From: doshay@ursa.arc.nasa.gov (David Doshay)
Subject: Re: Planer Recommendations
Organization: NASA-Ames Biocomputation Center
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 18:45:36 GMT

In article <2941@ceylon.gte.com>, boykin@gte.com (Joseph Boykin) writes:
> 
> OK, with all the recent talk about *why* to own a planer
> how about a discussion on *which* planer to buy.

Someday I will get smart and save my old postings, as I have posted 
something like this before:

I have and really like the Makita 12" portable. It and my Hitachi 8" compound
miter are my favorite tools, in a shop that has a fair number of woodworking
power tools. (although nothing like Bennett's)

Many people complain that the table moves up and down on the Makita, which
makes it difficult to build it into a table with long extensions. This is
true, but I move mine around the shop (a small space so I have to move the
tools I am not using) so I do not want it to be anything other than portable.
I use an adjustable roller for infeed and outfeed, and I find that if the board
is long enough to need the rollers that at most one readjustment is needed
as a board is repeatedly surfaced. I selected the Makita because I liked the
large jack-screws that control the thickness, and that I thought would make
a better cut to have the motor and knives held firmly and have the table
move. The Ryobi uses chains for this adjustment, and the amount of play
seems excessive to me. As I have posted and keep getting some (perhaps
deserved) ribbing over, I can and do repeatedly change the thickness of
a piece of wood by 0.01" as measured with calipers. So I am obsessive, what 
can I say?!

Knife changing is strictly a no-brainer.
I think you would have to try very hard to get it wrong ... it is very easy.
Like many of the 12" portables the knives have 2 sharp edges and are not to
be resharpened. When one side gets dull you turn them over and use the other.
Right now they are available only in HSS, not carbide. But
as others have mentioned, a sharper edge can be put on HSS. Makita does have
carbide knives for their 4" hand-held planer, and they look to have the same
crossection, so maybe enough letters will convince them to make carbide knives
available. The only reason I keep harping on this is that I like to work with
teak, and the high silica content of the teak is hard on sharp edges.

The finish is wonderful when the knives are sharp, and they last as long as I 
expected if no dirt is on the wood. Little chips will form, leaving visible
ridges running down the length of the wood, if the edge finds something
gritty. I am sure that this will be the same for any of the brands. In this
case it is possible to get a great deal more life from the edges by sliding
one to the left a little, and the other to the right just a little. The resulting
finish is not as nice as with a new set of knives, but is more than OK for
most surfacing work.

As mentioned by others, when you can put a great finish on wood at whatever
thickness you want, then you open up lots of possibilities in your projects.
We just replaced all the windows in the house, and the custom sills I made
(with no attempts being made to be modest) really look great. Having the planer
made it easy to make them thick enough to look 'right' while it was still very
easy to do. We also had to custom rip extension jams for each window, and each
piece got a great finish just by running it through the planner. We are talking
about hundreds of linear feet and it would have been a real pain to finish the
custom cut stock any other way. 

I have no reservations recommending the Makita.

Disclaimer: I have a cousin I rarely see (twice in 15 years) that works for 
            Makita, and I buy my tools just like everybody else.

David		doshay@soma.arc.nasa.gov

The thought police insist I tell you:
my thoughts, not NASA's
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking