For those of you who have shaped for a long time, would you be so kind as to share your thoughts opinions on the differences between various planers and their best use-case? I’ve used a Wen planer, Makita modified, and Skill 100 (older) myself. For instance, I understand some of the primarily longboard shapers prefer the longer foot of the Skil 100 for longer passes and some of the more shortboard oriented shapers prefer smaller/lighter planers like the Hitachi P20SB? I understand the Skill 100 can be trimmed to get into tighter positions and the P20SB can be used to shape longboards (of course) but are there other tradeoffs w/ various models of planers? Durability? Adaptability? Other things I may not have considered? Thanks in advance!
You pretty much have it covered.
IMHO.
- Skil 100, 5.5 is a proven workhorse. Do not rush your passes.As with most other planers with similar power, fast passes can cause tearout.
Per Bill Stewart and other experts, keep the trigger on. Dont toggle on and off so much or you risk ruining your planer. - Hitachi P20SB. Great little compact planer.
The modified ones with handle relocation and on-the-fly depth adjustment are in my opinion, not far behind the Skil 100. Many shapers prefer them due to their weight and compactness. Drawback, if you overheat your bearings, you risk melting the housing. - Makita KP0810. Heavier than the Hitachi P20SB, but has a more powerful motor. Drawbacks are that they tend to create static. I have heard that grounding the cord reduces the static, but I can’t attest to that, but my sourses are very reliable.
- The remainder of these brands are well documented here and on YouTube. Porter Cable, Bosch PL1642, Bosch PL2742K…and other variants.
- Accurate. A beautiful Made In America planer, but I don’t know alot about it.
If you are just dabbling, get a cheap $40 planer. It will suffice.
If you are more than dabbing, I would get a Hitachi P20SB. Does’t need to be modified, as modified ones command a much higher price. Unfortunatley, there isn’t a lot of documentation on how to mod them in the manner Clark Foam used to mod them. There are a few good threads here,but not a 100% blueprint.
The order of the above planers in no particular order.
Any of the older Skils, including the 676. Skil 100 5.5 or 7.5. Different strokes for different folks when it comes to favorite types or years. Some of the 7.5’s made in later years have a few design quirks. Motors and windings are not as good of quality. To the average person there is little difference in the way they look or plane. Even a stock Skil 100 should be altered a bit to make it primo for shaping. The rear shoe/base can be cut off and the edges filed. Cutting them at the handel is a nice happy medium. It’s mostly old guys and the “retro” crew that leave them long. The clicker can be altered or removed. A longer cord, blades sharpened or a “Grit Barrel” installed. The so called “Coin of the Realm”.
Hitachi’s are primarily used by people who learned on them. It’s all they ever knew and they are comfortable with them. They are hard to find these days. The 20SB is no longer made. There are internet videos on how to make improvements for shaping if you buy a stock planer off EBay or find one at a yard sale. Not as durable as a Skil. Don’t know much about the others and probably never will. Owning three Skils and knowing how to use them means never going back. If you are just as someone said “dabbling”; you can buy an unaltered Wen on Amazon for $39. I learned on a Hitachi. back in the day when you could buy a Clark Hitachi from Fiberglass Hawaii for under $300, but after 3 or 4 boards acquired a Skil 100 from a local carpenter.