What is the Best Benchtop Planer for Woodworking?

Today I’m covering thickness planers, from budget to high-end to figure out which one’s actually best for you.  The three I’m covering all have various different features.  I’ll go over cut quality, snipe, the most features, and all of that.

Oliver Planer - https://amzn.to/3G8TCSa

DeWALT DW735X Planer - https://amzn.to/3U0WE0k

Craftsman Planer - https://amzn.to/3TZdFIm

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Not long ago I did full reviews on the Craftsman and the Oliver.  You can see those reviews here –

Oliver Planer Full Review – https://youtu.be/kMeNcyDqJ8Q

Craftsman Planer Full Review - https://youtu.be/PWGV_jg1Hi8 

I also did a review on the DeWALT, but it’s about 5 years old at this point, so I’m not sure how useful that would be.  I think most people will be making a decision between the DeWALT and the Oliver.  However, I think it’s important to consider the Craftsman if you’re a beginner or on a budget.  I do think you’ll be giving up quite a few features on the Craftsman versus what you’ll get on the higher-end models.

First is a carriage lock.  The Oliver has a lever that locks the carriage to keep it from moving when you’re planing boards.  One thing to note about the Oliver’s locking carriage head is you have to unlock it to make your adjustment and then lock it back.  Unlock it, adjust, lock it back.  Unlock it, adjust, lock it back.  Is that a huge deal?  No, but it is an inconvenience compared to the DeWALT.

The DeWALT does not have a carriage lock, but that’s because of the design.  There’s a ball-screw design on the four corner posts that prevents the DeWALT from raising up when you plane.  I’ll pass the board through, make a quarter-turn on the adjustment wheel, pass the board through, another quarter-turn, and so on.

When you use the Craftsman, there is no carriage lock, so you do see that carriage raise when you’re planing.  Is it a deal-breaker, no, but you have to understand that when it’s raising up, it’s moving the dimension of your plane.  If you’re trying to plane a 2” board and it raises up ⅛”, then are you actually getting that true 2” thickness?  You may just have to adjust it in order to get that thickness that you’re looking for.

Another thing you’re giving up on the Craftsman is the depth removal gauge that you have on both the Oliver and the DeWALT.  That gauge is very handy, especially when you first get started with your planning.  You can push your board just under the front, and that gauge will tell you about how much you’re going to take off of each pass.  I really like that feature.

One of the main drawbacks on a budget planer is that most are 2-blade planers.  The DeWALT is a 3-blade and the Oliver has the Shelix head.

Between the DeWALT and the Oliver, the more robust feeling, better-built feeling planer is the DeWALT.  It just feels like a workhorse.  Everything about it is just well made.  The Oliver is extremely well made except for the top piece.  I don’t like that it’s plastic, and that it flexes.  I just feel like they should’ve done better.  I do like that the Oliver top has built in gauges to let you get a rough estimate of how thick the board is, but they should’ve just made it out of aluminum or a better-grade plastic.  They could even just reinforce the plastic that’s used already.

Each planer has its own set of features that makes it unique.  The DeWALT is still running the 3-blade system, but you can upgrade that to the Shelix head for about $500.00 for the official Byrd Shelix head.  Those Shelix heads cut at a vertical angle versus just a helical head or the straight knives, which basically just chops the wood.  The Shelix head is shearing the wood.

The depth stops on the DeWALT are also much better than the Oliver.  The Oliver gives you four options from 3/4” to 5/32”, while the DeWALT gives you six options from 1/8” to 1 1/4“ depth stop, along with an adjustable screw at the depth stop that you can adjust even further.

The DeWALT also has two speeds for a fine cut and a rough cut.  The depth removal gauge on the DeWALT is also superior to the one on the Oliver.  The Oliver doesn’t seem to work as well, but it seems like you have to get it closer to the board before it actually activates.  It’s a little frustrating at times to get it to pick up the read correctly, whereas the DeWALT has worked every single time since the day I got it.  One of the reasons the DeWALT is better is that the piece that reads the material and activates the depth stop runs all the way across.  It doesn’t matter where you put the board in.  The Oliver has just one little piece to activate the depth gauge.  If you put the board anywhere but where that little piece is, you’re not catching the read.

The power switches on these two are also quite different.  If the Oliver loses power during a planing – your breaker trips, your power goes out, anything like that – when the power is restored it doesn’t automatically come back on.  It’s a magnetic power switch that you have to push the off button, then push the on button again to reactivate it.  On the DeWALT, if you lose power, when the power’s restored it just comes back on.  It’s a nice safety feature on the Oliver.

Both machines have an analog-cutting depth gauge that are both easy to read, with an adjustable indicator that lets you dial in the exact cut depth.  One thing the Oliver does have is the Wixey digital readout gauge.  I like that I can plane down to the exact depth I need.  If I’m planing down a board and I need it to be exactly ¾” and I’ve got it pretty close, I can dial that in down to the ⅛” increment.

