My review of the $35 Harbor Freight 5.5 Amp Electric Planer

[@Horsesnot]

Great review , doing some local handyman work due to lack of construction work from the virus. Going to buy one now to shave down some doors & install them

[@michaelstaropoli5180]

That center red knob you said was to lock the blade depth knob is actually the knob to shift from right or left dust port

[@in2rock275]

True! I was looking to see if anyone else caught that little statement. It was humorous to watch him "lock it down."

[@hadguy1]

@@in2rock275 I’m amazed he still has 5 fingers on each hand.

[@shaineriches4369]

Try planing with the planer set on 0 with repeated passes that way it wont leaves gouges out the timber 🙂

[@user-bf5rf4hs8v]

We recently lumbered a 36" maple, a 36" white ash, and a 32" pecan. After drying, we tried planing with a Rigid (Home Depot) 13" planer with 2 HSS knives kzbin.infoUgkxIzvvTi3_Qc8JnVdYYRJCvuoDC4QjTzeL . This job was clearly too much for that machine. The pecan was particularly difficult, due to heavy mineral deposits, and a sharp pair of HSS knives would be consumed by a mere 3 boards. We were also having lots of problems from chip bruising, due to poor dust collection. The shavings came off like straw and jammed in the 4" hose.We bought the DW735 simply to be able to run carbide blades, which worked brilliantly for the pecan. However, we found it to be a much, MUCH nicer machine. It was far more rigid than the "Rigid" planer, and far more accurate as well. But what I liked most about it was the dust feed. This machine has its own blower, which shreds the "straw" like shavings as they come off the cutting head and helps boost the shavings into the dust collection system. No more clogs! It's also nicely sealed so that the internals stay quite clean. This is just a well tempered machine that's a delight to use. It literally cut the labor in half. Just another example of getting what you pay for.

[@StevenSchoolAlchemy]

You didn't list a location where this video was filmed?

[@wilsoncalhoun]

For the price that looks like a pretty handy rough plane, just to take off the heavy stuff before you go back over with a smoothing plane or something.

[@john12770]

I believe I have the same one. The red switch behind the depth knob is to select which dust port the dust comes out of.

[@Halscamp]

ZEBCO ROD Wood

[@woodworker1470]

All electric hand planers regardless the brand do the job very fast to save time , and all brands are good on edges only but on wide boards it makes grooves because of the width of the electric hand planner it self, so for wide boards you will need later a hand smooth planer or a deep sanding to flatting the grooves

[@Appalachian97]

Would this do the job for individual pallet planks?

[@Do_not_assume]

Does it make the rough timber smooth enough not to get any splinters or grazes or cuts?

[@richardnineteenfortyone7542]

I have that exact model of electric planer, and mine cuts about 1/32" deeper on the right side than on the left. In a hand tool, there is a left-right adjustment, but no such adjustment on the Drillmaster. To solve the blade tilt problem, I put layers of scotch tape on the right side of the sole. This gives some improvement, but the overall result is still not satisfactory. If Drillmaster put a blade tilt adjustment on this tool (backlash-free, of course), they would have a fine product. Until then the "little grooves" mentioned in this video render the tool unsatisfactory. Actually, a longer sole could be a further improvement.

[@Duijp]

I have the exact same problem

[@richardnineteenfortyone7542]

@@Duijp The tool is good for very rough surfaces. I then finish with a belt sander. (a Chicago Electric, also from Harbor Freight). That gets rid of the grooves. Maybe it is a conspiracy to sell belt sanders.

[@keithmeddock1243]

You guys may want to check your blades. Often times blades for these type tools will be a hair bit wider than the shoe surfaces. If you chamfer the edges like you would with am old manual hand plane, it will likely reduce a lot of those hard lines left after each pass. Additionally, chech blade allignment before using the tools. Dont rely on factory having it precisely alligned. And as mentioned in the video, what do you expect for $35 when the average of the tools that do the same job start out around $100.

[@norocketsciencebuild5371]

I had the same problem and now it has put me off! So, maybe, I should experiment with planer and sander to see the result.

[@funny1048youtube]

I am currently planing a piece lumber that i cut from a log with the power hand planer and it works great but im wondering if its possible to use the power hand planer to remove the grooves from the passes of the planer on the wood without sanding thanks

[@richardnineteenfortyone7542]

No. But Harbor Freight has a very good belt sander. Those are not grooves, they are steps caused by a tilted blade. To minimize them, apply scotch tape to the sole on the side that is cutting deepest.

[@keithmeddock1243]

@@richardnineteenfortyone7542 Or better yet, fix the problem instead of put a bandaid on it! If you can't fix it with settings, buy a planer that you can adjust both sides of the blade, but that requires one to spend more $$$. Don't buy cheap tools expecting to do a precision quality cut. That being said, you can flatten rough wood more with this tool, it just will not do the job a higher quality tool will.

[@RedNeckSurgeyTech]

Your gouging the wood at the beginning and the ending. To start you put the pressure on the front and after that all the pressure is on the back.

[@estonian44]

it has been around 5yrs, how do u get out the stripes? i have this issue, I planed half = amazing, now time for other half and surprise surprise a stripes in the middle, can sanding help ? (its literally my first ran, and didn't sand yet)

[@N-Country]

I personally sand it down.

[@estonian44]

@@N-Country that, to b honest, sounds logic, and hopeful, thank you I will gv it a try :) exited

[@markbroad119]

It is not designed to take 1/16 off material off. It will make your warped material 1/16 closer to being flat.

