Harbor Freight Wood Planer
Harbor Freight’s Bauer benchtop wood planer is a genuine budget option: it handles standard boards and hobby projects at a fraction of big-brand prices, but expect louder operation, a shorter duty cycle, and fewer accessories. For occasional DIY planing it is worth it; daily use justifies a DeWalt or Makita.
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Harbor Freight Tools, established in California in 1977, is a tool company that is privately held. It has been built from the ground up by a father and son team with its origins being a mail-order tool company. This duo literally took in liquidated and returned tools and then resold them through the mail. Harbor Freight has now grown from its original small mail order shop to over 1000 retail stores in the United States. They are no longer working only with the end of run or returned tools but now stock their own sub-brands that they produce as well. They employ over 20000 people in their various facilities compared to just the 2 people in the late 70s. Their mail order continues to be a success and now they have ecommerce in the mix as well.
Harbor Freight is well known as a discount tool company. While many people associate discounts with reduced product quality, this is not the case with Harbor Freight. They have built their own factories and labs to build up their sub-brands so they can compete in the ever crowed tool market. While they build their tools both in the USA and overseas, they are also able to keep prices low by cutting out the middleman. They sell what they produce. The products either go straight out in the mail to their buyers or to their stores so there are no in-between businesses involved. This ability to streamline their sales helps keep costs down.
While Harbor Freight is not out to change the heavy-duty construction industry with their products, they are certainly working well for the industry. They are presenting a strong option especially for the Do it Yourself home gurus who can not or will not spend a lot of money but want a product to do the work when needed. Harbor Freight has many of its own brands that meet these various construction needs with Bauer being a substantial one.
Is a Wood Planer What I Need?
Wood planers are one of those items that have a special niche when it comes to woodworking. It is the perfect tool to make sure the boards you need to use have a consistent thickness over the whole piece and are succinctly flat on both sides. These planning tools are fairly large financial investments but if you are looking to purchase rough stock and create your own wood with desired dimensions, then this is the way you want to go.
The first thing to be clarified when looking to purchase this tool is to define the type of wood planer you want. Many jump to the assumption that a wood planer is the traditional old handheld ones with a set blade. While these ones do still exist, they are simply used to trim pieces of wood or smooth out rough areas and smaller surfaces. They are perfect for shaving off the edge of a sticking door for example. However, as great as they are for these small basic jobs, they can not do the work on the big projects where full lengths of wood need to be worked on.
Thickness planers, on the other hand, allow you to set a blade at the desired height and then shave off anything that is above it as it goes through the machine. The uniformity of the finished product is much more acceptable. There are lots of these types in the construction tool market that can meet different needs. There are bit stationary planers or portable ones that are great for those people that are not looking to spend thousands of dollars on the others. Harbor Freights wood planer is offered at a low price while offering good woodworking results and can meet these needs.
These modern version power planers, stationary or portable, have a planning platform that allows for fast and accurate thickness adjustments and is controlled manually or electronically. They let you set the cut depth by adjusting the cutter head/drum or the planning platform and then you turn it on. The board is fed through the machine by an in-feed roller and goes under the quick spinning blades of the cutter drum. The outfeed roller moves the wood out the other side as the blades do their work. This achieves a smooth finish and a consistent reduction in thickness over the whole board. If you need to have irregular pieces of wood levelled into a standard thickness, then you are looking to buy the correct tool. It allows for beveling, flattening, and reclaiming old wood so can work for many different woodworking projects.
These planers are handy tools but make sure you are trained to use them before you buy. You can end up costing yourself a lot of extra time and money if the planer you purchased is not used correctly. When you are looking for wood planers, make sure it comes with a full explanation of the planer’s operational aspects and then practice once you have bought it. Once you have the hang of it then you can get to work on your projects.
Tool Description
Harbor Freight sells a portable thickness wood planer under their sub-brand of Bauer. It is listed as 15 Amp 12 ½” portable thickness planer. This Bauer product’s 15 Amp offers lots of power to smooth fine grade hardwood fast with nicking or sniping the product. Its 4 column frame halts make sure chatter and torsion do not affect the ability to create smooth finishes.
