These Are the Best Benchtop Planers for Your Woodworking Projects

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Regardless of the woodworking project you’re tackling, you’re going to want your workpieces to be as flat and smooth as possible. A benchtop planer—a portable version of a heavy-duty commercial planer—helps to achieve just that, using extremely sharp blades to reduce thickness and eliminate rough spots, inconsistencies, and uneven surfaces. For basic woodworking and other home projects, you don’t need the a professional planer used for industrial jobs.

Benchtop planers don’t come cheap—they’re typically priced upwards of $400—but they’re invaluable if you’re doing home improvement projects like building a shed or making bookcases. The machines are also ideal for professionals who work onsite at different locations and need to prepare wood during jobs.

There’s a lot to know before making this investment, which is why we consulted with experts on staff to review the best models, plus offer advice on what’s important to consider before buying.

For more great woodworking power tools, check out our top picks for table saws, power drills, and miter saws.

The Best Benchtop Planers

• Best Overall: DeWalt 2-Speed Thickness Planer

• Best Budget: Craftsman Benchtop Planer

• Best Helical: Wen Benchtop Thickness Planer

• Best 3-Blade: Ridgid 3-Blade 13-in. Planer

• Best Dust Port: Delta Power Tools 13-in. Portable Thickness Planer

What to Consider

A planer is a heavy-duty machine found in commercial shops, used for thicknessing wood—as in, trimming a board to a consistent thickness throughout its length—and, in some cases, flattening it. Benchtop planers (also called thickness planers) are lighter-duty versions of these powerful machines. They’re designed for portability, weighing 100 pounds at the most. There are also hand planers that are ideal for smaller, more intricate jobs, like planing crown molding or shaving off the edge of a door that gets stuck in its frame.

Power

Most benchtop planers have a motor with 13 to 15 amps of power (that translates to roughly two horsepower), which is sufficient for basic woodworking projects made with softer wood, like pine or cedar. For cabinetry and other projects that require harder wood (oak, beech, maple, and walnut), definitely choose a 15-amp benchtop planer because more power is required to make cuts.

Blades

Benchtop planer blades, often referred to as knives, are either straight, spiral, or helical. A straight-knife cutterhead (the rotating steel head inside the machine) typically has two blades, though some models have more for an even smoother surface, like the Ridgid three-blade planer we cover below.

There are also spiral cutterheads, a step up from straight-blade planers, with evenly spaced inserts for blades along the cutterhead. The blades are often two- or four-sided, so you can rotate them after the edge gets dull.

High-end helical models have rows of small, square-shaped cutters affixed via inserts, so they’re easy to replace as needed. Helical cutterheads add to the cost, but maintain sharp cutting ability for a longer time and also make the job significantly quieter.

Maximum Width

The width of a benchtop planer refers to the maximum allowance the planer can take—usually 12 inches wide for more compact models, like the Makita we cover below, or 13 inches wide for standard sizes. If you don’t plan to move your benchtop planer much, a 13-inch model is the way to go.

Speeds

With benchtop planers, you need to consider the speed of the motor (the cutterhead speed) and the cutting speed (the number of cuts per minute). We recommend a benchtop planer with at cutterhead speed of least 8,000 rotations per minute (RPM). There’s also the feed speed—the rate at which a board moves through the machine—expressed in cuts per inch (CPI).

Most benchtop planers have only one speed, though some high-end models like our best overall pick often have two, which allows for finishing and dimensioning.

Clean-Up

Thicknessing wood can be a messy job. It doesn’t take long for dust and wood chips to accumulate, which is why most benchtop planers feature fan-powered chip ejectors and a dust-collecting systems. Many feature an integrated vacuum port to collect dust.

Accessories and Extras

Some benchtop planers come with extra knives, which is always handy for when your blades get dull. Many also include one or more feed tables, which helps level and support the board as it moves through the planer for a smooth infeed and outfeed.

How We Selected

In assessing a wide range of benchtop planers, we specifically focused on four criteria: model type, motor, cutterhead, and board width. We vetted specifications, making sure to comprehensively compare models at similar price points to recommend the best.

We also consulted with our resident expert and test editor, Roy Berendsohn, to inform our model selection. He’s used planers to finish carpentry and small furniture construction projects, in addition to various home repairs. He’s also them in boat building, making shelving, and to remove the machine marks that sometimes are found on lumber that has been poorly processed at the mill which made it.

