Planer Knives

We have been pleased with the DW735 Planer, it works well for our needs. The knives are the weak point in the system. They seem to wear quickly. This could be due to the abrasive nature of the particular wood (Makore) we are milling at this time. I think DeWalt does a good job overall but could do better with the knives.

Limited Expectations

I liked another reviewer's idea about reversible, solid carbide knives. As it is, the DeWalt knives don't wear down any faster than the replaceable knives on other planers I have owned. I have had a woodworking habit for over 40 years and, luckily for me, I can now sell enough of my work so that I can afford little luxuries like replaceable planer knives. I used to sharpen my own. It was one of my least favorite things to do. If you can afford it, go for it, even if you work mostly with redheart. This little DeWalt planer is a gem, a great planer for the price. By the way, it costs almost as much to send them out to be sharpened. The only way to save money is to make a jig (I haven't seen a good one for sale in a long time) and spend an hour or two grinding and honeing, honeing and grinding. I do that to this day with the knives on my jointer. It's annoying.

DW735 knife life is very short.

I purchased my DW735 as a quicky (read: impulsive) replacement for a Jet JWP12 that died in the middle of a job. (The poly belt broke.) Uncharacteristically, I didn't research the tool before buying. I should have. Although the planer is satisfactory, the knives are not. I planed about 80 lineal feet (yes, JUST 80 feet!) of antique white oak 1x6s before suddenly finding the blades too dull for the feed rollers to overcome the resistance. This occurred suddenly...within the span of three boards! Going along just fine in the "dimensioning" mode when the feed became slower and slower until finally, the boards quit feeding. The dull knives offered too much resistance. I cleaned the feed rollers with acetone, thinking there was contamination causing them to lose friction. This helped for one board, then the feeding stopped again. These boards were salvaged church kneelers from 1900. I had rough planed them of old varnish and grit to clean wood with a DW675 power hand planer and then ran them through the DW735 to true and thickness to 3/4". Surprised and annoyed, I flipped the knives and continued with the project. I surfaced another 50 linear feet without incident. A few days later, I start another job that required surface planing some 2x10 Select structural Doug fir. These were new clean planks. I managed to surface two sides of one plank before the feed stopped again. Cleaning the rollers had no effect. The blades were SHOT! I tried just a very shallow pass (the material removal gauge didn't even register that material would be removed, but failed halfway through when the planer kicked out a 20 amp dedicated breaker. Cranked up the planer head and removed the plank. The resultant stopped cut was barely perceptible, perhaps less than 1/64th of an inch. Hardly a heavy cut! I've seen some snipe that was greater. So, now I've got two planers and both down! I've ordered replacement knives, but what a PITA. The knives on the Jet were three years since replacement with a huge amount of varied lumber under their belt and although not sharp, still managed to bull through some 2x10s without complaint. I've found some aftermarket knives for the DW735 online at Infinity Cutting [...]. Apparently not laminated or reversible, but anything is better than the stock knives!