This particular product has an auto-feed feature with dual rollers that makes sure you can work and have a nick-free planning experience and with precision speed control. It’s extra-long in and out-feed tables offer more than 31” of support for the material you are working on. The planer can handle any lumber that is up to 12 1/2” wide to 6” in thickness. Its built-in safety switch makes sure there are no accidental start-ups which are a benefit not only for your safety but for any people who are using these in-home workshops and have youngsters around. The planers high precision gear and pinion lift system offers easier and reliable adjustments. The 2 knife cutter head leaves the work surface without marks. It is a dust collection ready with a dust hood.
- 15 Amp
- 120 AC volts
- 2 planer knives
- Magnetic knife removal
- Hex keys included
- Dust hood
- Depth of cut – 3/32”
- Max cutting thickness – 6”
- 18800 CPM
Pros of the Harbor Freight (Bauer) Wood Plane
There is nothing better than finding a product that is an amazing price and offers solid performance. We are so often disappointed when we think we got a great deal only to have the product not work the way would like. While this Bauer wood planer is not designated to be a high-end product, it is certainly capable of taking care of your woodworking projects with few if any issues. The planer has a 90-day warranty that is not considerably long but certainly will cover any immediate issues that could possibly crop up.
- Price – You will be tested to ever beat the price of Harbor Freight products. This companies ability to have a full range of products for both those who work in the construction industry and those who are the do it yourself homeowners is great. Whether the project is a renovation, new build or some serious woodworking Harbor Freight prices make all their tools financially accessible to those who need them. This particular planer is a good value for a solid product. It’s not only priced well, but you can also often find it on sale or with a coupon for an even bigger bargain. There are few, if any, more economical planers on the market. This planer is a good combination of low price and good product.
- Manufacturing Quality – This Bauer planer is pretty basic in design but has everything you need to do quality woodworking in the shop. It’s easy to set up with only two pieces that need to be put on the planer after unpacking. It takes very little time to make it all work. The planers circuit breaker reset switch and on and off switch both are designed to be easy access which is great. It is designed with top rollers to help with product transfer and makes consistent woodwork more than doable.
- Job Completion – This planer is able to get whatever woodworking job done well and does it with speed. While the product can not be considered the high end, it is more than able to accomplish the basics of whatever wood needs to be planed. The tool is solid in that it can plane at different depths and those who have used it have very few complaints with the final outcome. While lower-priced planers have issues with sniping, this one had a minimal issue with the problem when tested. This planer’s price may be low, but the quality of its work certainly is not. A good product at a great price.
Cons of the Harbor Freight (Bauer) Wood Planer
When you purchase a value-priced woodworking tool, you will not have the option of having all the high-end professional bells and whistles. That, however, does not mean that this planer is not an excellent deal. No matter how good the deal is though you need to be aware that it does have some limitations.
- Manufacturing Quality – While the set up of this product is simple. There are some concerns about manufacturing basics. This particular planer has as setting knob on top with has a little too much play. A loose object on a machine that vibrates as much as this one does can be annoying as it is adding to the already high noise level. The second issue is the in and out-feed plates are not always level. This can lead to sniping. However, both issues can be addressed. The knob with too much play can be tightened or simply left. It will not affect the end product and as these machines are already loud and any rattling it produces will be muffled as you should be wearing hearing protection. The level of the feeds can be fixed by creating one that simply covers that gap. One reviewer explained how he smoothed it by creating his own infeed and improving the one attached to the planer.
- Dust hood – This particular planer needs to have some dust system hooked up to the dust connection simply to keep the particles from invading the machine and covering your shop with dust. The hook up is easy but any dust collection system is not included and needs to be purchased and installed before use.
Accessories
POWERTEC 128080 12-1
POWERTEC UT1002
Mobile Office Workbench
POWERTEC 70143 PVC
While this Harbor Freight planer does not need a lot of accessory support, there are some items that may make your woodworking a little easier. Having replacement blades on hand is always a plus. You may also want a sturdy work stand to work off of or perhaps create a longer work area table. You can also look to create a dust removal system that will attach the coupling. Using a hose or shop vac system can be quite easily set up.
Final Thoughts
Harbor Freight’s thickness wood planer is a solid product if you are looking to purchase this type of woodworking tool. It can tackle both small and large jobs when you want to plane stock wood products. Creating your own size of wood for your particular projects gives you extra flexibility not only with product selection but will save you money as well. The Harbor Freight planer is adaptable and can be hooked up to your own dust removal system without a lot of angst. The planer itself can last through the long, tough jobs with no issues while doing the small jobs with ease. It’s portable and durable and a good bargain which is a great combination for those who enjoy the rather expensive craft and profession of woodworking.