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Craftsman 12-1/2 in. Thickness Planer
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BorealBadger’s Review
BorealBadger
Columbia, MD
Columbia, MD
A planer for hobbyists
MAY
3
2007
Craftsman 12-1/2 in. Thickness Planer —
I am not a carpenter; my woodworking is done on a smaller scale, mostly in scale modelling, furniture-making and musical instrument making, so I not only don't need large-scale power and capacity in my tools, such properties can be hazardous to my fingers. I've wanted a planer for a long time, since I need to be able to reduce commercially available lumber to thicknesses less than the usual minimum of 3/4". However, both the prices (starting around $400) and the size of the availible models have deterred me from buying one for years. This one was available at a reasonable cost, didn't take up too much space, was light enough to be stored when not in use, had dust removal port (my shop is in-house, so my wife objects to too much dust and sawdust), and had a work-base of sufficient width that I could safely work on smaller pieces without worrying about 'snipe'. It has saved me a lot of time and effort in resawing, hand-planing and sanding. As I haven't owned it for very long, I can't comment on its reliability, but since it has a general motor I expect it to be good for at least 100 hours of duty, probably much more since I use it under such light loading. I like the smooth feed mechanism, and the open design that makes it easy to clean out with a vacuum (keeping my fingers away from those sharp blades). On the downside, it didn't come with the blade-changing magnets that the manual said were supposed to have been included, and it IS a noisy bugger, so I use it only when my Wife is out.
Craftsman 12-1/2 in. Thickness Planer is recommended by BorealBadger
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