Shopsmith Forums

Just an FYI for anyone interested in a planer and can't afford the Shopsmith one. Home Depot has the DW 735 3-blade, 2 speed planer normally selling for $549.00 on sale now for only $479.00 which is a savings of around $70.00 which could be used to go for a purchase of the SS Conical Sander and the SS Sharpening Jig to resharpen the DeWalt blades which has been shown to be possible. The sales price is only good for in store purchases. From all the reviews in woodworking mags and from some of this forum's members this is a very good bench top planer. I personally would like the SS one, but had to settle for this one for myself for the present time. I work at Home Depot part-time but am not trying to promote sales, just sharing a good bargain.

Thanks for the post... I in fact bought the same planer before there was a sale. Used it lots of times and it did a fine job. Blade changes are also easy but I couldn't find anyone to re-sharpen blades... All experts I contacted said they become brittle due to being so thin.. ended up buying new blades from time to time.

Yet it's a great planer that I passed onto my son after picking up a used Pro-planer.

In fact, I don't see any difference in the finished product between the two and parts can be easily obtained through Dewalt. sorry to say that my not be the case with the Shopsmith planer as they are very proud of their products and their cost says so.

You got yourself a good planer at a good price..

doug45601 wrote:... All experts I contacted said they become brittle due to being so thin.. ended up buying new blades from time to time.

Yet it's a great planer that I passed onto my son after picking up a used Pro-planer.

But Yes! You can sharpen the blades at home! See this -
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... sharpening

charlese wrote:But Yes! You can sharpen the blades at home! See this -
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... sharpening

Well, that's good to know. I'll pass that info onto my son and he can send me his blades for sharpening. Still wonder why the local Saw and blade sharpening services won't do it?!

Never thought to contact Dewalt but then again they would prefer to sell more blades then recommend re-sharpening.

This Dewalt planer has been discussed before in this forum, sometimes generating a few ruffled feathers.

That being said, the Dewalt is not "head to head" comparable with the Pro-Planer or other stationary type planers powered with induction motors. The downsides of of powering stationary tools with the universal type electric motor have been discussed, perhaps described best by Nick Engler in his "Sanding and Planing", Rodale Press 1994, page 27.

While the Dewalt will plane boards OK, it may not represent the best value for our hard earned dollars.

As for sharpening the blades on the Dewalt, there may be a metalurgical problem. The hardness of the edge may be only a few thousands deep.

8iowa wrote:This Dewalt planer has been discussed before in this forum, sometimes generating a few ruffled feathers.

That being said, the Dewalt is not "head to head" comparable with the Pro-Planer or other stationary type planers powered with induction motors. The downsides of of powering stationary tools with the universal type electric motor have been discussed, perhaps described best by Nick Engler in his "Sanding and Planing", Rodale Press 1994, page 27.

While the Dewalt will plane boards OK, it may not represent the best value for our hard earned dollars.

As for sharpening the blades on the Dewalt, there may be a metallurgical problem. The hardness of the edge may be only a few thousands deep.

Just a couple of quick comments, (complete with smooth feathers:) ): I certainly agree that the 735 can not stand head to head with the Pro Planer, nor stationery planers, However I might have to disagree with the value per dollar spent.

If I had a Pro planer I might also be in full agreement with the value per dollar argument, but since I don't have the dollars necessary for a Pro Planer, the value per dollar argument has no standing at this house. I bought what I could afford. With the lessor amount of dollars spent, I am also content with the lesser machine on a head to head comparison. My 735 has performed excellently for me. It has even planed 1/8" material without extra carrying jigs.

As for the thin hardness of the blades - this may be true, however, I'm still on the first side of the re-sharpened blade and see no need to flip it after using the re-sharpened blade for more than 200 Bd. Ft. I see no changes from the performance of the original blades, when they were new.

If, after wearing out both sides of this blade and doing another re-sharpening, I find reduced performance, I will certainly post those results.

Just so happens I went to Lowes this AM for a few odds and ends. Wife was with me looking at Christmas decorations so I had time to kill... Stoped by Tool World (tool dept at Lowes) and was looking over the DW735 when the Dewalt vendor who was upgrading their Dewalt display asked if I needed assistance... We bagan discussing the difference in planer from one make to another when we got around to the blades (knives) and replacement and resharpening. He said that Dewalt does not encourage resharpening their blades or any other blades that are manufactured of less then 1/8" thick with double edges. Dewalt blades are tempered but the quality of steel used is of standard hardness and quality. He said he knows that many people does in fact have success with sharpening them and can get by with it perhaps one or two times but stands the chance of chipping or complete breakage during operations and that's Dewalts concern. I asked if there were any warnings or comments about this printed in their manuals. He said, not that he has ever seen as it should be understood that the blades being "double-edged" should be enough for most customers and users to understand that turning the blades around gives you twice the life.
I told him that the local sharpening services refuse to sharpen Dewalt blades and he said that they should attempt to do whatever a customer wants but their equipment and directives for sharpening many not allow it and of course they have to assure some liability for their work.

In summary, there are no black and white directives or safety warnings provided by Dewalt.... as far as I got from the conversation... It's only word of mouth from a Dewalt rep. I was given the Dewalt 1800 number to their technical branch if I wanted more information but was told that tech support would also Not-Recommend resharpening..

OK so where do we go from here? Well as Shopsmith owners with capabilities to sharping things on our own, we don't need professional services. (has anyone else been able to get a professional service to sharpen the Dewalt and others less then an 1/8" blade?) Guess we are on our own and take the liability of blade failure in our own hands.

Comes right down to it that Dewalt wants to sell blades, it sounds to me..

I have the pro planer, but I have to agree with Chuck on this. That Dewalt planer gets very good reviews from users, and at a 1/3 of the cost, I think it is an excellent value.

Thanks for your post Doug! I appreciate your posting of your talk with the DeWalt rep. Guess I'm not surprised at a commercial shop's refusal to sharpen those blades, as they have no machinery to handle these thin blades. Also, I don't have any good idea of what kind of grinding medium they would use. If it were a stone that rotates perpendicular to the blade, like a grinding wheel, I can certainly understand their standard and rules.

When I used the conical Disk Sander, the grit touches the blade in a manner that is truly parallel with the blade. Of course it is wise to use only very light passes across the Conical disk and remove only enough metal to bring back a knife edge.

As pictured above, I found it necessary to place a 1/16" shim in the sharpening jig, above the blade to get a firm closure on it.

I really don't know if I can sharpen multiple times, but because the sharpened ones produce the same thickness as new blades, I am expecting to be able to successfully sharpen 2 to 3 times. I will certainly post whatever findings I have.

charlese: When you sharpen your Dewalt knives, your picture indicates that you have your table set up high with only a couple inches of the disk showing. Is that the recommended table height vs the disk? I could not get a clear answer reading the instructions as to what height for the table setting.. Just know it needs to be above the center to assure the correct angle... (for Pro-planer knives that is)... I understand why the table must be tilted for the Dewalt knives... Just confused on table height settings.

Thanks..

BTW, I am going to attempt to sharpen the knives on my Craftsman electric planer soon as they have trimed a few nail heads during their life span..

Getting back on the original reason for the post however... the Dewalt planer does not include an infeed or exit table for longer stock.. nor does it include a stand.. Adding thoes items will run the cost up to about half the price of the Pro-planer... Still a good buy for general surfacing and blade changes are easier then the Pro-planer..