For depth adjustment, both the Craftsman and the Oliver have a dial on top that raises and lowers by turning the arm.  The DeWALT has a crank wheel on the side that is much easier to operate in my opinion.  For cut height, both the DeWALT and the Oliver have about a 6 1/16” capacity, and the Craftsman has about 5 ¾”

Cutting operations are quite different.  The DeWALT uses the 3-blade system, where the Oliver uses the Byrd Shelix helical head, which is far superior.  You can upgrade the DeWALT to the Shelix head for a $500 upgrade if you do it yourself, or you can just buy it with the Shelix head upgrade installed for $1,600.  That’s more than double the price of the DeWALT by itself, and it voids the warranty.  For $1,600 you can get one of the more commercial-style planers that are bigger and beefier.  For $1,200, you can get the Oliver with the Shelix head automatically and keep your warranty.

One of the things that plagues benchtop planers more than anything is snipe.  Snipe is where the first 5” or so, you’ll see a dip in the cut on the board, so you’re losing 5” or 6” on each end.  If you’re buying high-end wood, or even Pandemic wood, you don’t want to waste that much.  The Craftsman suffered from it right out of the box, and I was able to get most of it out just by adjusting the bolts under the folding tables.  What you want is for each of the infeed and outfeed tables to be about ⅛” higher than the center table.  That way when the board goes through, it flattens the tables out and helps eliminate the snipe.

With the DeWALT, I messed up out of the box and adjusted the tables to be perfectly flat to the center table, and that’s not what you do.  The DeWALT tables adjust with bolts on the side that allow the tables to pivot up and down.  It took me awhile to get the snipe out once I introduced it, but now I rarely get snipe.  On the Oliver, if I lock the carriage down, I get zero snipe on either pine or hardwoods.

Which machine gives you the best cut quality?  The Craftsman is going to be the least of the three.  It’s still does a good-enough job, with only two knives, if you nick a nail or a staple, you’ll start seeing those lines down the board.  With the DeWALT’s three knives, if you nick a nail or a staple, those lines will be a lot less noticeable.  The DeWALT has always produced a really nice finish on a board, especially when you set it on the slower setting to get the most cuts per inch.  The Oliver produces the finest finish out of the three due to the Shelix head.  That Shelix angled cut produces a finish that feels like a 120-grit sanded finish.  If you nick a nail or a staple with the Shelix head, you can simply loosen that one cutter head, turn it, and tighten it back down.  You’re then back in business within just a couple of minutes.

To determine cut speed, I ran a board through all three to see how long it took to pass through each machine.  The Craftsman was the fastest at 3:46.  The DeWALT on Setting 2 and the Oliver were about even at 4:40 and 4:35, though for that time the Oliver gives you a nice, butter-smooth finish.  The DeWALT came in at 8:04 on the slower Setting 1, which produces a finer, better finish.  What I typically do is leave it on Setting 2 until I get close, then I get down to around a 1/32” cut I’ll drop it down to Setting 1.

All three have tool storage on top for holding the wrench that you’ll need to change out blades.  The Craftsman is just really well-hidden.  One of the main reasons people get a benchtop planer is for space saving.  All three are fairly compact, and all have folding infeed and outfeed tables.  The front tables will fold up and stay folded on all three.  On the Oliver, the rear table only folds up as far as the dust collection port will allow.  The rear DeWALT table will fold up, but it just falls back down again.  The rear table on the Craftsman folds up and stays up. The least expensive planer will actually fold up into a compact size.  C’mon, man!

Overall build quality goes from the Craftsman on the low end to the DeWALT on the top end.  Because the Oliver costs more, it’s easier to think it’s better built, but in my opinion the DeWALT is a much better built machine.  That doesn’t mean I think the Oliver is a badly-built machine.  I just think the DeWALT is more robust.  The feed tables on both are a better quality than the thinner metal on the Craftsman tables.  I also don’t care for how the power cord comes off the front of the Craftsman.

If you’re on a budget or just starting out, I have no hesitation recommending the Craftsman.  It’s a good value for what you’re getting.  This will serve the purpose and get the job done.  To choose between the DeWALT and the Oliver, depending on your budget and what you’re wanting.  If you want the best built machine, you’re going to go with the DeWALT.  It’s a solid machine that’s proven itself for years, not just with me, but with lots of people.  With the Oliver, you’re paying for three key features – the Byrd Shelix head, the Wixey digital gauge, and the safety feature of the magnetic power switch.  The Oliver is $1,200 and the DeWALT generally runs about $650.  You can catch it on sale every now and then.  I post tool deals on my website - https://www.731woodworks.com/tool-deals - so check that out daily.  The DeWALT has been as low as $599 in the past couple of months.

My pick for most people is going to be the DeWALT DW735X.

You can watch the full video review here - https://youtu.be/9C7FckbtnfI

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