[@Ericktrivedipa]

Burned mine out on softwood in 20 mins... going to try something w more amps. Still better than hand planing

[@zekesspindoctor3566]

The planer must be adjusted. Fix uneven height and gouges. Check out the Shipwright's video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZKUeXangJqcY6M

[@Robert8455]

I know that was 2 years ago but... I just found it and watched and that was an awesome video.

[@augustasister6615]

I got one to make a.small ramp.like thing...couldn't figure out another way of doing it.

[@worldpeace32]

How do we get rid of the grooves you mentioned in this video, i plan to buy and i never handled one before, if i do buy it it'll be my first, but i have tried the hand planer an the result was not that good, maybe because of inexperienced

[@richardnineteenfortyone7542]

apply layers of scotch tape to the sole on the side that is cutting deepest. There is no adjustment for blade tilt. If the result is still unsatisfactory, Harbor Freight had a belt sander that is pretty good.

[@jodymontez693]

Get a smoothing hand plane. If on a budget, get a #4 stanley( sweetheart). Clean up the scars.

[@yankey4]

I know a guy who had one and made all the wood for his home with it. It's still running today lol. Funny part is he spent more on blades than he would have just buying the table top one lol. We use one to clean the bark off walking sticks. Did you run that off solar? How is the solar doing? How's your new batts test doing? Thanks brother for the video love your sun that is so cute. God Bless.

[@Halscamp]

Wood

[@patmason7276]

Need both hands at the back so you don't force it down and chunk cut the last part.

[@Turtleback8024]

Could easily trip on the cable. Better cable-management needed.

[@N-Country]

True

[@byoungblood4137]

I have bought HF power tools in the past and still use one of their routers. They seem to work fine, but I can feel the weight difference between them and other tools. They are heavier. So maybe some don't mind the extra weight, but working for several hours with one can be tiring. But good review though!

[@purplethumb8440]

I buy several things from hf but these are junk. The one I bought spun a bearing out that was set in plastic on the first board I tried it on. Better get a Makita or Bosch that can handle the heat.

[@airinbone]

At least you tried. Maybe bad planer.

[@davidpavlich8939]

I make my own picture frames and was thinking about using pallet wood. Do you think this would be okay for that sort of work? I'm not looking for perfection, but at $35? Thanks! David

[@davidpavlich8939]

Thanks for the reply! Gonna' get one.

[@richardnineteenfortyone7542]

It will do a good job on anything less than 3" wide. But be advised that the blade may be tilted.

[@Think_4_yourself_plz]

I got one and it caught fire because it wasn't letting all the wood out

[@N-Country]

Wow, that's scary.

[@MrShobar]

An electric planer is certainly one of the recognizable earmarks of the "off-grid" lifestyle.

[@mmason7240]

U using a steam engine to power that baby?

[@MYT1FL]

Most “off the grid” claimers actually mean living in the country and raising some chickens and growing some tomatoes.

[@AnthonyPrechtl]

With the music in the background, it almost sounds like you're playing an instrument, and not doing too bad either.

[@BenLingenfelter]

Hi, I just bought one of these to plane the rough face of some heart pine planks. After 9 or 10, it started making a weird noise, like a whine or rubbing noise, like it's struggling. Anyone experience this? Of course I threw the receipt away...

[@BenLingenfelter]

@@N-Country Thanks for the reply.

[@woodworker1470]

Reduce the depth don't go for all the depth , start with low depth then increase it

[@Meme-zc4cw]

It sounds like a tornado siren. Lol

[@braconnerie]

a cat being slaughtered ?

[@tribulationprepper787]

At 3:35 in the video... Planer trying to suck sawdust into the motor! Bad tool design!

[@kathrynliu74]

Looks good from my house 😀

[@HJKelley47]

Thanks for saying "you can't complain for $35." I have seen some videos where men do complain because it does not function like a $400 planer. I often wonder why they want to make a versus video; for that is like comparing a Bentley with a VW Beetle, I often wonder if woodworking is only for people with plenty of cash to spend. It is like the gentlemen who has a $3,000+++ flesh sensitive technology table saw. I got the impression, if you can't afford that table saw, anything else is junk.

[@Sovek86]

for some idiots that dont have respect for table saws they are too scared to use anything else. A Saw Stop is an awesome tablesaw, I've seen one in person and it screams quality from 20ft away. That said, if you only have $300 to spend on a table saw, a decent 40 year old table saw is still better than no table saw.

[@keithmeddock1243]

....and if by chance you ever trigger that saws stop safety mechanism, you must replace it before you can operate the saw again. Them replacements aren't cheap if you ever trigger it. I'm old school, learn how to keep hands away from a blade before you ever use one....lol

[@kumentador959]

Nice dude !...., kid !!!!!!👍🤓

[@george2571]

The platens (the base) are too short for that tool to do work like that but for $35 it's probably worth it and then clean it up with a belt sander. On the other paw it made me nervous watching you walk over that extension cord., it should have been on the other side of your work with the cord draped over your shoulder.

[@KBzPTGT]

In addition the wind was blowing the shavings towards you so standing on the other side would have kept you a little cleaner :)

[@l.i.archer5379]

No, he had turned the red knob to "lock down" the cutting depth knob, when, in fact, he had set the shavings to blow out on his side of the tool.

[@squarelevelplumb]

most of the morons I see doing these reviews set the planer at the deepest cut rather than starting small and adjusting as you go. Ant planer will fail if you continue to abuse it this way,

[@richardnineteenfortyone7542]

When I set mine to minimum depth, it cuts 1/32" on the right side, and not at all on the left side. This moron says that is unacceptable.

[@oldaxehead655]

This is just one of those tools you don't buy at HF.

[@frankhochman837]

Can this be used to smooth out the very rough surface of old redwood fence boards?