Ever since using one at the William Ng School in California many years ago, I’ve been lusting after a Felder D951 planer. Just some of the things I love:
- Motorized table adjustments
- Super quiet cutter head
- Exceptionally smooth results on even the most figured woods
- Ability to hog off a lot of material per pass
- Super quiet operation
I mean, what’s not to love? It’s a beast of a machine. But given the kind of work I do and the space I do it in, it’s always been tricky for me to justify until now. The new Missouri shop will allow us to try new things such as selling lumber. And if we’re milling stock for resale, a planer like this is going to be super nice. But let’s be real here: the main reason I got this tool is because I wanted it. And for full disclosure, I did receive a discount on my purchase in exchange for promotion of the product.
Now the only wrinkle in the plan is the fact that this is a 3-phase tool. I don’t have 3-phase in my shop so this video shows what’s involved in installing a phase converter, just in case you ever need to do something similar.