Planer Blade life

[Wichman]

I just finished planing four boards from my elm stash. About halfway through the blade became to dull to use (noise, burning the wood). Changed the blades, planer worked great again.

But, how long should I expect the blades to last? I did create about 50 gals of shavings with this one set. Is this about right?

Thanks in advance for responses.

 

[Gene Howe]

It kinda depends on the quality of the blades, Witchita. Which planer are you using? 

[Bill WIlson]

It's like any sharp cutting edge, it wears based on several variables, such as the material being planed, heat generated during the cut, speed/aggressiveness of cut and like Gene said, quality of the blades.   It's no different than a chisel or knife.  The edge will last according to how good it is, how it's used and what it is used on.

That said, I tend to get pretty good life out of my planer blades.  I don't plane a lot of really hard or abrasive wood and I take really light passes.  I also don't use my planer a ton, so the number of calendar days elapsed since I last changed them is not all that relevant to anyone else.  For example, I've had my current planer since 2016.  I'm still on the original blades.  I have no idea how many feet of lumber I've run through it, so it's hard to offer any kind of objective metrics for comparison.

[Wichman]

I'm using the HF Bauer brand planer. I only take 1/64" off at a pass, I know this is not a heavy duty machine, so I try to take it easy on the machine. The cost of the blades is reasonable, $25 a set, 2 edges per blade ( double sided ).

I bought the planer when it was on the open box table, only paid $ 177 for it. The blades on the machine had not been changed and were quite worn when I checked them. I got the planer to strip the paint off of some fence boards I have so I knew I was going to tear up some blades.   Beat the heck out of sanding!

[kmmcrafts]

To extend the life make sure to clean the surface of the boards of any fine dust dirt sand etc.. I get a lot of wood for free from my brothers lumber mill.. and just being stickered outside for air drying the amount of dirt, grit that gets into all the crevices of rough cut lumber will shorten the life by 75%.. If I buy lumber from the lumber yard that is already planned smooth and I need to change the thickness.. I can get a very long time out of the knives.. This is why I've mentioned many times that I'm not sure how free this free lumber is.. and the same goes for reclaimed pallet wood.. In my case.. a set of "good" knives will run close to $100... can get cheap ones for about half that but I found that the better ones are actually worth the extra cost in longevity.. not only that but shutting down to change knives all the time is down time.. down time may not be an issue for most but to me it is, especially during the holiday rush.. 

While on the subject, I got one of these for a gift some years ago.. https://www.rockler.com/deulen-planer-jointer-sharpening-jigs-sharpening-jigs?country=US&sid=V91040&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=CjwKCAiAoL6eBhA3EiwAXDom5tEPnIVCLITeEx2a-_iLNHu8V4aJKD-EKjvIgE03Nwl8UBVouOVxehoCmU0QAvD_BwE

This works quite well provided you take your time to go through all the sharpening steps.. can sharpen them 3-4 times.. before actually tossing them out..