Talk me down out of the trees....

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

First, I would not buy any planer without a Byrd Shellix Helical head.

Two, Unless you have monster boards, a 15" 3hp machine will do you fine.

Tree, I've been told that Griz has a segmented cutter head available but it is not the Byrd unit, the cutters are different, and may not give the same cut quality on figured wood.

I'm in process of building a new shop. I've upgraded my jointer with a Byrd head, but, given that I have a P-Max 22-44, I just can't see the neeeeed for a bigass planer.

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

ronster

Feed that little dewalt til it tires and begs for replacement. As you say, you have a little shop. Then go shelix. Perhaps in a dewalt 735. Half the cost of the griz 20.

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Brian Holcombe

With 1000 bdft to plane it’s best to get the tool for the job. I’ve worked in

Places with wonderful equipment and in places with a hodgepodge, so as I Sergio my own shop I’m careful to get the right equipment so I don’t need to second guess it.

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

John in NM

If you had plenty of space, I'd say go for the big machine.

As it is, probably best to stick to the small one. You might need to replace it one time, but I doubt it.

If a lot of that wood you have is wider than 12" then maybe make the space for the big machine. If just a couple boards are wide you can do it with a hand plane (its faster and easier than one might think).

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Don Stephan

No matter how carefully they are dried, rough sawn lumber is not perfectly flat and straight. First, decide if you want flat and straight, or willing to work with warped boards for tabletops, cabinet sides, and so on. A planer will not make warped boards flat and straight, it only makes the surfaces smooth and parallel. So if you want to work with wider boards, you'll need a wider jointer. I have no experience with European combo machines, but I have read very complimentary posts about them. My thinking is that the combo machines offer a much wider jointer as well as a wide planer.

So have you tossed enough that you have a 25' long clear space at least 5' wide to mill those boards?

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Bruce, a MN Galoot

I have the 735 Dewalt, and while the planer is good, it eats Dewalt blades like M&Ms. If you stick with the Dewalt, either get the Shelix head or switch to the Holbren blades that Jesse Cloud told me about. Mine will be here on Thursday, just in time for a bunch of walnut to get skinnier. I have a friend with the 725 Dewalt and he’s had the exact same experience.

Will you ever be planing 1000 ft of lumber again?

The griz planer does have a spiral head....

Barry Irby

and you are correct, it is not a Shelix.

I converted my a 40 something years old Rockwell jointer to a Shelix head And I like it. Since I have a Shelix head in the jointer I would like to have one in the planer also. I was thinking about seeing if Grizzly would substitute one for me.

While I am not planing to plane the whole 1000 feet of oak in one go, I do plan on using the planer for a long time and lots of other wood also.

A fifteen inch might be good. I was considering running panels through it so a 20 might be better.

But then I have a Performax 16/32 and a 24" grizzly Dual drum sander. Maybe that's where the panels should go.

I have the older two knife Dewalt planer. Wonder if it can be converted to the Shelix head and if it would be wise to spend the money on a 10 or 12 year old machine. I have already replaced the roller bearings once. Doesn't the Byrd head require more power?

I was hoping the Bigger planer wudl take a bigger bite and get he job done faster.

Mark, congrat's on the new shop. Got any details you would be willing to share?

Re: The griz planer does have a spiral head....

Yonak

Planing 1000 bf of oak is a lot of work. It will be real aggravating work with a lightweight planer. I say go for the Grizzly.

Another option is to look for used. I had my eye on a 20" Planer when I found a used Powermatic 180 for less. I've never regretted getting it. It sounds like you've got some time to find a good deal since you already have another planing option.

A Shellix head would be nice, if you can afford it and if it's worth it to you, but plenty of people, including myself, get by just fine with straight knives.

Power

John in NM

"Doesn't the Byrd head require more power?"

I've heard that it does but seen no documentation on it. I suspect that the RMS power requirements are similar between a spiral head and a straight blade head. Straight blades probably cause a high draw for a fraction of a second followed by a much lower draw until the next blade hits. Spiral heads are more consistent, having a small section of blade in contact with the wood at all times or close to it. So the power vs. time curve of a spiral blade I would expect to be flatter, and a straight bladed power vs. time curve to be spikey. But I would expect the average of each over time to be roughly the same for similar cutting conditions.

