTM]

It's getting the first flat edge that's hard, then a TS and a planer can do the rest.

I have the DeWalt 733, and love it. Portable as 70# can be, gives a good enough finish. But beware, a knot can ruin your finish by knocking the blades. I use it with a Dust Collector, which is key to a smooth finish, but not required

 

[Packard V8]

As long as one is satisfied with "sorta-kinda-good-enough moldings", start with and inexperienced operator running construction grade lumber through a table saw, planer and router. The result will be about as expected. Making professional grade moldings requires expensive clear stock, really good equipment and some experience.

jack vines

 

[neophyte]

First off, you may know this, but planers don’t straiten tough lumber, they just make it relatively flat and smooth. If the lumber is warped or twisted when rough, it will still be out of plane after you put it thru a planer.

That said.

Dewalt makes solid “portable” planers.
The DW734 single speed planer has always been solid.
The DW735 two speed planer has sort of been considered one of the Best “portable” planers available since Dewalt started making that model.

For a lighter weight planer that is supposedly a bit easier to move around, the Makita 2012NB is supposedly a good option.

If you later want to get a Shelix style carbide insert cutterhead for any of the above, they seem to be available for all the models, but can cost $400+ dollars for just the cutterhead.

The Ridgid planers were well reviewed years ago, but I fon’t know anybody that has owned one, and both Dewalt and Makita might be easier to get parts for.

I would avoid Grizzly for a lunchbox planer.
Admittedly, I also don’t know anybody who owns one of the Grizzly models, but Grizzly is usually better for the larger machinery.
The lighter stuff usually requires more a bit more attention to detail, and Makita and Dewalt are better at tweaking this type of tool.
This is just a guess though since a large number of lunchbox planers are probably made in the same factory to specs that vary by brand.

 

[Firebrick43]

If you want to crank out moldings, a shaper is what you will need.

No, you use a planer/moulder such as the woodmaster. Wow, a shaper?

 

[tak1313]

I have the Dewalt. It's works great, though it does snipe a little more than my old Delta lunchbox one that I gave to my wife's uncle. I switched because a guy was sold it to me for $175 because he installed a Shelix head and the pulley kept coming off. I took a chance, and all it ended up being was that he installed the pulley backwards, so it rubbed against the chassis when it was running. So the bottom line is I got an almost new DW735 with Shelix spiral head for $175 (he also threw in the original stock head).

The Delta did fine though. Before I gave it to my wife's uncle for some trees he cut down in his yard, I was poking around for prices to see what I could sell it for, and they were fetching (a few months ago) for between $150 and $350 used.

Most of the lunchbox types are about the same as far as performance, give or take a few niggles. The Ridgid ones have pretty consistently been decently rated in tests/comparos.

If getting used, though, I would expect to change the blades right away (now days most are made to NOT be resharpened), so factor in the price of a new set of blades.

Also ask to run a few boards too, as when I was hunting around, I've came across a couple that ran, but did not feed correctly (like your work example). Usually when that happens, it's just worn rollers or pressure springs, so you can calculate for yourself if digging in to it is worth the dime/time. Springs are cheap, but rollers can be a little pricey - more so if the problem ends up being something bigger. Another problem you might come across in used units are broken belts or drive chains.

 

[KenC]

If starting with rough sawn, it needs to be jointed on one side and face before sending to the planer. a warped rough board will be a warped planed board if not flattened first.

 

[Maui]

No, you use a planer/moulder such as the woodmaster. Wow, a shaper?

Yes, a shaper:

 

[Firebrick43]

Yes, a shaper:

First video the guy is unsafe as hell. Talking about slow compared to a planer/molder. Don't have to buy an additional power feeder either for a woodmaster.

 

[tak1313]

You can get by without a jointer a lot of times. There are ways to "joint" the flat side of a board using a sled first to get one side flat, then put the other side through the planer to do the other side and make the two flats parallel to thickness.

You can then "joint the edges using a jig and table saw. There are a lot of tutorials and I believe even YT vids on the process.

 

[WWheeler]

If you want to crank out moldings, a shaper is what you will need.

No, you use a planer/moulder such as the woodmaster. Wow, a shaper?

Way back when I used to work cabinet shops we always used shapers (extra heavy duty router tables). None of the four I worked for used a moulder. I've never even seen one of those except in woodworking tools catalogs. I always figured they were more geared to make miles of one kind of trim/moulding perhaps to sell to retail outlets IDK. Wouldn't seem very practical for cabinetry or a DIY shop.

Every shop had at least three shapers so we could have one for rails and one for stiles and one for whatever edge profile we were doing. That way we'd almost never have to change or adjust anything. Rails and stiles would fit tighter than OJ's gloves. Dial the machines in once and easily make a hundred high-end custom kitchens without adjusting anything before any of the cutters would need sharpening/replacing.

 

[Firebrick43]

Way back when I used to work cabinet shops we always used shapers (extra heavy duty router tables). None of the four I worked for used a moulder. I've never even seen one of those except in woodworking tools catalogs. I always figured they were more geared to make miles of one kind of trim/moulding perhaps to sell to retail outlets IDK. Wouldn't seem very practical for cabinetry or a DYI shop.