Bobbi Dempsey, the original author of this buying guide, is the former owner of a construction business and the current owner of a fixer-upper home built in the 1800s. She’s used wood materials for a virtually endless array of jobs, including framing and DIY woodworking projects like refurbishing kitchen cabinet doors. She used her experience to inform her recommendations.

DW735X 2-Speed Thickness Planer

This DeWalt two-speed high-capacity benchtop planer is a powerful, solid workhorse. It boasts 10,000 rpm speeds to power cuts up to ⅛-inch in depth. The three-knife cutterhead design means blades last longer and replacing them is easier.

Choose the speed that works best for your purposes (96 cuts per inch would be a good choice for dimensioning and 179 cuts per inch for finishing). The benchtop planer has a sturdy 19.75-inch cast aluminum base that provides a solid, rigid foundation. The automatic carriage lock is a big help in snipe reduction. The fan-assisted chip ejection keeps chips out of the way and away from the cutterhead.

(This 735X model is identical to the 735, but includes feed tables and extra blades.)

CMEW320 Benchtop Planer

This Craftsman wood planer is a reliable yet surprisingly budget-friendly choice in the benchtop category.

The 15-amp motor can power the double-edged reversible blades at speeds of 8,000 rpm. The Poly-V cutterhead drive and double-edged high carbon steel knives enable a high degree of versatility, meaning it will easily handle any type of wood and has no trouble with glued materials.

It can accommodate board widths of 12.5 inches and allows cuts of up to ⅛-inch deep. Users rave about its smooth operation and easy setup. Add a dust-collection system to the built-in dust chute to minimize mess.

PL1326 Benchtop Thickness Planer

This Wen planer offers wide-ranging versatility by accommodating boards up to 13 inches wide and 6 inches thick. With 26 staggered HSS blades, this planer can easily create a smooth finish on any type of wood.

As is typical with helical models, this type of cutterhead commands a higher price. This model has a price tag roughly $140 higher than the comparable Wen model with a straight-blade cutterhead.

Many users seem to feel it is worth the investment, though, with online reviewers raving about its accuracy and easy operation. The solid, cast-iron base ensures optimal stability.

15-Amp Corded 13-in. Thickness Corded Planer

This is the only three-blade benchtop planer is our lineup, and considering it’s reasonable price point and performance, we can’t recommend it highly enough.

It’s versatile in terms of the size and wood type of the boards it planes, plus there’s a gauge in front that measures the cutting depth, so you know the amount of wood coming off before passing the board through.

The 13-inch planer has a maximum cut depth of 1/8 of an inch, a dust port, and is of average weight at 73 pounds. There’s also a three-year limited warranty attached.

22-555 13-in. Portable Thickness Planer

There’s a lot to like about this benchtop planer, but of all its features, the reversible dust port is what makes it a standout. Being able to collect wood chips from the front or back is certainly handy—and potentially cuts down on the amount of time it takes to complete a job.

Its knife system is another plus that helps make quick work of projects. The dual-edge blades are disposable, so there’s no need to fiddle with alignment jigs.

Other highlights of this 15-amp thickness planer include a 13-inch maximum board width, 10,000 rpm maximum speed, and lightweight build, plus it comes with a five-year manufacturers warranty.

2012NB 12-in. Portable Planer

If your workshop lacks space, this 12-inch benchtop planer is worth a look. It’s compact and quieter than most at only 83dB, and its 15-amp motor provides plenty of power.

It’s also considerably stable, designed with a proprietary automated head clamp to keep boards secure while you work. That translates to better performance overall, plus the portable planer has a quick feed rate of about 28 feet per minute.

There’s no doubt that it’s an impressive package, but for the price, the one-year warranty is a definitely shortfall.

JWP-13BT Benchtop Planer

With 26 two-edged blades, this Jet wood planer consistently delivers accurate, smooth cuts of up to ⅛-inch deep. Blade inserts can be replaced quickly and easily, which helps minimize downtime and keep your projects running on time. Thanks to the powerful 2-hp (13.8-amp) motor, the blades can spin at speeds of 10,000 rpm.

The cast-iron bed and stability-enhancing design keeps operation secure and wobble-free to reduce snipe. It also has a 4-inch dust-collection port and comes with a three-year warranty.

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