The Dewalt 15 Amp 13 in. Corded Planer (DW735) is a near perfect machine, but still has a few quirks.

The DEWALT planer (DW735) is a tool that takes your average weekend wood worker and turns him/her into someone that can make some really professional grade items. It’s by far one of the most sought after tools on the market and I understand why, but there are a few quirks to this machine that we wish weren’t there.

Provided by the Home Depot Prospective Program for review.

So let’s start with everything we like about this machine. To tell you the truth, that’s actually harder than it sounds because we like so much. The Dewalt DW735 is just an amazing piece of equipment that anyone would be proud to own. Everything from the build quality, ease of use and power that this machine offers is absolutely magnificent, and really does set this apart from any other player on the market today.  

Build quality

When I say this machine is built for the professional, I mean that this machine is probably the best, most well-built planer on the market today. Everything on this planer is built with heavy grade materials that will last your entire career. In total, the planer weighs in at around 92 lbs. which sound heavy, but considering that they use cast aluminum for the entire base, and height adjustment handle, that not bad. They also use heavy grade chains (not skimpy belts) internally for adjustments and feeds. When I first opened the top of this planer, I was actually taken back with how well it was built. The outer casing is also a thick, heavy gauge plastic that really protects the mechanisms inside. Even the screw-downs that the adjustments are made with are solid metal. So as far as it goes with build quality, we give this planer a five star – Build Quality 5 stars   

Ease of operation and power

Ok, so it’s built well, but just because you’re built like a Mack truck doesn’t mean that you’ll preform like one… right? WRONG!  This planer is so smooth and so powerful; you could run just about any nasty, beat-up, uneven piece of wood through this thing and it would still come out looking like a piece of glass.

You can take up to 1/8” off on each pass, and even on the fast setting, it literally came out with a mirror finish. Even when I lowered this as far as I could, I just couldn’t get it to bog down or loss

power. Even when running harder woods like cherry and walnut, the DW375 ate it up and spit it out. Even though we were taking of 1’8” passes on setting two, the wood came extremely smooth, but when you put it down on the low setting (using the high low switch), it’s truly a beautiful end result that won’t even need sanded.

Now with a machine like this, you would think that it would take a long time to learn how to properly use it, but that’s not the case at all. Dewalt made this planer so easy to use, someone that has never been around one before can learn it within 10 minutes of Practice. The one thing that really makes this possible is the removal gauge that is right in front of the machine. The red pin literally tells you how much wood you will be taking off of each pass. Not only that, but you can set the depth control knob to prevent the planer from going past a certain thickness. It’s absolutely full proof.  Ease of use and power 5 stars.

Things we did not like.  

There is so much to love about this machine, but there were a few negatives a well. The first one is snipe, Now I know that no matter what planer you use, snipe is going to happen, but must every other planer comes with folding tables that will help mitigate snipe. Unless you buy the kit, you will need to purchase the folding tables separately. They only run around $49, and super east to install, but I still wish they would have come with the table as they do work good at reducing the snipe.

The second issues I had also involves the folding tables. The issue is that the folding table that goes on the back will not stay folded up-right. It seems that the back edges of the table come into contact with the base of the machine and prevents it from folding all the way up. I have seen some actually grind off some of the folding table, but that is not something that I feel should have to be done. Even if you were to remove some of the back corner of the table, you still need to deal with the cord placement, as it gets in the way of the table as well. It’s just not a very good design on Dewalt’s part.

The third issue, which is actually the biggest grip I have is the dust extraction/blower on this unit. Don’t get me wrong, it does an excellent job taking the wood chip and throwing them 50’ down the road, but wow does it make a mess. The problem is that there is no great way to prevent this from happening unless you Frankenstein some type of DIY system yourself as a vacuum/shopvac will not attach to the back of this planer.  What I did to help with this issue was purchases a dust collection

bag that allows air to escape (sort of like a leaf blower bag) and attached it to the extraction port. Though this did a great job collecting the wood chips, it did get in the way of my wood coming out of the back.

The fourth and final issue I had was the planer blades that come with the planer. Though they are reversible, and extremely easy to change, I had a nick in mine within the first 10 minutes of use. All that I ran when this happened was pin, and the boards were new. After I rotated the blades, it fixed the line in the wood issue, but I was still surprised that they chipped so fast. That being said, you can install a spiral shaft cutting head on this planer, but they are not cheap, and could set you back around $350.00.

Now, is this a perfect machine? no, but its damn close. The finish on the wood (even with the stock) blades was unbelievably beautiful. The power and ease of use on this machine is second to none, and the overall satisfaction of working with this planer is high. Do I wish I could re-design a few aspects of this machine, sure, but I think you find that on just about any tool that you own. At the end of the day, this is a well thought out, heavy duty, professional machine that stands in a class of its own.