Best cordless planer | Dewalt or Makita?

1. Get a tool that lasts.

Planers that are brushless, and manufactured by top brands, and made from the best materials.

Most come with at least a 2-year warranty, so you can be fairly confident with their build quality. 

3. Pay the price.

As with all power tools, don’t go with the cheapest model you can find.

It is always worth spending on a better model now and get reliable services for years, rather than going for an inexpensive model that you will have to replace sooner or later.

Choose your planer carefully, and it will pay for itself many times over. If you already have a Dewalt or Makita tool you can buy a bare tool. And use a Dewalt or Makita lithium-ion battery you already have.

4. Consider your safety.

The best planers have a second safety power switches so you need to push 2 buttons to turn the tool on, this is good for when you are carrying the tool while plugged in, or with the battery installed.

Heavy-duty cordless planers are safer [1] than corded models because no power cable can get in the way, although you still have to be careful of the blades.

If you do use a corded planer make sure you use an RCD at the power source.

Planers are mainly used for smoothening wood surfaces. But they can also be used to smoothen the end grain of rough-cut pieces and to taper doors that are too wide to fit into the door jamb.

They also make it easy to remove an even amount of material from workpieces, which can be very difficult to do with non-electric planes.

You do this by holding the planer at a slight angle. 

Planers can make it easy to get walls perfectly straight and level.

By making repeated shallow passes from framing timber that has a bulge, you can do this while avoiding removing too much material as each swipe takes a thin slice off at a time.

You can use a green laser level to help with many planing jobs, the laser level will give you a clear temporary mark to plane to.

You easily level floor joists or finish straightening wall jobs with the combination of using a laser level and a cordless planer.

I prefer cordless planers because there isn’t a lead that could get in the way. With corded planers, there is always a risk of cutting the cord accidentally, which could mean a costly replacement.

It also means the planer is easier to move around and use, as it’s a tool that is moved around often, and used on ladders and scaffolds.

I’ve found that the best cordless planers from Makita, DeWalt, and Milwaukee have enough grunt for most planing tasks.

It’s always useful to have a depth adjustment dial with tiny increments. Most planers for the DIY market do not have a very precise depth adjustment control.

This feature moves the cutting blades while keeping the base flat and parallel to the blade so that an equal amount of material is removed with every swipe. 

A problem with DIY models is that they tend to plane at an angle after the depth is adjusted a few times. This can make the tool useless for precision planing and finishing work.

The Makita XPK01Z can cut to a width of 3-1/4″ and 5/64″ depth in a single pass.

It has a gutter head fitted with two blades for maximum power.

The 14,000 RPM motor allows for quick stock removal, and it even had an easy-to-read scale guide for setting the cutting depth. 

The XPK01Z is pretty much ready to go right out of the box a cordless wood planner is my #1 recommendation over a corded plane. I get smooth and even finish every time. The battery life is impressive.

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If you have large amounts of indoor work a corded planer can run for longer periods of time, take a look at the Makita KP0800K. The 3-1/4” model has a 6.5-amp motor, it removes material faster than most other corded planers in its class.

It’s also pretty lightweight. The KP0800K takes off as much as 3/32″ of material in a single pass, and the two-blade cutter head always results in a smooth and even finish.

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The Makita KP312 is a larger model, for huge wood planing jobs with a motor that can be adjusted from 12,000 RPM to 15,000 RPM.

It has a unique poly “V” belt design that allows the mechanism to transfer power efficiently.

The KP312 also has a front roller that makes it easy to move over uneven surfaces and a large ejection chute for discharging chips.

This is a corded model with a cord length of 33 feet, so you don’t have to worry about being too far away from a power outlet.

This is suited for the most serious woodworker that tackles jobs like building a table from a tree, power planing wide boards, or are building a wooden boat in the garage.

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To get your blade perfectly positioned parallel to the base plate using a socket set on the hex head screws that are holding the blades in place. 

Otherwise, look for a small lever at the top of the blade mechanism. This metal clamp is called a lever cap, and it keeps the blade assembly in place and makes it easy for a blade change.

The lever cap itself is held in position by a screw and a cam. When you move the cam to the ‘locked’ position, it presses the lever cap against the screw and keeps the blade in position. 

Annoyingly most DIY blades tend to move out of alignment even after only a few uses sometimes, this is because the casing that is holding the blade is not strong enough to hold after a bit of heavy use.

Here’s how you can change your planer blades.

With cheaper DIY marketed electric plane tools, you can have a few issues with this particular tool.

The most common problem is the rubber belt that drives the blade can be made from a cheaper material. This belt tends to wear down more quickly and possibly break.

The most annoying issue a cheaper plane can have is the base plate can become out of line in parallel to the blades, this can cause the tool to cut out of square and make a new blade change hard to align.

The blades may also slip slightly out of the casing that holds them this results in uneven cuts, and the possibility of injury or damage to the workpiece.

The best planers for sale have very strong blades that can remove large chunks of wood. However, they can also tear out the grain in the workpiece, causing small pieces to fall off and clog up the blade assembly.

It’s a good idea to check the dust port frequently to make sure that it is empty and free of obstructions.

Get a professional planer for any building and finishing work, especially if you want consistent results and smooth finishes.

But for really heavy-duty hardwood jobs when you aren’t that concerned about high-quality results, rather to just remove a bulk amount of timber quickly you could use DIY planer like a XU1 or an old corded planer as a sacrifice.

This will help you avoid putting good cordless planers through wood that might contain nails and will help avoid wear-and-tear from the heavier jobs.

If you do plan on doing a lot of planing work, Makita has two large electric planes that are well suited for the job: the KP312 15-amp and the 1806B 10.9-amp models.

They are more powerful than standard models in their respective price ranges and can help you get the job done much more quickly especially for large heavy-duty jobs. 

Standard electric planers are versatile, allowing you to do almost any type of planing work. You do have to get used to the action and practice if you have to do small or detailed work.

1. Work with a sharp blade.

 But don’t throw your old one away when it gets dull. You can sharpen planer blades pretty easily with a sharpening stone, and you could save yourself the cost of a new one.

Unless the blade is broken or corroded, you can follow a honing guide and sharpen and recycle your blades a few times before you need to replace them. 

2. Make use of clamps.

You should use Irwin clamps to firmly support any loose work, so both of your hands are free to hold and guide your plane square.

3. Try to keep even pressure on the planer throughout the cutting process.

This will help keep the blade steady and in a straight line. It is especially important to maintain constant pressure when you are close to the edge so that you don’t cause any unevenness or jaggedness. 

4. Figure out the proper speed and depth for the work you are trying to do.

How fast you push the planer and how deep you set it will affect the smoothness of the work. Try to do it slowly at first and make a few passes instead of trying to carve out one big chunk. This will give you more consistent and even results.

Makita makes some of the best power tools around, so it’s no surprise that their planers are the top picks in this roundup.

The cordless XPK01Z Makita tool is a great choice for all-around DIY work at home, while the corded KP0800K is better suited for more demanding building jobs.

And if you need even more power, you could look into the KP312, which has a 15 amp motor for those really big jobs.

To perfectly set and automate the thickness of multiple wooden boards rather than just smoothing, you need a thickness planer. Have a read of my thickness planner reviews.