Last Updated on 2021-06-21 by Harry Masterton
As you advance in your woodworking skills, there will come a time when you want to begin dimensioning your lumber. A variety of tools can be used, including a woodworking planer. One question you may ask is, “What type of woodworking planer should I use?”
In A Hurry? Go Straight To The Content You're Looking For With Links To Reviews On Every Aspect Of The Electric Planer.
Electric Hand Planer vs Bench Planer
Electric Hand Planer vs Jointer
Electric Hand Planer vs Belt Sander
Electric Hand Planer vs Router Sled
The Best Electric Hand Planer?
There are a few types you can choose from, including a traditional wood planer or hand plane, electric hand planer, and benchtop or full-sized power planers. Each of these planer types comes in several sizes, and you can also find specialized tools for specific tasks.
No matter what type of handheld planer or handheld electric planer you desire, you will use it to shape rough timber. Most beginning woodworkers and DIYers will use pre-dimensioned materials like framing lumber. These come in a limited selection of wood species like pines, firs, or redwoods.
You can find other wood species to work with, but the boards may come in dimensions that you do not want. A good woodworking planer will create the thickness you need.
One way you can save money is by collecting rough lumber. These materials can be collected from the outdoors or purchased at lumber mills. A woodworking planer will even out the surface of this wood and create a smooth texture that needs little if any additional work.
You can use some woodworking planers to work on the edges of boards as well as their faces. The board edge you create is necessary for butt joints on panel glue-ups and exposed edges on your project. This work is done by a jointer planer
Another task that woodworking planers do is create angles along the edge of your lumber. There are also specialized planes that create decorative molding by shaping the edge as you make passes. Joinery channels, grooves, and rabbets can be made with planers on the edges, ends, and on the face of your pieces of wood.
In short, a woodworking planer is a valuable item in your tool chest.
Electric Hand Planer vs Bench Planer vs Top 5 Power Planers
Lets start with the electric hand planer vs the traditional manual hand planer
Electric Planer vs Hand Planer
Traditional woodworking involves a lot of hand-powered tools. While electric power tool designs have replaced many of these, you will still find hand planers to be popular. What is the best option between bench plane vs electric?
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Our complete guide on the Best Electric Hand Planer For Woodworking
Many traditional woodworkers are quick to point out that they have more “feel” with a manual hand planer. The electric motor and spinning cutting head dampen sensations you will feel when gliding across the lumber. A power hand planer allows you to feel when you are cutting with or against the wood's grain.
Another difference between an electric planer vs hand planer is the noises that they make. As you gain experience, you can tell by the sound the hand-powered plane makes if a surface is even.
The noise from the motor spinning the cutterhead makes it impossible to hear this with an electric design.
You can take a fine shaving off of your timber with a traditional hand planer. The adjustments on the power planer are pre-determined settings that you turn.
That gives you more control with cuts made with a hand planer vs electric.
Hand-powered planes come in many sizes. Block planes can be small enough to fit into your apron, while jointer planes are longer than electric models. You will find that hand planes take up less room for storage than a benchtop plane or a full-sized planer will.
There are advantages when using a power planer vs hand planer, however. The obvious benefit is the electric motor eliminates much of the work you have to do. A hand-held electric design only requires you to hold it as it moves across the surface, while benchtop/full-sized planers eliminate that need as well.
Speed is another consideration between power planer vs hand planer. Hand-powered tools, including the hand planer, take longer to use. Hand-held electric planers, as well as benchtop or full-sized planers, will shape your timber more quickly.
Electric Hand Planer vs Bench Planer
If you need a power tool, you will be selecting between electric hand planer vs bench planer designs. Your first consideration might be shop space; many beginning woodworkers and DIYers will choose an electric hand planer vs table planer or benchtop thickness planer since it is smaller. Those fortunate enough to have a dedicated shop with lots of space will not select their tool based on the room it needs.
To see what we rate as the best bench top planer check our benchtop planer reviews <— Here
One advantage with the electric hand planer vs bench planer is a lack of support columns on the cutting head. That allows you to work on lumber of greater widths than those fed into a benchtop model.
Another advantage of the electric hand planer vs table top planer designs is your ability to take the tool to the workpiece. It allows you to work on lumber that is too heavy or unwieldy to feed into a benchtop planer.
For DIYers, portability is an advantage for the electric hand planer vs bench planer. The ability to use the tool anyplace with an outlet means you can carry it from room-to-room, which is not reasonable for a benchtop product. You can also trim items that are already in place, another advantage of the electric hand planer vs thickness planer.
Benchtop designs do offer advantages between the electric hand planer vs bench planer, though. One such benefit is cutting head width. Benchtop models use cutting widths that are impossible for hand-held products, giving them an advantage when comparing electric hand planer vs table top planer sizes.
A single pass through a benchtop model may take two or more from your hand-held electric planer.
Another advantage for benchtop products is a more level cut, something worth considering between an electric hand planer vs thickness planer. A support table on benchtop designs holds the workpiece at a consistent angle.
You will struggle to duplicate that consistency when trying to hold the cutting head on top of an uneven piece of wood.
The power between an electric hand planer vs bench planer favors the benchtop design. Dust collection is another consideration between electric hand planer vs table planer designs, with the benchtop offering superior exhaust capabilities.
Electric Hand Planer vs Jointer
One shop consideration that many woodworkers face is choosing between electric hand planer vs jointer. Full-sized shops and serious woodworkers may have both, but small shops and casual DIY’ers may have to be limited to one or the other.
Jointers help to eliminate bows, twists, and warps in your pieces of lumber. The main component that makes this possible is the table, divided into an infeed table before the cutting head and an outfeed table behind the cutting head.
