Planer Blade Introduction
What is a planer blade?
A planer blade, also known as a thickness planer, is a woodworking tool designed to achieve consistent thickness across wooden surfaces. They are used in planers, a type of woodworking machine, to cut wood along its length, creating smooth, uniform surfaces. High-quality planer blades ensure precision in your work, providing clean and even cuts every time.
Choosing the Right Planer Blade
What factors should you consider when choosing the right planer knife?
When selecting a planer blade, consider factors like the blade's material, types, wooden types as well as price of blade.
Planer Blade Material
HCS planer blade
HCS means high carbon steel. The hardness is 55-60HRC. It has good sharpness and cutting performance and is suitable for planing. But the service life of high-carbon steel blades is approximately 50% shorter than that of higher-speed steel blades.
HSS Planer Blade
HSS means high speed steel. HSS blades are known for their sharpness and versatility. HSS planer blades are sharper than TCT blades, which delivers the smoothest planing result. The hardness is ≥ 60 HRC, the bending strength is 3000~4000Mpa, the red hardness is high, the wear resistance is good, and the types of wood that can be planed are increased. They are suitable for various planing tasks. However, compared to TCT blades, HSS blades become dull more easily and therefore need to be replaced or resharpened frequently.
TCT Planer Blade
TCT means tungsten carbide tipped. The hardness is 69-81 HRC (86-93 HRA).These blades have carbide welded to the cutting edge which are highly durable. TCT planer blades have excellent toughness, hardness and wear resistance, which can process a wide range of wood, including softwood and hardwood. The biggest advantage of tungsten carbide tipped planer blades is that they stay sharp and typically last about 20 times longer than high-speed steel knives. Although these blades are more expensive than high-speed steel blades, they prove to be more cost-effective in the long run.
Solid Tungsten Carbide Planer Blade
The entire blade is made of carbide material, which is very hard and very durable. Carbide materials are 20 times more rigid than high-speed steel.
Type of Planer Blade
Straight planer blade: Used to smooth the surface of wood and help remove uneven parts.
Teeth planer: Used for making grooves or textures to make the wood surface more textured.
Spiral planer: Features a spiral cutting edge for effective processing of hardwoods.
Double-edged planer: The blade has cutting edges on both sides to extend its service life.
Profile knives: Planing knives customized to specific needs.
Type of Wood
For softwoods and medium-soft hardwoods that have higher requirements for sharpness than wear resistance, such as poplar, fir, pine, etc., you can choose a high carbon steel planer blade or high-speed steel planer blade.
For processing hardwoods such as oak, walnut, mahogany, and even rosewood, you need to choose a very hard TCT planer cutter or a full solid tungsten carbide planer knife.
Price of planer blade
Solid carbide planers are the most expensive, TCT planers are more expensive than HSS planers, and high carbon steel planers are the cheapest.
In Conclusion
If you use it less frequently, cheaper high carbon steel blades will also work. However, high carbon steel planers are only suitable for processing a smaller range of wood, such as poplar, pine and other softwoods. Judging from market sales data, the TCT planer may be a better choice. This blade is not only cheaper than solid carbide blades, but also has the same super hardness as carbide blades, has excellent cutting performance, and can process a wide range of wood.
Yeptooling sells TCT planer cutters, HSS planer blades and carbide planer knives with various styles, excellent quality and reasonable prices. You can go to the Yetooling store to view more planer information and choose a suitable planer. Purchase a planer blade.
