Comments regarding Porter Cable 126 Door Planer
I just read forum on the PC 126 door planer and the most surprising thing about many of the comments was that it seems in this modern day construction most builders are resorting to pre hung doors due to lack of skilled carpenters and budgetary constraints. While this may be the case in the big picture, in the world of high-end construction, it is as common a tool as the hammer on my tool belt. I own 3 of these tools as I’m afraid of losing one and not having a backup. All of the finish carpenters (not trim carpenters*) I associate with also own at least one 126. High end custom doors are typically custom made one of a kind doors that no one else has. They are usually designed by a Certified interior architect and can easily cost $3000 and up each. The delivery will include just the doors and no jambs. Each individually packaged. It is the responsibility of the builder to supply the jamb. Next the jamb will be installed into opening and hinge mortising done using hinge template for desired butt hinge size. (If they are butts. They might be “invisible” or pivots.) Doors arrive with square edges that must have the bevel cut with the 126 on BOTH edges. Then the door is laid on edge with corresponding edge UP for mortising hinges on door. I use the Bosch adjustable hinge mortising kit that enables me to cut up to 6 hinges. (I own 2 kits). I also use Templaco hinge templates made in San Marcos CA if it a standard size. But I digress, the point I was working my way to, is that the Porter Cable 126 is plentiful but the cutter heads have stupidly been discontinued. The 3rd 126 I bought was just to have the cutter head on it. I have a couple spare heads now and a good blade sharpening shop is equipped to sharpen them. So in conclusion, long live the 126 planer as it is a valued tool widely used in the custom carpentry trade. Just need PC to produce about 50,000 carbide cutter heads before they deep 6 the machinery to make them. Retail them at $149.99 and they will make a fortune. Cheers readers. *Trim carpentry is typically installing pre-hung doors, casing them, installing basic baseboard moulding, and doing shelf and pole in closets. Whereas finish carpentry requires considerably higher skill level as there is over 100 different finish tasks involved. It’s Tiny Tim versus Eddie VanHalen.
Replies
Many Porter- Cable tools are presently unsupported. Stanley Black and Decker owns PC , they also own Dewalt,Craftsman, and a bunch of other tool companies. PC,once a competitor and now owned by them is a redundancy to them. There is probably more potential profit to " obsolete " your tool than to support it. At least it's pretty clear that they don't care, they're dragging PC to the ground and it seems on purpose. The name has value and I wouldn't be surprised that they end up selling PC to some company like TTI which owns Delta, also once a great product line and virtually nothing now and no parts.
I agree, if I can avoid it, I'll not buy any tools from that conglomerate again.
I like how they just stopped making routers and decided to add another battery powered tool line when the "mother ship" already owns two or three companies that already offer the same thing.
If they're not doing it on purpose, someone is unfit for their job.
My feelings are they bought PC more to eliminate competition for DeWalt rather for the brand itself. They certainly have taken what was once a great pro brand and turned it into little more than another low end maker of homeowner quality cordless drills.
What esch said.
Back in the 70s I was working overseas and was using the first sliding miter saw that I ever saw. It was an Elu, all metal body with a hammer coated finish made in Switzerland. A really nice saw. I have and still use an Elu biscuit jointer. In the early 80s B and D purchased Elu and actually brought that saw to the US but now housed in black plastic. At the sametime they launched a professional line of tools ,circular saws and drills all labeled Black and Decker and in black plastic. I bought one of their drills and it was pretty good but I think I was the only one. Black and Decker had destroyed their own name by having for so many years produced handy homeowner junk that when they decided to make a good product no one believed it. But they owned the Dewalt name. They canned the B&D professional line and switched from black plastic to yellow, same tools, and now called Dewalt and with a sliding miter saw and a biscuit jointer in their line.
H. Campbell Stuckman bought Delta machine in 1939, the same year he married Eleanor Rockwell. By 1945 Delta was fully integrated into Rockwell manufacturing which previously made bearings and meters. By the 50s they had purchased Porter Cable and Walker Turner. Everything they made was solid and reliable,great customer service if you needed it but you probably didn't need it. Well the old man died in the late 70s , The one that invented a better bearing and the son took the company in a different direction. They bought North American Aviation and began making Atlas Rockets ,most if not all the satellites in the Global positioning system, plutonium triggers and oh yah, the Space Shuttle. Now called North American Rockwell they became the biggest defense contractor and somewhere in the top thirty of the fortune 500. They lost interest in the tools and spun them off. It's been a long slow downhill since then but it's hit bottom. B&D is murdering PC. Delta is owned by ITT a Hong Kong company that owns a bunch of tool companies like Ryobi. Interestingly after the cold war ended Rockwell spun all that off and now they make machines ,or rather the machines that make the machines.
I bought a B&D professional series circular saw in 86 or 87.
It’s seen plenty of service, runs like new and still has the original heavy duty cord.
In the late 50's,early 60's i was a door hanger and even the new hollow door junk did not come pre hung or beveled.I not only had a door planer,hinge jig,but a stanley jig to sharpen the HS steel bits and cutter using the router to drive a small grinder bit.The glue line on the hollow doors was murder on the planer cutter And I often had to sharpen it every day.I since scavenged the router holder and adapted it with the original Stanley router to cut flutes on the lathe.Go to carolynprue,com and go to my furniture portion to see a corner china closet with fluted columns on the base
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