new makita vs new festool handheld planer
I am looking to purchase a handheld planer surface the face and edge of rough cut boards. I have a scrub and jack plane and they work- but the work is slow. Rather than take up shop space with a stationary jointer, I am considering a handheld planer. I would like one with good dust collection and low noise levels. I am sure that the new Festool 65E is probably the best planer out there but at half the cost, the new Makita KP0800 or KP0810 seem like they might be adequate alternatives. I’m just not sure about the noise and dust collection on the new makita planers. Does anyone have experience using the Makita KP08000 or KP0810. What about noise and dust collection?
The last review of handheld planers in Fine Homebuilding was done in 2003 and the new machines appear to be a lot better. I looked a the Bosch planers in a store recently and while they have been highly reviewed, I don’t like the way they feel- ergonnomically speaking.
– Lyptus
Replies
Hand held planers just can't do the job of dressing rough lumber into 4-Square boards nearly as well as the jointer and planer combination. Jointers flatten. Then a planer (the lunch box variety works decently) makes the boards of uniform thickness, with the faces parallel with each other. A hand held power planer lets you take deeper cuts, but doesn't add much to the flattening process or particularly in making the two faces parallel to each other. In my mind, the jointer and planer are, second only to the table saw, the most valuable use of space in my shop.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled