Heavy-Duty 12-1/2" Thickness Planer with Three Knife Cutter-Head - DW734  Product Reviews

"We used this planer to plane black locust that was used to build a playset for my kids. We killed once belt because of heavy duty work we were performing on it. We planed even 4"x8"x16' (black locust). Anyway not a heavy duty machine. Black locust is a tough wood though. We get 1700 feet of 4" wide black locust on sharpened planer knives (1 pass). Not bad but one side of planer knives was shot in one day so we had to turn over to use opposite side. The only problem is that knives are disposable and expensive. Well I cannot spend 50$ almost every week for planer knives so I purchased sharpener from Woodcraft. Sharpener probably paid itself off. I wished they used some standard knives. I would buy carbide tipped planer knives. We have dust collector hooked up to this planer. We got rid probably of 500 gallons of black locust shavings. Overall I am pleased but cannot give 5 stars due to nonstandard disposable planer knives. It reminds me of some printer manufacturers. We give you almost a free printer but we will make up with ink. Dewalt seems to follow this logic except planer is not almost free. "

"I lost my old dewalt planer in hurricane Wilma,nearly bought other brands and I,m so glad I didnt.I have since used some of the competition in the $400.00 bracket and they don,t compare.Its good to have an old friend back.Wish it had the old style fold down handle though."

"I finally unpacked this machine today. Ran thru some rough cut oak, ash, and undried pine with lots of knots. This thing was great. I got rid of a base Delta planer due to the kirfing on the start and end of the boards. None with this machine with the lock down bar down or up. I have not used it enough to comment on the blade longevity that is brought up elsewhere. I wonder if this is related to whats being cut and how aggressively its cut? I like how it folds up and can be stored. I use it right on top of my table saw, then put it away. The preset heights for 3/4", 1/2" and so on is very handy. Only complaint is that if you use the included dust collector attachment, it must be secured with a dinky screw, into aluminum. Then you must remove the dust collection shute if you want to fold up the outflow table. Some quick disconect system could have been easily developed. I have not changed blades yet. Some have suggested this is very tricky do to aluminum parts. Don't know. When I do change blades, I will update my review. As for now, this is so much better than my old Delta (no kirfing and preset hights), I give it a solid 4+. If changeing the blades is a hastle and costs me money, I'll drop my rating later... I think its a good deal for the price. Three cutting blades leave a super smooth finish. If you are buying a planer for a professional shop and 24/7 use, go elsewhere. For the weekend warrior, this one will do just fine."

"I really wanted to like this planer, I read the reviews here on Amazon and it seemed like a nice planer. First of all the blades are terrible. Three reversable blades, easy enough to flip and change. But they screw into an aluminium shaft. I wonder how long the threads will last? After 72 board feet of hard maple I need to buy new blades at $50.00 a set. 24 boards, 6" by 72" both sides. By no means a serious woodworkers planer. I will look into other knives possibly made by Infinity cutting tools. When the knives dull the height adjustment crank turns all by itself then the feed rollers stop feeding the boards. The depth of cut lock is very flimsy. I need to clamp the crank in position with vise grips. Keep in mind that I am only cutting 1/64 inch each pass. Took all day to plane 12 boards. The blades will dull at about 18 lf at 1/64 in. cut. Both infeed and outfeed and depth stop were supposed to be factory adjusted. Not one adjustment was even near correct. Very disapointed. The finish cut is great though. The machine seems fine except for the lousy blades. I hope I can find a good aftermarket blade for this machine. I can't afford to pay $50.00 every time I use my tools."