dw735 carbide knives

I like this planer but like many other people I am very disappointed in the durability of the steel knives. Looking for an alternative I sent a knife to Leech Carbide to get a quote on having some knives made from tungsten carbide. After some negotiation, if I buy in bulk I can get the knives for $95.00 per knife, that's $285.00 for a set. This is about 5 times the cost of the steel knives but they should last 10 to

20 times longer. This is a bit of an investment but it looks like it's worth it if you use your planer with any frequency like I do. Leech Carbide has the specifications on these knives and is ready to produce them but I need other people willing to buy some of these from me. Is anyone interested? If so email me at snipped-for-privacy@gunnison.com Leech said they would send me a test set so I can make sure there are not problems but I need to commit.
Reply to
noshots
Loading thread data ...

Keep this in mind. By the figures you have quoted, you get 2 to maybe 4 times longer wear "per dollar spent" than if you bought regular knives. If you damage a knife, you start over. By damage I mean a nick which is inevitable and maybe worse with carbide.

Sounds risky to me. I would consider selling the planer and buying a floor model with resharpenable knives.

Reply to
Leon

Yeah, I think there is probably a reason no one makes them for planners. Are jointers somehow different, or are the blades just smaller and cheaper to make out of carbide?

Reply to
Toller

In my career I have sold 100's of planers....everything from a little lunch box portable to a large double headed high production unit. In all my customers I had one "plastic"manufacture that succesfully ran carbide knifes. I did not have any wood production shops that used carbide knives that was happy with the results. It is my humble opinion that carbide knives in a home shop environment will NOT be of any long term benefit. A loose knot, a buried piece of steel, a nail or a staple will destory a set of carbide knifes.

Good luck, Mike

Le> Keep this in mind. By the figures you have quoted, you get 2 to maybe 4

Reply to
mike

The blades that are reshaepenable over and over are much heavier and are a thicker material compared to the throw away blades. They simply stay sharp longer and last longer. I have an old Ryobi AP10 portable planer that is close to 20 years old. It has the resharpenable blades and I still have the original set.

As for jointers, the carbide blades are more simple to make than the typical blade found on today's portable planers. Easier to make and cheaper to make. I remember pricing carbides for my Ryobi a few years back. About $40 per blade, that was about $15-20 more per blade than the standard blade or only about double and then again, that was a simple blade design.

Reply to
Leon

LOL. Thanks for the back up, that was exactly the point I was trying to make.

Reply to
Leon

Actually, it's even worse than it appears. As I've noted in this forum a couple of times before, the knives for the DW735 *can* be resharpened, as long as you don't take off too much metal. Perhaps "honed" is a better term. Regardless, I've had my 735 for two years, it gets a lot of use, and I'm still on the first set of knives. Fourth set of *edges* (factory edges, plus three rounds of re-sharps on the Tormek), but still the first set of knives.

From where I sit, it looks like the carbide knives are _at_best_ a wash when compared to the standard knives with periodic re-honing, and may cost as much as double the standard knives.

And a *lot* more expensive to replace...

Naaaah. The DW735 already has resharpenable knives. DeWalt doesn't say so in their documentation... but tech support will agree with that if you ask. They told me that the discard dimension is 7/8" width.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Ah yes, I do recall you mentioning that before. Even more reason as you stated not to spend extra money on outrageously expensive knives.

Reply to
Leon

I'll say. A simple bar with a bevel along one edge. Doesn't get any easier than that.

Reply to
George Max

How many sets is the maker requiring you to buy at that price?

One other thing the other haven't mentioned - steel takes a better edge than carbide. It of course won't hold that edge as long as a carbide will hold it's, but it's a consideration, if even a minor one.

All this said, since the maker will send you a test set, why not get those and try them out. In a serious scientific way.

If you go ahead and get the lot, you could sell the sets you don't want on Ebay if the members of this forum don't get any from you.

Reply to
George Max

snipped-for-privacy@gunnison.com wrote: > I like this planer but like many other people I am very disappointed in > the durability of the steel knives. Looking for an alternative I sent > a knife to Leech Carbide to get a quote on having some knives made from > tungsten carbide. After some negotiation, if I buy in bulk I can get > the knives for $95.00 per knife, that's $285.00 for a set. This is > about 5 times the cost of the steel knives but they should last 10 to > 20 times longer.

Just for funzies, checked the DeWalt site.

A set of 3 HSS knives sells for the DW735 is less than $43.

As a comparison, I have the older DW733, a 2 blade unit.

A new set of 13", HSS blades for it is $39.

Just got them resharpened for $17.

A question:

Are HSS blades that can be resharpened for the DW735?

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Yep -- check my other posts in this thread.

Reply to
Doug Miller

I need to get 10 sets (30 knives) to get the best possible cost. I was thinking I could sell the excess on ebay but I wanted to get a feel for the demand. So far it doesn't look like people think it is worth it.

Reply to
noshots

I'm not sure that I'd look at the results of postings on this forum to be my barometer. No disrespect intended, but to find USENET at all is kinda specialized. And then to find this group. What I'm saying is that it's pretty small group of people that not only have an interest in woodworking, but also use a PC proficiently and have a newsreader and know how to use it.

I think you'll reach a lot larger audience with an ad on ebay.

But, it's not my money so it's really easy for me to speak. I have nothing invested.

Good luck whichever way you go.

Reply to
George Max

I agree completely - well said.

Dave

Reply to
Teamcasa

George Max:

You may be correct on your assessment of the skill set in this forum however, there is a good reason why carbide planer blades are not on the shelves. They are expensive and they chip/shatter much easier than HSS. What would be the upside of carbide in a planner?

Dave

Reply to
Teamcasa

You'll note I didn't offer to buy a set. The biggest being that I don't own that model of planer. So that went a long way to cooling my ardor for a set as it were.

Chips are a very real possibility. And a big negative for carbide. Especially on a highly formed part like planer knives. Heck, I've chipped my steel knives. No biggie, mine are resharpenable. My jointer knives are also steel. I've never felt the need to buy carbide for it since I've had my jointer for a long time and have yet to worry about the steel knife set it has.

Reply to
George Max

what are you running? I get 3 months or so between blade flipping on my delta. I only run tropical woods.

Reply to
Steve knight

this is the only way to go if you want carbide but you need a floor machine

formatting link
have one of the heads on my jointer and it is great one of the best upgrades I have done.

Reply to
Steve knight

Hmmmm, that place is just a hop, skip, and jump from me. I drive by the town's exit on the parkway all the time. May have to stop in there for a touchy/feely demo. Thanks for the link Steve!!!

Reply to
Tim Taylor

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.