British tool brand Silverline have been around since 1978 and are well known for their budget-friendly kit. Their take on the best bench planer for woodworking is their 344944 planer. It’s a solid and simple machine that gets the job done if you don’t want to splash the cash too much. The sheer volume of shavings (I mention this just in passing) is like other planers - i.e. substantial. You'll have unlimited free pet bed shavings or material for the meat smoker, for life. (Just be sure not to use the kiln dried treated nor green-stained timbers in either case). This machine has a maximum cutting width of 150 mm, and to help you deal with odd-shaped pieces of wood or even plastics, there’s a detachable fence on the side of the table. This can be angled anywhere between 90° and 135°, depending on the job at hand. Ear defenders: The the roller housing the cutting blades within the machine takes a couple of seconds to spin up to speed, and when planing volumes of work, you do want to be wearing ear defenders, unless you are just putting one or two planks through per day. It is loud and will be heard by the neighbours too.

If you have any volume of work to do, this will pay for itself RAPIDLY in terms of time and cost savings. Im very impressed with the quality of the machine as well as its performance, for the very reasonable price. As you can see above, the DEWALT DW734 performed the best with an average deviation from 3/32″ of just under 2 one-thousandths of an inch. The DEWALT DW735X came in second with just over 4 one-thousandths of an inch followed by Ridgid R4331 at just over 5 one-thousandths of an inch. Last place was the Triton that averaged just over 3 hundredths of an inch deviation. Snipe Evaluation Since I've received my new planer, I've had the opportunity to use it. It's a delight to use. I was pleasantly surprised that the noise level was lower than anticipated. The machine cuts very smooth and clean, only light sanding needed for a final finish. While I was hesitant to buy a machine that I couldn't find a review on, I'm onboard. Triton has a new customer and I've become very confident in not only their product, but their fantastic US customer support. Depth of Cut Accuracy– For this evaluation we wanted to look at how accurately the planers remove a specified depth. Each planer has a dial that when turned a specified amount will theoretically remove a given depth in a single pass. We compared how accurately each planer was able to remove a fixed depth based on the dial.I have just looked at your planer review and I did not see any tests for cutterhead “paralleladigitty” or dust collection compatibility and performance. I have owned “portable” planers over my 40 years in the trade. Several 12-1/2″ Delta’s, easy portability. A P12(as I remember)Hitachi, the real deal! Two Ridgid’s, the current model returned when the warrantee repair center couldn’t understand that the cutterhead MUST be parallel. In addition, the earliest versions’ dust evacuation fan did not require any dust collector. The most current offering NEEDS a dust collector?! I still had my previous version which I have returned to.

But it copes brilliantly when cutting full width planking, too. Maximum cut (I measured) width is 31.5cm. Electric motors don't like to be strained, so don't over work it, and it should last a lifetime. It certainly feels like it will last many years with only the removable blades needing resharpening occasionally. We did rank this category as it’s a great way to evaluate the power of the planers. The top three included the DEWALT 735X, Triton TPT125 and the Delta 22-590. Maximum Depth of Cut Performance While we’re not ranking this category we do feel the data is interesting and informative. As you can see above the DEWALT DW735X pulls some serious amps under load. It points to the much more powerful motor in that unit. The power difference was clear during the planing operations as it didn’t seem to care what we ran through it. But it’s important to note if you’re going to buy the DEWALT DW735X you MUST have a dedicated 20A circuit as it’s not going to run well on a 15A circuit. Is it easy or difficult to change out the blades on any given machine? Our crew took each machine and armed with the instructions and the tools in our workshop changed out each blade on each machine. Obviously, the planers with three blades would take more time than the machines with two blades. But is this process easier on some machines that others?

Sporting a 1,250 Watt motor that spins the blades up to 8,000 rpm, this Scheppach planer is more suited to small pieces of wood. With a maximum cutting width of just 204 mm and a height of 120 mm, it’s not the best in its class, but it’s enough for most DIYers. Also, very long and unintentionally twisted planking will come out at the same angle it goes in at. The inner chamber is less than a foot long and the front and rear ends of planking, if twisted, won't self straighten. Only the centre foot or so is steadied and planed level. A twist in a plank may be by several degrees, but that twist may exist over several feet. You need a manual hand plane to eliminate that. I'm giving 4 out 5 stars, just for the fact I had to return my old device and wait on a replacement. The replacement was at my house, in less than a week.

What’s interesting about this data is how well the snipe length correlates to the distance of the rollers inside the planers from the cutting heads. The length of snipe on all the models we tested nearly mimic this distance. The nice thing here is the snipe should be predictable for each model and allow users to plan accordingly. Users of the DEWALT DW735X will ultimately “waste” more material over the life of the planer. However, with all the planers having relatively the same amount of snipe we’re not ranking this category either but rather letting you see how they all compared. We’re not going to rank this category as we feel a bench-top shop tool like this will always require some setup and fine tuning. Of the 8 planers Makita definitely has the best system for making those adjustments. Here we are again trying to rank the tools in our Head-to-Head and give you a winner. The more of these we do, the more we learn, and in this evaluation we’ve taken a slightly different approach. Some of the categories that we set out to evaluate we decided not to include in the final ranking. However, we did provide information from that category as we feel it’s valuable to some readers.I was looking to set up a micro woodworking shop as I have limited space and looked hard at what was available and came across Triton initially via Men in Sheds. I then looked at the story behind Triton and then where I could buy their product. I selected Yandles and it was a good decision. I am a more than capable DIYer as I spent my school and university holidays ladding for tradesmen.

Loaded up with a big 1,800 Watt motor, the blades spin to an impressive 12,000 rpm. This fast-moving planer can take off up to 3 mm of material per pass, and each blade is double-sided, so you get twice the life out of them. The integrated dust collection port is ideally placed too. I did have a lot of difficulty in removing and inspecting the blades as the retaining screws were so tight that the tool that is supposed to open them got damaged at the tip. Finally had to get the dealer to help loosen the screws with better equipment. I have reassembled the blades and now can remove them easily for sharpening or replacement. It is a great machine and well worth the money paid for it. It looks and feels solid and strong. Glad I got this unit. The machine itself about as noisy as a table saw when spinning by itself, but the cutting noise is perhaps less noisy, less shrill than a table saw when planing. The total noise volume is significant though, in the same league as a table saw at work. i.e. Noisy! Protect your ear drums and use ear defenders.

Remove them and search YouTube where you'll find a simple video on how to sharpen the blades yourself (easy!). The feeder entrance is very tightly and well matched to the cutting blade height. What can JUST squeeze in, will just get planed. You never remove too much surface material once you are accustomed to its behaviour and performance, the machine is predictable in that sense (in a good way) and consistent.