Updating the previous threads referencing rapid wear-out of Dewalt
planer knives. Apologies if this has already been covered.

I was talking with a factory rep at a WW show and he told me that Dewalt
had so many problems with their planer knives in the past because they
got "many thousand" knives manufactured through a sub-contractor who
produced them with poor metal/hardening, etc. He said the blades were
installed in a lot of machines prior to January 2005, but that since
that date all machines have new/diff manufacture knives installed which
eliminated the short-life problem.
He also said that (and he told me he wasn't supposed to say this to a
customer) if you are careful, and use honing rather than grinding, you
can get 2 to 3 sharpenings on the "throwaway" knives providing there are
no deep nicks.
You need to look at the manufacture date code on the machine label to
see if your machine is affected. Maybe the factory gives free blades if
you bring it up?
Don't know if any of this is good info, but it came right from a
factory rep, so... Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.

That said, now I need to decide whether to get the Dewalt at $499, or
just go for the Grizzly/York 15" at around $275 more.

snip
That said, now I need to decide whether to get the Dewalt at $499, or just
go for the Grizzly/York 15" at around $275 more.

Sailaway - I was at Yorkcraft and saw the 15" you are talking about. Its
very nice. They were out of stock at the time but expected them in a couple
of weeks. I was in an instant gratification mood and picked up a Delta
22-580, similar to the dewalt. Got a good deal on it. Its a fine planer as
is the dewalt. I have just found some inherent anoyances that are the
product of the style and size. The machine is what it is. I think I will
eventually trade up to the yorkcraft or griz, maybe sooner than later.

I got the dewalt & I really like it, a bit noisy (ear muffs). I've seen a
lot of postings about the blades wearing out too quickly, touch wood, I
can't complain. I'm still on my 1st set & used it a fair bit.


"No" wrote in message ...
snip
That said, now I need to decide whether to get the Dewalt at $499, or
just go for the Grizzly/York 15" at around $275 more.

Sailaway - I was at Yorkcraft and saw the 15" you are talking about. Its
very nice. They were out of stock at the time but expected them in a
couple of weeks. I was in an instant gratification mood and picked up a
Delta 22-580, similar to the dewalt. Got a good deal on it. Its a fine
planer as is the dewalt. I have just found some inherent anoyances that
are the product of the style and size. The machine is what it is. I think
I will eventually trade up to the yorkcraft or griz, maybe sooner than
later.