Posted by David Sherman on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 19:08:29 :
In Reply to: o.t. wood planer question posted by jim in n.y. on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 17:27:45 :
I used to watch a good woodworking forum somewhere on the Internet, but it's been a while and I can't remember what it was called. I'm sure those new spiral heads have been discussed a lot. Since the spiral heads are interchangeable with traditional heads, it seems to me it would be a safe bet to get one and if you don't like it sell it lightly-used for only a little less than you paid. Every planer head is going to leave a little bit of scalloping, but with carbide you can go to a lot slower feed without burning the knives, and the spiral setup should be even smoother.
My little planer is a portable Makita and my big one is a very simple 120-year unit which is of course all cast iron except the steel knives and the babbit bearings. It makes lumber that looks just like the lumber probably looked 120 years ago, which means not very smooth. My really big planer is a P.B. Yates Model 8 molding machine that runs off of a jackshaft with a whole bunch of flat belts. I bought from a guy who'd been using it and re-poured the high-speed bearings, but I haven't set it up to run yet. It weighs about 3 tons so I only want to set it up once.
I'm not sure if you're getting the planer and the spiral head for $5K, but if you are, it's a heck of a deal if it's a good planer. Aren't the heads alone about a grand?
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