Makita KP0800K

Capable, reliable and compact planer – I bought this planer in July 2020 upon a friend's recommendation. Though I already had a collection of DeWalt cordless tools, this friend reckoned that the cordless planers didn’t use the standard 82 mm reversible tungsten carbide tipped blades, and so with minimal research, I bought this Makita corded model. I later discovered that the DeWalt… Read more

cordless models do indeed use the standard blades, and so I recently bought one and it’s largely replaced the use of my Makita planer. By the way, I believe the only difference between the KP0800K and the KP0800 is that the former comes with a case.

Don’t get me wrong though, this Makita is an effective planer. I’ve used it extensively, mostly on hardwood. Much of that hardwood was salvaged, and so I would occasionally hit a nail that I’d missed spotting, and if that nail was intact as opposed to pretty rusty, it would generally cause the blade to snap into two or more pieces. The blade can still be used like this because it’s clamped into the planer, but there would usually be a groove across the blade edge, resulting in a ridge left on your timber after planing. So if you’re planing anything where you want a smooth finish, and you hit a nail, you’re generally going to have to replace the blades, or at least turn them around. Blade change-over is fairly quick and easy, requiring you to unscrew three bolts for each blade. I usually use my impact driver to do it faster.

This planer has a maximum depth of 2.5 mm, which isn’t bad. It has sufficient power for most purposes. If you’re planing dense hardwood though, you’ll either have to go pretty slowly at maximum blade depth, or use a shallower blade depth.

The planer is pretty compact, a reasonable sort of weight, and comfortable to hold and operate. I’ve been pleased with its performance and haven’t had any issues. In my experience its main downsides are that it’s quite loud, and that it has a cord, which makes it much more inconvenient to use than a corded planer. The cord just always seems to be getting in the way or getting caught on things. Still, I guess it’s handy to have around if I’m planing a large amount of timber or if I’m planning in two different locations at the same time to avoid carrying one planer back and forth.