Best budget planers in 2020

What is the best budget planer? While being affordable, planers under 50 still can be full of beneficial features. Sure, they cannot be compared with expensive high-performance models, but the question is whether you need to do that amount of work. Then, why to use a planer at all? One of the advantages of using a machine over simply planing by hand is that the former is time-consuming and does the job more accurately. Still, there are several things to consider when shopping for the best affordable planer: the motor capacity, weight, cutting depth adjustability, material and product durability. We believe that WEN 6530 6-Amp Electric Hand Planer fits these criteria best.

Why have we chosen it? This model is manufactured by WEN, which speaks a lot about the quality of the product. The company has been producing high-quality and affordable power tools since the mid 20th century and today is one of the industry leaders. For that price, the tool has a powerful 6-AMP motor that can make about 34,000 cuts per minute. This 6-pound planer is more lightweight than many of its analogs on the market. Besides, it makes the work easier as you can adjust the cutting depth from 0 to 1/8 inches.

I’ve talked a little bit about planers previously, and I took a moment to point out that this is a hard tool to talk about at length. It’s not because they’re complicated - that’s in fact the opposite of the problem. This is a very basic, and very old tool that we’ve been using for millennia in one form or another. So, when we come to comparing various types of these, and discussing them at length, it’s easy to very quickly run out of things to say. I do mean quickly, too.

WEN 6530 6-Amp Electric Hand Planer | Best Affordable Planer

I discussed this one in brief in a previous piece. When compared to power planers as a whole, it’s very... meh. But for someone on a budget, the comparison shifts a little bit. This isn’t an awful planer, it just lacks the durability and overall build quality to stand up to daily use over prolonged periods of time.

WEN is a “notoriously” budget tool brand, where something like Makita or DeWalt is a higher-end brand. This makes this something that a lot of professionals might keep around as a backup or for an assistant to use on lower-demand tasks. It’s also great for people who just occasionally need a planer here and there, and don’t want to invest a fortune on a posh model that they won’t use often enough for cost justification.

Features

• Power: 110v 6 Amp corded electric.
• Weight: 7.9lbs.
• Adjustable: Somewhat.
• Loud: Relatively loud, the motor makes this hum that’s disconcerting.
• Braking: Trigger-release braking.

Performance

I've said that this is an okay tool, but not remarkable. That doesn’t mean that it’s not going to do what you need it to do. My complaints with this tool are that it doesn’t really have that fantastic of a build quality. It’s got a case that creaks, it feels breakable (even though it’s more rugged than you might think). As I pointed out, it has a motor that makes some very concerning noises which often mean an imbalanced or half-dead motor. It’s probably fine, but that sound is usually not a good sign.

This is a tool for when you occasionally need a planer, not for constant everyday use. For a budget tool, it’ll do the job when you occasionally need this.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

If you’re new to working with wood, or just occasionally need a planer, or you need one in an emergency, this will work fine for you. Just expect to have to invest in a higher-end one down the line if you become more advanced in your projects.

WEN: Check the current price

What a planer is

Planers are, at their most basic, just an angled blade that shaves layers of wood off a surface, or cuts a consistent notch or furrow in the case of joint planers. They do exist in a variety of forms, though that variety is mostly a modern development with the advent of electric machinery.

There are traditional hand planers, which are what I tend to use the most, given I’m so accident-prone. There are electric hand planers, which just work faster and add some oomph to the whole affair, and then there are big industrial machines that may be hand-guided, or fully automated. The latter are really only something you want to invest in in cases where you do a serious workload with planers.

Uses For Planers

So, at their core, these either shave off a wood surface to adjust thickness and even out a surface, or they cut deep precise notches into wood, depending on which type of planer they happen to be. What exactly are these most used for?

Well, historically, there was a time before industrial lumber could be produced, and sawing into wood produced rough, uneven surfaces. We had no lathes or other sorts of sophisticated things to work the shape of wood once we had a block of the stuff, so all we really had were carving knives and planers.

In these times, a planer would smooth out and even a wood surface to produce tables and other flat level surfaces. They would etch joints to put wood together tightly, and they would help shape the more ornate geometric properties of some components of furniture and so on.