A jointer's outfeed table is aligned to sit at the same height as the cutting head. That allows it to support your lumber after the cut.
Its infeed table adjusts up and down for depth adjustment. That allows you to feed lumber into the cutting head for a determined cutting depth. Support from the infeed table allows uneven board faces and edges to be cut evenly with one or more passes.
An electric hand planer used in a typical way has a hard time removing bows, twists, or warps. The hand-held tool rests on your timber, following the uneven surfaces. It can remove some of this, but it will struggle to imitate a jointer when used by hand.
That is where an electric hand planer jointer jig comes into play. You can buy or make one of these jigs, which holds your electric hand planer securely upside down. The jig also has a support surface that acts as a mini-table.
You will find that you can create similar results between an electric hand planer vs jointer when you use an electric hand planer jointer jig. That can make the difference for some woodworkers, especially those on a limited budget that will find a hand-held planer cheaper than a jointer. You can also keep valuable space open in smaller shops.
Electric Hand Planer vs Belt Sander
Another power tool that woodworkers look to for smoothing out surfaces is the belt sander. It uses a rotating belt in place of a cutter head to remove wood. For some, the lack of a cutting blade on the sander makes it the choice for safety concerns.
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A difference between the electric hand planer vs sander is the amount of material removed with each pass. The sander will remove less wood than a planer, which can take up to 1/8-inch off at once.
The surface condition left behind is another difference between the electric hand planer vs belt sander. Belt sanders are quick at removing surface coatings and wood with a fast-moving belt. The grit from the belt will leave behind a rougher surface that requires extra work to smooth out.
Most passes from an electric hand planer will leave behind a smooth surface that requires minimal clean-up. Some hardwoods, or passes against tight grains in the wrong direction, can leave chipped or rough textures after using a planer.
Both power tools produce lots of noise from their motors as well as from contact with the workpiece. You will experience more decibels from an electric hand planer vs sander as cutting through wood fibers is louder than rubbing them off.
Debris is another consideration between these power tools. They will generate lots of waste that will require dust collection. The difference is the type of waste, as planers create wood chips while sanders produce finer dust particles.
Electric Hand Planer vs Router Sled
Some DIYers and hobbyists might also consider using their router for shaping timber. Tight budgets might restrain users from buying an electric hand planer. Others enjoy working with the router whenever possible.
Building a router sled does not require that you invest a lot of money. You might have enough scrap wood in your workshop to assemble one of these jigs already. It will not require a lot of wood to make.
The idea is to create a sled that you insert the router, allowing the bit to dangle below. You will use rails under the sled to keep it off of the workpiece surface. That reduces friction and allows easy movement.
If speed is a concern, the faster power tool will be the electric hand planer vs router sled. The wider cutting head will take fewer passes to remove material. The router is moved back and forth across the face of your boards, with overlapping passes being less than the width of the bit's cutting path.
The cutting direction is another consideration between an electric hand planer vs router sled. An electric hand planer will only cut when the blades angle into the wood's surface. A router bit can cut in either direction, allowing you to zig-zag the router bit across the face of the board you are dimensioning.
You would not be able to make a sled for your electric hand planer due to the single cutting direction. The tool must be lifted and repositioned for each pass.
What Is The Best Electric Hand Planer?
You might ask yourself, “What is the best electric hand planer?” The answer will depend upon your needs.
You need to start with the budget that you have. If the price is no concern, you can get the larger motor and wide cutting head available. Budget-minded woodworkers will need to downgrade features, power, or width to get an electric hand planer they can afford, however.
For most woodworkers, the cutting width determines the quality of the tool. DIYers and casual woodworkers will be satisfied with a smaller cutting head. Those who use the electric hand planer often or work with rough timbers will want as wide a cutting blade as they can afford.
The number of blades, or cutting head style, should also be considered. Three-blade heads will cut with less effort than two-blade designs and produce the finish required by professional woodworkers.
Depth adjustments will help you to determine what is the best electric hand planer. The smaller of an adjustment that you can make, the more control you have over the cut. Another feature that some manufacturers include is positive stops at pre-determined depths that make adjustments quickly.
Electric hand planers use a variety of motor sizes. Get the highest horsepower or amperage planer you can afford, as a bigger motor tends to bog down less during the cut. It is worth considering no matter what skill level or project needs that you have.
You might enjoy the portability and ease of use found with a cordless planer or your budget might restrict you to a corded planer. The battery-powered tools begin to bog down as the battery discharges, though. If you are going to use your electric planer a lot, it might be better to get a corded model.
Thinning Your Electric Hand Planer Options.
There is no doubt the traditional manual planer such as the jack plane, smoothing plane and jointer plane will always have their place in your shop but the power plane has its place in a modern woodworking shop
So, what would we consider the best electric hand plane for woodworking? For the jobsite the electric plane from DeWalt like the DeWalt DW680k will give outstanding service.
Professional trades people will need a durable tool that will cut through all types of woods without hesitation. Corded products like the Bosch PL2632K stand out here.
Most woodworkers wanting a workhorse power tool that will not break the bank should look at models like the WEN 6534. It offers a lot of horsepower and cutting width for the price.
If you are looking to take advantage of features associated with cordless power tools, the Makita XPK02Z is worth a look. It is compact, lightweight, and is powered by Makita's 18v XLT Battery Platform.
Finally when you are ready to move up to a stationary planer or benchtop thickness planer the DeWalt dw735x is an ideal choice.
For a full review from best budget electric hand planer to professional grade and jobsite power hand planers click mover to The Best Electric Hand Planer
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