posted by: VTOL51
11/6/2006
I read the Fine WoodWorking review (outstanding) and only the first "user review" here. Seems that reviewer "man" expects a portable planer, at the cost of about $500.00 to perform like one of the good ol' Oliver units I used to run in the Universal Studios Mill (we hardly ever shut em down!). A portable planer such as the DeWalt 735 is not at all intended for production use!Let me tell you what I use it for. Over the last 2 years I have been Owner/Builder of our 3,000 square foot custom home in the mountains. I am a Cabinetmaker and have really enjoyed doing all the finish work (still at it actually). Needless to say, there's plenty of opportunities for SFS around here and my DeWalt 735 has executed to perfection. In fact, I've already realized the return of my investment and I haven't even used the replacement knives yet!If you want to do "production work" then don't use any kind of portable power tool! Nowadays, almost everyone is a Self-Made "man". Out of all the sub-contractors I used during the construction process of our Mountain Home, only ONE was a "true" journeyman (that is, a person who has submitted to a master craftsman for two years of apprenticeship). The DeWalt 735 is the perfect portable planer, as there should seldom be a need to make more than two 1/32" cuts on a piece of wood. Any person who has been properly trained in the use of power tools and possesses sufficient experience in "production woodworking" would understand this BASIC principle. If you intend to do any woodworking worthy of "the market" then plan to spend some money for "production equipment" and don't leave your portable power tools running for 30 straight minutes. If you make such an ill-advised decision, don't write a "user review" detailing your lack of proper training and experience! And no, I don't work for DeWalt.Remember, "measure twice and cut once".Sincerely,VTOL51 (I also fly helicopters)
posted by: Psychlist1972
8/19/2006
The DW735 is a great planer, giving you a very smooth finish even on somewhat difficult woods. Replacing knives is an easy task, especially since you can do everything with the one tool Dewalt provides. Of course, it had better be easy, as you'll be replacing knives a lot. My only big complaint with the DW735 (and it's a big one) is that the knives dull and knick faster than any knives on any tool I have ever used. They are reversable, so you get two uses out of each knife. However, they cannot be sharpened, and as of this writing, there are no third-party manufacturers of stronger replacement knives (or helical cutterheads). There is one company that makes some, but they are limited by the thickness of the metal dewalt uses in their stock knives.Note that the carbide knives Dewalt makes for their other planer are not available for the DW735. When using the 735 to finish a large amount of soft tiger maple, I found I would get a smooth finish on the first board (with fresh knives), a little less on the second, and by the third 6' long, 8" wide board, I would almost certainly have a knick in a blade (which causes a line down the board) and some dulling (which causes tearout). All it takes to knick the blades is a little resin in the wood, a small knot, or just a hard spot. They really are delicate, even when taking extremely light cuts, as I did during finishing. If you intend to plane a lot of hardwood or figured wood, I'd really think about whether or not the cost of knives is going to be a factor. I went through three sets of knives roughing 500 board feet of soft maple. I would switch the knives when they got so dull it overworked the motor. Given the surface of the rough boards, I expected to go through a set, but I didn't expect to go through six fresh edges, especially given that the 500 board feet only came down to about 65 6' long boards (they were thick). I have finish planed maybe 20 board feet from that stack, and have already gone through another set (both sides) due to knicks and dulling. I could understand this if I was planing some exotic hardwood, but this is soft tiger maple! By way of contrast, my original set of knives in my ridgid jointer (also used on all this soft maple) are still going strong, with no knicks and barely any tearout. I can't help but think Dewalt pulled a Gilette here and planned on a strong revenue stream from expensive and short-lived replacement knives. And yes, the rollers slipped on mine as well, although I didn't realize that's what the black marks were until I read about them here.One other important point: this planer is HEAVY. If you plan to store it under a cabinet and pull it out to use it, or lug it to job sites, you may want to consider a lighter planer. If you pick up this planer, I strongly suggest the infeed and outfeed tables. If you plan to plane anyplace where you don't want piles of shavings 10' in front of the planer, I also suggest you either hook up to a cyclone like I did, or get the garbage can topper. The blower does a good job of evacuating chips from the planer, but it really shoots them far.I run my DW735 on one of the 20amp circuits in my workshop, and have had no problems there.
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