# Power Planers - a good investment?



## FredAt (Jan 31, 2014)

I am a realative newbie when it comes to woodworking. At the moment I am in the process of building the first of a series of wardrobes/alcove cupboards in my new house. 

I have found that, though I have a router and a circular saw, I by and large use handtools for most jobs - I find them more enjoyable to use and the general lack of noise is appreciated by my 3 year old daughter.

I am on the brink of acquiring my first block plane or power planer. The choices boil down to 

a. A decent Stanley block plane for around €45
b. An Einhell power planer for around €59

I am unable to decide whether the latter is a good choice and whether it will get used enough. I have to balance my appreciation of hand tools with the fact that I am doing this work on the side when I can grab a moment from my day job. By and large the planing work I have to do is smoothing joints etc. Time does not allow me the luxury of buying cheaper unplaned lumber for my jobs.

I am curious to see what others here will suggest.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

We have an introduction section where you can say a few words about yourself. If you fill out your profile in your "User Control Panel", you can list any hobbies, experience or other facts. You can also list your general geographical location which would be a help in answering some questions.

I would suggest you save your money and not get a hand power plane. They are an aggressive tool, used mostly for rough carpentry, like trimming passage doors.






















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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

The hand held power plane wouldn't help you very much with surfacing rough lumber. It would be too difficult to control and would leave the boards uneven with grooves across it where you made multiple passes. It would be better to keep your eye out for a used portable planer for this purpose. Like cabinetman said the power hand planer is normally used to resize house doors.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I have an old Craftsman power plan and as mentioned it is very hard to control. I was completely taken by surprise the first time I used it and destroyed the first couple of boards.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*it's all in the wrist...*



Steve Neul said:


> The hand held power plane wouldn't help you very much with surfacing rough lumber. It would be too difficult to control and would leave the boards uneven with grooves across it where you made multiple passes. It would be better to keep your eye out for a used portable planer for this purpose. Like cabinetman said the power hand planer is normally used to resize house doors.





Sleeper said:


> I have an old Craftsman power plan and as mentioned it is very hard to control. I was completely taken by surprise the first time I used it and destroyed the first couple of boards.


 :laughing:

You have to devlop new and different skill sets for this to work with success. I have the old Craftsman planers and find them useful for removing material from larger surfaces like these doors made from 2 X10" planks:
   

You have to come back in and hand plane the ridges out, but it will save you some time and hard labor. I marked the high spots and used both types of plane, hand and power to get a pretty dang flat surface.


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

That looks like one heavy door man


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## FredAt (Jan 31, 2014)

Thank you for all the answers. In the end I decided to get myself a decent block plane. At my local DIY store (in Luxembourg) the Stanleys were exorbitantly priced so I ended up getting one by an Indian outfit called Anant. I have been using it pretty much out of the box and am very impressed with the way it works. 

As it happens though I had a free voucher to use up by the end of the month so I got an Einhell PL82 at no cost in the bargain - it was a whole lot cheaper than Bosch (which is the market leader over here) though a tad heavier. I tested it on a scrap piece of lumber - the various commentators here have it right. It does take some getting used to. However, by my third attempt I had managed to get a near smooth surface which I then finished off with the Anant.

So I now have the best of both worlds.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> :laughing:
> 
> You have to devlop new and different skill sets for this to work with success. I have the old Craftsman planers and find them useful for removing material from larger surfaces like these doors made from 2 X10" planks:
> 
> ...


 I have also face surfaced a 10" wide board on a 6" jointer but it clearly was the wrong machine for the job. These small portable planers are cheap enough to buy especially if you get a used one.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Steve Neul said:


> I have also face surfaced a 10" wide board on a 6" jointer but it clearly was the wrong machine for the job.


That's the key...the wrong machine for the job. I would not recommend using a power plane for a face dressing. Even if a handplane is used after. You can get dips, gouges, and tearouts. For rough milling, it might be acceptable, as in the post by woodnthings, using a power plane on the faces. He detailed in a previous post that those faces that were planed would be covered with ¼" plywood. So, in that scheme of things, if you did get some problem areas, they don't show. 

But, for critical or visual surfaces for soon to be finished woodwork, I would not recommend using a handheld power planer.


















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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I had to take a peak at the Einhell PL82 on YouTube and I think I like it better than my craftsman or at least from what I saw in the video. :smile:






English Version


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Sleeper said:


> I had to take a peak at the Einhell PL82 on YouTube and I think I like it better than my craftsman or at least from what I saw in the video. :smile:



I like the fact that it wont run away from home. :huh:

I'll keep my Craftsman... :smile:


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## mako1 (Jan 25, 2014)

A block planes sole is to short to do a good job of edge joining.You would do well in the future to get a jointer plane or at least one with a longer sole.I'm in the US and find lots of old Stanley Bailey planes for sale at auctions.There should be several in your country too since they are made in Europe.Spend a little time learning how to set them up and they are excellent tools.


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