Choosing the right thickness planer

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​Your first thickness planer will revolutionize your shop.

For the first time, you'll be able to thickness your stock at the pull of a button and I guarantee, you'll stand there and watch.

Make sure you're wearing hearing protection though, you'll need it.

Consider this though.

If you use your planer often/semi professionally/professionally, you could be spending hundreds of dollars each year buying replacement knives!

In which case it might be worth buying a planer with more stamina so here are our recomendations

If you're not going to use it regularly, be sure to work out how much you'll pay for a new set of knives and think about how often you'll need to replace them.

​Perfect starter machines for the weekend warrior/hobbyist:

DEWALT DW734 15 Amp 12-1/2-Inch Benchtop Planer

PORTER CABLE 15 Amp 12 in. Thickn

WEN 6550 12.5-Inch 15A Benchtop Thickness Planer with Granite Table

Delta Power Tools 22-555 13 In Portable Thickness Planer

Grizzly G0505 12-1/2-Inch Planer

If you think that you're going to be spending the price of a new machine each year on new blades, you should take a look at helical cutter heads.

You have a couple of options here:

1. Replace the 2 or 3 knife cutter head in your machine with a helical head like this one.

2. Buy a machine with a helical cutter head

Jet - JWP-15HH: 15-inch Helical Head Planer

A helical cutter head has many (sometimes hundreds) of 4 sided, hardened steel cutter heads. They're orientated so that the wood is always in contact with the cutter so your machine will draw more current yet it'll create a much smoother surface.

​If you start to see the usual signs of a chipped blade, just turn the affected blades around to the next sharp surface and carry on.

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