bought the dewalt 735 10 days ago. I've sized approx. 6 bf 5/4 hard maple to 1" and 6 bf 4/4 walnut to 3/4" at a scant 1/32" to a heavy 1/64" per pass. All in all approximately 130 passes on 8 boards say approx. 6" x 24". Knives are already knicked in several places. Is this sort of wear to be expected on high speed steel knives? Am I rushing it by taking too much off? I never saw any foreign material in the wood
Kinda like owning a new car - then someone nicks the door paint in the parking lot and the honeymoon is over...
The planer is not a finishing tool, that's the job for scrapers and sandpaper.
So yes, you can expect exactly what you're seeing. I believe yours uses the disposable blades so you won't have the opportunity to put a secondary bevel on them during sharpening. I do on mine and it "appears" to make a difference in that the blades don't get nicked so deeply as compared to when they are sharpened only with a primary bevel.
Be interesting to find out if anyone has had any luck in trying to sharpen disposable type blades and how did they turn out?
Bob S.
That's a heavier cut than I prefer, but it shouldn't cause nicks in the knives that soon. The most likely cause in my opinion is foreign matter that you did not observe or did not recognize as such -- specifically, ordinary dirt. It's never a bad idea to vacuum rough-sawn boards before planing or jointing them.
This can also be caused by knots in the wood. But I think dirt is the culprit.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
=========================== Well my DeWalt is pushing 5 years old and honestly I am only on the 3rd or
4th set of knives and have planed 1000's of BF of walnut and cherry... along with plenty of poplar....and I replaced them because they were dulling NOT because of knicks....What ever a half turn on the crank works out to it normally what I take off in a single pass...I'm retired and am not in a rush! lol
Bob Griffiths
Mel, that is a very cool planer. I just got back from the San Mateo WW show where I had the DeWalt guy put it through it's paces. Then he showed me the unit that is prepped for showing off how easy it is to get to the blades. Wow! Here I sit with my old 733. sigh...but then I realize that SWMBO whipped out her credit card for an Accuspray 4 stager and on the way out we spotted a new Powermatic band saw. But alas, I came home empty handed, as the sprayer will get to me around Thursday (or so they say) and the BS I should be able to pick up Monday in town.
Congrats on that planer! Wish mine would break so I'd HAVE to get the new one. It doesn't seem to produce any noticeable snipe either, which is something I always consider when shopping for a planer. Nice!
dave
mel wrote:
It is amazing how little it takes to nick a blade. A staple, like a desk staple can leave a good sized nick. If boards are left laying on a concrete floor, grit from the floor will make lots of nicks, if there is any grit at all. Dirt, from boards outside will dull and possibly nick blades. If the wood was milled from a yard or farm, there can be metal grown in the wood that you never will see.
Find a local mom and pop type lumberyard, and they might have someone who picks up blades and sharpens them cheap. Then be more careful. They had to have been hit by something to get nicked.
One trick is to offset the blades from their original position, so the nick in one blade gets mostly taken out by the next blade being moved over some.
thanks for the tip. I hadn't opened it up yet but I plan to today. I was just sending the board through again moved over a little bit which seemed to work also.....but time consuming.
Feed rates seem reasonable and the knives should be barely warmed up by now.
Nicks or wear ? You shouldn't have either, but I'd be more worried about wear.
Planer knives should never get nicked, but if they do it's as likely to happen on the first board as the last. Sounds like your boards were dirty. How had they been stacked ? Had they ever dragged across the workshop floor ? Did you sweep them clean before planing ? All this stuff is important, not for the timber, but for the knives.
BTW - a card scraper will remove most planer nick marks in moments.
-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods
Normal wear. The nicks will show up as ridges that will be taken out when you sand or scrape the final surface. Your planer is a "Thickness Planer" not a finish planer. Although there is a slower speed for a finer finish, that is only a sales gimmick and as you have already found out really accomplishes nothing once you get the first nick. You still must sand or scrape the final surface. The slower speeds are good on larger "Fast" planers that leave very noticeable scallop marks as they hog of the wood and then the slower speed to smooth out the surface on a final pass. This finish is also by no means the final surface. The small portable planers plane slow and smooth enough on the fast setting. IMHO the slower speeds only waste time. Use the planer for thicknessing not for a final finish surface.
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