Wood Planer- the difference's

[Instrument 41]

I'm looking to get a planer for this project. Using Cypress for the ceiling and want to make sure that they are all the same thickness. A few questions
1. Whats is the difference between a "Thickness Planer" vs a Bench Planer?
2. In using this tool how smooth will it get the surface? Not looking for super smooth for ceiling but wondering what the finished product will look and feel like

Any recommendations, warning, concerns? Actually I have been looking for an excuse to get one but need to LOGICAL about this.....Thanks

[MBAtarga]

My Dewalt DW735 Bench planer - on the slow feed speed will get the surface almost glass smooth - requiring very little sanding. Bench planers are typically limited to 12 or 13" wide planks. Larger stationery planers typically start at 15" and go up from there.

[look 171]

Like MBA said, a Bench Planer is a smaller none commercial version of a thickness planer. A bench planer will do what you need. Usually a little sanding is needed.

[masraum]

A bench planer is small and designed to sit on top of a bench. A planers that's not a bench planer is generally larger and heavier and designed to sit on the floor.

Both use a sharp blade to cut the wood, so you get a very smooth end result, usually with very square corners.

[rfuerst911sc]

If you have the room to store a floor style planer I would buy a good used one over a new bench planer . It really comes down to how much are you going to use it ? Everything on a bench planer is " scaled down " so lighter duty , not a problem if you only use a few times a year . But if you are going to run a bunch of rough sawn wood and make it cabinet grade a floor planer is the ticket . Nothing wrong with good quality used tools .

[wswartzwel]

I have both a 220 volt 15" cabinet planer that is big and heavy and turns lots of rough sawn lumber into nice usable wood, and leaves almost no snipe at the beginning and end of the cut, and a Dewalt bench top, that leaves a very nice finish as well but not really suited to running lots of long boards through it, and it will leave some snipe at the end of a cut. If you have the space and money, a cabinet style planer is better able to deal with lot of lumber. If you only need it for this one project you might check for a local mill to surface your wood for you. Also a cabinet/floor mount planer seems to do better with dust collection systems, I get almost zero mess on the floor when using the cabinet planer.

[look 171]

My old Oliver 24" thickness planer. Its a stationary machine compare to the bench top model, its a 60-70 lbs machine. We don't use the planer much anymore. We take our bench top one to the job sometimes when needed

[wswartzwel]

Nice!

[dyount]

For the $400 bucks or whatever instead of buying one why not take it to a reputable woodworking shop. They can both thickness plane and give you a straight edge you can mill into T/G or whatever you'd like.
When I was in the bus we'd mill your lumber with signature that if we hit nails etc you'd agree to pay for knife sharpening of X $'s

[gtc]

Those DeWalts can be really slow depending on your wood.
I would add +1 to taking the wood to someone with a more powerful planer.

[look 171]

OP, the better question for you is, why not order the Cypress milled at your local lumberyard. Its should be an additional 20-30 cents a BF (maybe less? don't know pricing at your location?). This way, they will all be the same thickness. Just don't expect it to be baby butt smooth and there will planer marks due to their usually dull blades. Most people don't even notice planer marks. As a matter of fact, I see some vinyl flooring that are made to look like wood that has plenty of planer marks on them on purpose. Yuck. If they are to be installed high enough on the ceiling, and that your bench top planer blade is sharp, you should be able to get away with not having to sand anything or have to get within 2 feet to see the faint marks.

[Reg]

The key is sharp blades no matter how old the machine is.

[Instrument 41]

Thanks guys for the replies. The reason for a planer is that there is a lot of old houses down here being torn down that are all cypress. So the wood needs "help".

[MBAtarga]

Be aware that if you happen to miss a nail or screw in any of that old cypress lumber, those planer blades are going to be toast.

[look 171]

Absolutely no used wood, not painted, stained, or clear coat. Never, no thanks. I have the helical carbide tip knives. 700 bucks to sharpen them.

[DanielDudley]

Porter Cable makes a nice 12 1/2'' bench planer that has reversible, self aligning blades, which makes changes a snap. I have been known to clamp a nice five foot piece of LVL onto the bottom of one to make a long in feed/ out feed table. It makes it much easier to handle long boards single handed.

This is a nice tool that will last a long time. The key is to change the blades as soon as they seem the slightest bit dull, and you will get a nice result. It will take about a third of a sixteenth every pass on oak, so a sixteenth every three passes. It will do that all day long.

Bigger machines will take a heavier cut, but this is a nice machine that you could use now and keep for years. Always come home with extra blades.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by look 171

Absolutely no used wood, not painted, stained, or clear coat. Never, no thanks. I have the helical carbide tip knives. 700 bucks to sharpen them.

You can run old wood through the Porter Cable. Blades are about 29 bucks a pop, and are reversible. I did about three thousand square feet of antique fir flooring through one a few years ago.

You can tell when you need to change blades as the motor will bog down. You can get extra life out of the blades, but you risk killing the machine.

There are better machines out there, but this one does the job, and will do the work.
Very handy once you have one.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

You can run old wood through the Porter Cable. Blades are about 29 bucks a pop, and are reversible. I did about three thousand square feet of antique fir flooring through one a few years ago.

You can tell when you need to change blades as the motor will bog down. You can get extra life out of the blades, but you risk killing the machine.

There are better machines out there, but this one does the job, and will do the work.
Very handy once you have one.

We have two. An old 10" Ryobe that was made in Japan way back from the late 70s or early 80s. Great machine. A 12 Dewalt that just doesn't quit no matter how long its been bouncing in the back of my workmen's truck. Blades are sharp, always because I can't have a ton pf planer marks. We run old stuff through those at the job when necessary. In the shop, I have the big Oliver and that thing is expensive to sharpen. not nail or "Used" wood on that. Hell no. Since we stopped building cabinets or doing woodwork for other contractors or designers, the heavy equip haven't been used like they are designed to for some time. That's saves me a ton of money for simple maintenance just on the equip. I have an older edge bander that have not been fired up for a long time. We used a bench top model or get panels cut and banded by a specialist that do just that. Makes my life simpler and a lot less stressful.

[VincentVega]

The community woodshop I use sometimes has a huge, computer controller planer that just eats whatever you put through it. Really amazing machine. But for the simple, usually small boat pieces I default to the dewalt. Simple to setup, I always confuse the digital setup on the big one, and the dust collection is ok/fair. Keep an eye on the blades as mentioned. Also, check any questionable work pieces with a metal detector or at least a big magnet.

[Zeke]

Bench planers are limited to 1/16th to 3/32nds cut per pass on wider boards. It can be tedious. Some big ol' ass planers cut top and bottom simultaneously like a sticker machine (cuts 4 sides at once).