DEWALT Thickness Planer, Two Speed, 13-inch, 15 Amp, 20,000 RPM Motor (DW735X)

I build furniture and builtin cabinets. I use Cherry, Hard Maple, Walnut and other hardwoods. Almost all of my lumber comes from a saw mill so I use this planer both for roughing down, and for final thickness. I had a 12" Delta for about 20 years, and this DEWALT is superior in every way. Its not that the Delta performed poorly, Just that the DEWALT is much better. Here are the positives and limitations in my experience:1. Three blade cutter is fast, and leaves a very smooth finish. Minimal sanding needed before finishing (220 & 320 grit with a clear finish) when using the slower feed rate.2. Motor is 120V, but very powerful. Even in full width planing of hardwoods, it does not bog down.3. Dust collection is very efficient when hooked up to my 4" shop DC. The planer has a builtin fan that blows chips out the chute even when not hooked up to DC. This prevents chips from getting crushed into the wood when it goes under the feed roller. There are none of the annoying little crushed chip marks that require extra work to get the wood surface ready to finish. (By the way, if you do not hook up a DC, and just let the chips blowout of the dust port, you'll have a trail of chips 10'-15' away from the planer! This little puppy BLOWS!)4. I get no detectable snipe even when planing long boards, as long as I support the out-feed end. This model includes the extension in-feed and out-feed tables. I did not expect these to be enough to prevent snipe, but they work great.5. Comes with an extra set of knives.6. Machine weighs a little under 100 lbs. It can be moved fairly easily (even by an old fart who's not as strong as he once was) but still has enough mass to be stable when planing larger boards.7. Thickness and depth of cut adjustments are easy and accurate.8. Overall build quality is excellent.9. Not cheap of course, but well worth the money if you are doing enough work.Limitations:1. The machine is fairly noisy. IMHO good hearing protection is an absolute must.2. There is an aftermarket spiral, individual carbide cutter head available (about $300 at Grizzly). I wish that was an option on this model when new, rather than as an aftermarket item. It would be a big advantage for those of us who have a higher workload for the machine.Overall, I am very satisfied with this machine.

Delivery was a full week late but that was no fault of Amazon. The original delivery company subbed out the package to a 2nd company and they didn't want to drive all the way out here for just this one item. But it arrived in great condition. Reading some other reviews I opened the box and immediately took the planer apart to check for excess lubricant. I wiped down the knives with a clean rag. I doubt there was enough to cause any problems with my project but it was noticeable.Straight out of the box this thing is beautiful to look at! I built a new 2'x4' work bench to attach it to with a roller from HF set at the same level as the infeed table. I felt safer with this than just a stand because this is going to be used mostly outside the shop. I think the work table will be more stable setting in the yard than a small stand would be. After bolting it down to the work surface I just sat and admired it for about an hour. It looked to pretty to dirty it up with wood.Warning!!! The blades are beyond razor sharp. Use a small peice of stock to rotate the knife head as instructed. I didn't and quickly got red blotches on my beautiful yellow machine.My first project was a 24"x40" toy chest for the grandkids. Ran some cured rough cut pine through it ripped down to 6" wide peices. This is my first big planer so I didn't know what to expect. After a couple passes on each side the wood came out glass smooth and ready for stain. The planer does a fantastic job and is really much easier to use than I expected. All the gauges and instructions make this great for a novice user. It is loud and creates a lot of shavings so I was right about putting it outside rather than using it in the shop. After I get wheels on the bench I am confident I will be able to move it around by myself. I have over 1500' of rough cut pine drying out that will be planed in 8'-12' sections. I look forward to several hours of work/fun with this machine.The planer is heavy, 100 lbs by itself. It is compact but extremely stable so use on a concrete floor shop shouldn't cause you any tipping problems. The machine does all the work for you. Just insert the wood a couple inches and it takes over. Wood chips fly feet out the ejection port. Makes a really smooth finish on setting #2. I don't think I will ever need to use setting #1 for the type of things I build. I don't really know that anyone would need to use #1 unless you worked a lot with hard woods.This is a very expensive tool that does an oustanding job of cutting wood down to a smooth surface. I would highly recommend it for that purpose. Can't say enough good things about it so far.