Dewalt Benchtop Planer

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

Dick Coers

Any decision of thickness planer purchase has to consider volume of work. If you run 75 bd feet or more at a time, cast iron for sure. Run 5-6 boards at a time, bench top for sure. Buy your lumber rough sawn, consider cast iron. But hardwood at a hit or miss surfacing, bench top works. All based on amount of running time amounts of material to be removed.

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

Jack Guzman from Maine

I have the 735 and I love it. I picked it over the 734 because I need a full 13" for the kind of work I do. I buy rough wood and do my own thicknessing. I also like the chip ejection blower.

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

Barry Irby

I have an older one with knives I can sharpen myself, a Dewalt 733 I believe. Had it about 20 years and like it well enough. Replaced the bearing blocks once. It won't take over a 1/16" so starting from rough stock can be tedious. I have thousands of feet of rough stock. Does a nice job once you get past that.

I also have a brand X 15" that somebody sold me for $300 I have refurbished. Works well enough, but I am thinking of up grading to a Grizzly 20" with helical head.

I would buy the Dewalt without hesitation if mine wore out or failed.

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

JL

I have had a DW735 for many years. I don't regret buying it.

I have had to replace the dust shroud twice as it is plastic and the amount of lumber I planed wore it down.

If I had to do it over again, I probably would get another - or look for a used 15".

The problem w/ getting a 15" is that it isn't portable at all. I built a roll around cart for my DW735 - so I can "flip" the planer down into the cart and roll the cart under my table saw extension when not in use.

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

Bruce, a MN Galoot

Lukewarm for me. I have a 735 and while it does a nice job, you need to know that the Dewalt blades are crap. They just don’t hold an edge. The blades are not adjustable and can only be sharpened a couple times before you will need to replace them. I get my blades from Holbren. They’re better than Dewalt but still not adjustable. If I had the money, I’d spring for the Byrd Shelix.

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

Christopher Fitch Memphis

"The Dewalts seem to be the preferred choice. For the amount I use it, the 734 is probably adequate, has anyone ever purchased a 734 and afterwards wished they had purchased a 735? "

I have a 734 and I wish I had bought the 735 - especially since when I bought the 734, the 735 was on its intro pricing and was cheaper that it is now.

That said, the 734 works fine.

735 is upgradable

ronster

I immediately installed a shelix on mine, and ebayed the unused original head with blades. Good move for me a couple of years back. Definitely no regrets.

Re: 735 is upgradable

Bill White

Well.......I'm still using my 733 that is 15+ years old. Darned thing won't die.

Re: Dewalt Benchtop Planer

johannaj

I had a 20 inch Woodtek planer. I sold it and bought a DeWalt 735. That huge planer took up too much space and I decided that I really did not need that much planing width. The DeWalt serves me very well since I do have a large dust collector that I connect to it.

On the other hand, I wish I had a larger jointer (mine is 8 inches), but I doubt there is enough room for it. When I need to joint a wide board, I take it up to Santa Fe Community College and use the 20 inch jointer there.

Once I complete the two dressers I am currently building, I don't think I will build any more large pieces. Maybe a dining table, though. It's just getting too hard to lift big pieces.