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How Do I Choose the Best Hand Wood Planer?

Kristie Lorette
Kristie Lorette

A hand wood planer is a manual tool that is used to smooth out any type of wood for a woodworking project. It may be a simple project, such as shaving a door down. Choosing the best hand wood planer comes down to evaluating a couple of different factors, including the project you need the wood planer for, price and settings.

While there are electric models available, a hand wood planer is a manual tool. There are also different wood planers that are best for different types of projects. For example, if your project involves doors, then a jointer hand wood planer may be the best option for your project. This type of wood planer is best to trim, square and straighten the edges of doors or with wood projects that have long boards.

Rough lumber projects that need smoothing, however, may be best suited for a jack wood planer. For smoothing or flattening the surface of boards, however, a smooth wood planer may be the best hand wood planer.

Hand wood planers are used to smooth out wood.
Hand wood planers are used to smooth out wood.

After considering the type of project you need the wood planer for, your next consideration is the price. Generally, hand wood planers are not expensive. This is especially true when comparing hand models to electric models. Along with suiting the purpose of the wood planer, you also have to make sure that the planer price fits into your project budget.

Hand-operated wood planers are usually inexpensive tools, especially when compared with their electric counterparts.
Hand-operated wood planers are usually inexpensive tools, especially when compared with their electric counterparts.

After the type of project and the price, the third consideration in choosing the best hand wood planer are the settings options the planer has. You want to find a wood planer that allows you to change and adjust the depth of the cut. For example, if you simply need to shave the edge of a door, you would want to set the planer on the shallow setting. If you take a huge chunk out of the door jamb, then the door may not shut properly and you may have to replace the door.

On the other hand, if you need the planer to make a deeper shave or cut, you want to be able to switch it. Otherwise, it can take you longer than necessary to shave or take the chunk out of the wood that you need to take. If it is a one-off project that you are buying the wood planer to complete, then simply buy the one that fits the need you have at hand. Multi-purpose planer, however, are better suited for consumers that will use the item on multiple wood projects.

Discussion Comments

mobilian33

Electric wood planers are better for bigger jobs. I like to use mine to remove paint from old boards. It would take forever to do this type of job with a manual hand planer.

Drentel

@Feryll - If you have never used a wood planer before then the manual one will be easier for you to operate. There is a chance that the electric wood planer might get away from you and remove more of the wood than you need to remove. Also, you will probably find that the manual one is more comfortable to operate.

If the doors on your shed closed and opened when you first got it then you shouldn't even need a planer. There must be another problem. I would wait for the wood to dry out, and then check the doors again. If they don't close then you might want to contact the person who built the shed. Once you take the planer to the wood there is no going back.

Feryll

I recently had a storage and garden shed built in my backyard. The shed is working out well, but I have one little problem. The doors will not open wide enough for me to get in and out of the building. Now that I think of it, I guess this is a big problem.

I'm almost positive that the problem is that the wood has expanded because of all of the rain we have had lately. I didn't get a chance to seal the wood ramp that leads to the doors before the rain started, so I'll have to wait for it to dry out. Anyway, the bottoms of the doors are hitting the ramp before they can fully open.

I am planning to buy a wood planer just in chase I need to take a little wood off to get the doors to close. After reading this article, I am going to go with a manual hand wood planer. This isn't a tool I will use often, so the less I have to pay for it the better. However, I am wondering whether I should trim the bottom of the doors or trim a little off of the wood ramp. Trimming the ramp would be easier since I will have to take the doors off to trim them down a little.

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    • Hand wood planers are used to smooth out wood.
      By: stokkete
      Hand wood planers are used to smooth out wood.
    • Hand-operated wood planers are usually inexpensive tools, especially when compared with their electric counterparts.
      By: Arpad Nagy-Bagoly
      Hand-operated wood planers are usually inexpensive tools, especially when compared with their electric counterparts.