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So, I am at the Home Depot...

and I am shopping for some more wood for necks, and pickup up some hardware for some builds. After sorting through the 1x2's, trying to find some that don't have warps or bends, I decide to stop by the power tool department just to see what I can see.

For the longest time, I have wanted to pick up a bench planer, but I just could not justify spending 300 bucks on one, even though the prices have come down on them.

So I am looking at the planers they have, and they are still out of my price range. But then I see a 13 inch Ryobi bench plane. It was marked as originally $229.00, but was marked down to $192.00 on sale. I looked under the benches to see if they had any more of them, but this one appeared to be the last one they had.

I grab Brian from the power tool department, and he confirms that it is the last one of that model. I asked if the $194 was the lowest price on it. He pulled out his scanner and discovered that it was discounted down to $137.00 for the floor model. That sounded a whole lot better to me, so I told him I would take it.

He went to put it in the cart and found that it had been screwed down to the wooden shelf it was sitting on. He went to find a screwdriver, and after a long 15 minutes he finally came back and told me that all the cordless drill/screwdrivers had the batteries run down on them, and nobody had bothered to plug them back in. It would have taken a long time to get the screws out by hand, so I told him he could just put it in the cart, with the pieces of 2x6 it was attached to, and I would just take the wood off when I got home.

He did that and then told me he would take another 10% off the price for me. So when I got to the checkout, the $229.00 planer ended up costing me $124.00!! And including the factory warranty.

He shoots, he scores!!!

So I got it home and set it up on my workbench, I found a piece of scrap to test it out on. Worked like a charm, so I grabbed a few pieces of Ipe fingerboard stock that was rough cut and needed planing. In a matter of seconds, they were smooth and even. It would have taken me hours of sanding to get that hardwood flat like that.

I had never used a planer before, but boy am I a happy camper now!! Under a minute to plan 4 neck blanks smooth.

Yee Haw!!!

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Permalink Reply by 3 String Blues on September 12, 2011 at 1:40am

just think if the Quakers would have been as smart as you!...America would be a differnet place! make them like silly for hand planing all those years....whats bozos!

just kidding good score!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on September 12, 2011 at 2:51am

Yea, I hear ya. And I totally understand that some folks are all about hand sanding and using spoke shaves and all those manual ways of woodworking. And, I completely respect and admire their initiative and dedication to building that way.

My problem is that I just don't have the patience to do it that way. If I don't keep moving through a project, I wind up losing interest and don't complete stuff in a timely fashion.

So I use whatever technology is available at a price I can afford.

Cheers!

BeetleJuice! said:

just think if the Quakers would have been as smart as you!...America would be a differnet place! make them like silly for hand planing all those years....whats bozos!

just kidding good score!

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on September 12, 2011 at 3:31am

Nothing like being in the right place at the right time Dan. I think you are simply reaping some rewards from your good Karmatic actions of the past. Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on September 12, 2011 at 3:50am

Thanks. I am going to use this new technology for a special build I am doing for someone. Stay tuned.

Keni Lee Burgess said:

Nothing like being in the right place at the right time Dan. I think you are simply reaping some rewards from your good Karmatic actions of the past. Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on September 12, 2011 at 10:51am

SWEET deal man!

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on September 14, 2011 at 5:21am

Good deal, I use a power planer on all my necks, also a spoke shave and sandpaper, don't know how to do it without sandpaper? lol. While the planer is nice I would like to get a joiner next. The planer won't straighten twisted wood but a joiner can. We can never have enough tools!