Today, we still use them for these processes, but it’s more for an ultra smooth surface (followed by sanding), or for adjusting wood thickness at angles and so forth. It’s a little more precision than you can just cut wood at, and you will find yourself often needing to shave a bit off the top or the sides just to get things level or to fit just like you intended.

They don’t produce a glass-smooth surface on their own, you will still need to go over it with a belt sander to get a polished surface, but this tool produces the step needed to get that surface to polish and sand down.

Joint planers are still widely used to cut those joints, because your other option would be a Dremel tool, and that’s just not a bad idea, trust me.

Who Makes Planers?

Pretty much every single tool company out there makes at least one variety of planer. DeWalt, Worx, Stanley, WEN, Black & Decker and of course the almighty Makita all produce a few different types of these. You have a variety to choose from. Today, we’re even going to see a traditional Japanese block planer, made by a very traditional Japanese company, which is frankly pretty damn neat.

A Brief History

Planers are one of the oldest tools in this category. We can’t know exactly when these first started being used, but we do know it’s an evolution of chisels, with some (like one we look at today) still involving being hammered. We have evidence of them from at least 4000 BCE, which is the bronze age. Wood workers in Egypt, the Levant, the Mediterranean and the Far East, around the same rough time, started using blocks or bits of metal to steady their chisel, or to replace them with patient hand strokes to shape wood into more cooperative forms.

They didn’t change much after this, aside from better materials, better blades and better applications of them coming along. Mechanized planers appeared in the industrial revolution, and shortly thereafter, electric power tool innovations produced the various modern non-manual versions we have.

There’s not much that’s likely to change with planers moving forward, unless we invent nanotechnology to do plane work, or lasers of some sort. These sound cool, but honestly, they’re never going to be practical, so what you see now is what planers will probably always be.

My Experience With Planers

I'm a bit of a hobbyist in the crafts world, enjoying the occasional bit of furniture creation (though my furniture work is basic and not amazing thus far), and in creating arcade cabinets or hardware cases.

There's something I adore about building computer or set top boxes out of mostly simple wood, and applying a wood grain finish to that for this adorable and classy retro look. I have to do a lot of joint cutting and planer work to achieve this.

I've mentioned my MAME cabinet project, which was the biggest one, and my woes in not using planers properly at first.

I don’t really use power planers, as I appreciate the Zen of working on this wood by hand, patiently, steadily, pouring my soul into it. Manual planers aren't hard work to use, but they take patience and steadiness. Sometimes they need a rubber mallet, depending on the wood.

On A Budget?

Do you only need to do a little bit of planer work (like me), or you just can’t afford a ridiculously-priced power planer or industrial planer? Do you expect budget tools to be garbage? Some are, but today, let me show you two interesting options for budget planers. One of them is really neat, the other is a bog standard power planer for the price. Either will work for your needs if you’re anything like me and just intermittently need this tool.

Japanese Wood Block Plane | Best Cheap Planer

This one is really neat in a lot of ways. This Senkichi planer is a traditional Japanese tool used for a lot of wood working that’s so very distinct to their culture. Ancient / Feudal Japanese culture produced a lot of unique tools that reflected their philosophy of harmonizing simplicity but producing beauty in the most gentle and efficient way possible.

This is literally a block of wood with a handle and an angled blade in the traditional fashion. It was largely used to produce those wooden sandals we’ve all seen in movies and Anime. Those are called Geta, just for the sake of accuracy.

Features

• Power: This is a manual planer, though it often is accompanied by using a rubber mallet.
• Weight: 140g.
• Adjustable: No, it's a hand planer.
• Loud: Well, if you use a mallet, you’ll make a soft hammering sound.
• Braking: You just let go of it.

Performance

Traditionally, as I said, this is used to make Geta, as well as a few other classic Japanese household wooden products. However, it works fine for most things you would use a manual planer on, though you might need to move the blade's angle. Traditional Japanese architecture and craftsmanship celebrated cardinal angles, where western planer approaches like off-kilter obtuse ones.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

If you want a very cheap hand planer that also gives you a taste of a somewhat lost time and culture, you should really get one of these.

Japanese Wood Block Plane: Check the current price