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Brian in SLO

I'm another vote for the DeWalt 735 with the Shelix upgrade. I upgraded mine a few years back and have never regretted it once. Of course, I already owned the planer when I chose to buy the Shelix so that made my decision that much easier. Runs smooth, quiet(er) and the carbide blades last a lot longer than the stock steel blades.

DW 735 only takes shelix I think

ronster

I seem to recall that the byrd head is only available for the dewalt 13" 735 and not the other dewalts.

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Jesse Cloud

The essential function of a planer is to make the top face of the wood parallel to the bottom. This requires that you can adjust the cutters to be dead parallel to the bed of the planer. Never easy unless your planer comes with a fixture to ensure that it happens. 20 inches is much harder than 15.

If you plan on doing mostly rough work, it won't matter, but if you want to do fine woodworking it matters hugely.

Couple Things....

David Yoho

I was hoping the Bigger planer wudl take a bigger bite and get he job done faster.

I'm not sure taking a bigger bite with a large planer yields a smooth finish. Maybe it would but I'd think you wouldn't want to take more than 1/8-inch off at a time. Perhaps someone with a large planer will weigh in on this.

Another thing to think about is your current setup already has you planning wider stock than your jointer will handle. Going wider for a planer only makes sense if you can joint the same first.

Given you have the sanders, those should take care of any panel needs.

I've owned and used a 13-inch Delta two speed planer for many years and fed a tremendous amount of stock of various types through it without replacing anything but blades. I've never felt the need for anything more given I have an eight inch jointer and don't have a commercial shop. Maybe save some money and buy the wider Dewalt with a Shelix head and call it a day.

Re: Byrd VS Grizzly segmented head

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

I have a 20" stationary planer with the Byrd head. I also have an 8" Grizzly joiner with the Grizzly segmented head. I have been extremely happy with the performance of both. As I have stated before, I have not been able to see any differences in the quality of cut between the two. I would not pay any premium price for either!

Re: Other issues:

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

I personally have found the 20" stationary planer to be Snipe free with reasonable care. I could never achieve this with my older Dewalt 12" Bench top. My 20" is much quieter, and I can take a heavier cut, but I never take more than 1/8" anyhow. I have a 30' X 30' shop.

I do have almost all of my equipment on mobile bases, when I plane something of extreme length, I open my shop garage door and move the planer to a position where the board can exit the door. I have planed a 16' board in that manner, though it is very rare I do that as I normally cut down the length to suit my project prior to joining and planing.

I might "skip" plane one side of a rough board prior to shortening to see the grain and defects. After using a small bench-top planer for several years, the difference in using the 20" stationary is like night and day.

A 20" Deal

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

I happen to know of a 20" Powermatic for sale. It has to be picked up in Bucks County, PA.

If anyone's interested, contact Ellis, our esteemed Host wit da Most

Re: Talk me down out of the trees....

Hank Knight

Barry,

Several posters have commented on the need for jointer capacity to match your planer capacity. I'm in that camp. Having a 20" planer doesn't do you much good unless you have a way to flatten rough lumber before you send it through the planer. I would love to have a 20" planer, but I have a tiny shop and no room for such a machine or a big old wide jointer to go with it. Don Stephan mentioned combo jointer/planer machines. That was my answer. I had a little Inca 10" J/P for 25 years that I loved. I traded up several years ago to a Hammer 12" combo J/P. What a great move that was. I now have a 12" planer aand a 12" jointer in my little shop. The Hammer is a serious, powerful machine, much more robust and really a different class machine altogether than my little Inca. My only regret is that I didn't get Hammer's 16" model with their new segmented cutter head. It's not much bigger than the 12" one and it would fit nicely in my shop. For a small shop, I don't think you can beat a combo machine. They are a little pricy, but you get a lot of bang for your buck.