Every shop had at least three shapers so we could have one for rails and one for stiles and one for whatever edge profile we were doing. That way we'd almost never have to change or adjust anything. Dial them in once and make a hundred high-end custom kitchens without adjusting anything before any of the cutters would need replacing.

Dont see why it wouldn't be good for a DYI. The cutter shaft drops in in minutes, similar style of knives to a shaper, pretty reasonable prices to even for custom ones. Takes up a lot less space than a dedicated shaper as you only have to store the cutter shaft and it also functions as a planer. Cheaper to than buying a planer in addition to a shaper.

 

[WWheeler]

Dont see why it wouldn't be good for a DYI. The cutter shaft drops in in minutes, similar style of knives to a shaper, pretty reasonable prices to even for custom ones. Takes up a lot less space than a dedicated shaper as you only have to store the cutter shaft and it also functions as a planer. Cheaper to than buying a planer in addition to a shaper.

Don't guess you've ever tried to dial in rails and stiles to make them fit perfectly before, but now that I think about it I don't even see how a planer/moulder could even be capable of cutting such profiles. I'm from Misery. You'd have to show me. They seem to be more geared for making baseboard, crown, casing and chair rail type profiles. Can't really imagine how one could use one to make a rail and stile window or door like a shaper or a router table can. But a shaper or router table can make baseboard, crown, casing, chair rail, etc also.

 

[Firebrick43]

Don't guess you've ever tried to dial in rails and stiles to make them fit perfectly before, but now that I think about it I don't even see how a planer/moulder could even be capable of cutting such profiles. I'm from Misery. You'd have to show me. They seem to be more geared for making baseboard, crown, casing and chair rail type profiles. Can't really imagine how one could use one to make a rail and stile window or door like a shaper or a router table can. But a shaper or router table can make baseboard, crown, casing, chair rail, etc also.

Yea, we are talking about trim molding, not rail and style doors?????. Didn't ever say a shaper couldn't make baseboard and such, its just not a very good tool to do so. Hell, I have used a stanley hand molding plane to make special matching pieces. I wouldn't suggest it either to make a bunch.

 

[tarbellb]

The Ridgid is a solid benchtop model* - *only if it has the Locking Tab on the top carriage

The 4 post Dewalt is king in the benchtop series

Makita is a good option too


All of these use straight blades (3), upgrading to a spiral cutter is nice, but doubles the price of your investment

 

[billconner]

The Ridgid planers were well reviewed years ago, but I fon’t know anybody that has owned one

I bought my Ridgid 10 or 15 years ago and it's fantastic. Still on first side of first set of blades. Have cleaned feed rollers once or twice. Very little snipe.

I bought rough sawn 4x4 clear fir to make true 1x1 pickets (7/8+ square) for 1904 porch. Next 1000 bf of rough sawn poplar for trim to match existing. Some had edges eased with router. I also matched some trim in white oak.

High quality fine toothed ripping blades for the table saw and a PC portable planer made finishing easy.

Get the vintage Ridgid is my advice.

 

[Sumboodie]

I'm not needing to make cabinet grade stuff guys. I may just leave it rough sawn, depending on how well it's in from the sawmill. Haven't decided just yet.

This is for around windows, door frames, baseboard, etc in a shop building.

I'd just use 3/4" boards from the hardware store but they cost almost more than nice moulding!

 

[billconner]

I'm with you on this. Thinking about paneling a room with rough sawn pine horizontal, plane one side, batten seams with same material but trapezoid in section. All trim in a craftsman style, squaris, no miters, blocks at intersections to avoid flush joints, etc. At 60 cents a bf, half or less than no 2 pine and even lower cost than even drywall - and more enjoyable.

 

[jar944]

If you want to crank out moldings, a shaper is what you will need.

No, you use a planer/moulder such as the woodmaster. Wow, a shaper?

Ideally you use a 5 or 6 head moulder.. but those are a bit large for the typical garage. Otherwise both a shaper and a moulder (woodmaster or w&h) work well enough.

The op just wants square stock though so a jointer and a planer would be all you needed.. or a 4 head moulder.. or just buy it at the yard.

 

[Sumboodie]

Ideally you use a 5 or 6 head moulder.. but those are a bit large for the typical garage. Otherwise both a shaper and a moulder (woodmaster or w&h) work well enough.

The op just wants square stock though so a jointer and a planer would be all you needed.. or a 4 head moulder.. or just buy it at the yard.

Had one, big 3 phase unit powered by a 220hp generator.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I'm looking to get setup with a wood planer to do moldings for my place.

If you want to make moldings from rough sawn wood, you will need 3 machines, but first you have to be sure the wood is a the proper moisture !

• Once dry, you can plane it
• Then you can cut it with a table saw to the proper width
• Finally, you need a molder. This looks like a giant, one piece, router and table. The bits run on a 1/2" spindle and are expensive.

 

[Sumboodie]

If you want to make moldings from rough sawn wood, you will need 3 machines, but first you have to be sure the wood is a the proper moisture !

• Once dry, you can plane it
• Then you can cut it with a table saw to the proper width
• Finally, you need a molder. This looks like a giant, one piece, router and table. The bits run on a 1/2" spindle and are expensive.

No moulder needed. Just need 3/4"x4 and 6" roughly.