Customer Reviews

Bosch 1594K 6.5 Amp 3-1/4-Inch Planer Kit

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Bought this planer the other day to do some doors. It was all I expected and more. Very strong motor - never even appeared to bog down. Good balance. Depth control is very easy to use and accurate. I actually own a Dewalt and a Makita. I bought the Bosch for the features (i.e. the fully adjustable fence, the adjustable chip deflector that actually comes with a WORKABLE shop vac adapter - THAT is great!) and the reputation. I have not been disapointed. The Bosch is the best of the three. Until I got the Bosch I was pretty well satisfied with the Makita with the Dewalt pulling up the rear, but the Bosch is the best of the three by far. Strongest motor, Woodrazor carbide blades, shop vac adapter, and that great fence. You will use the fence. It can be set at 90 degrees or any other angle you want - and there is an adjustagble rabbeting stop that basically lets you take it about as deep and wide as you want. By the way, USE a shop vac with this. It will fill up your shop with shavings in a heartbeat - but with a vac hooked up, not a one hit the floor. Overall, this is a super tool at a very reasonable price. Oh yeah, it's also relative quiet. This one's a keeper.

I'm a general contractor, generally working on remodels or refurbishments. Recently I decided to purchase my first hand power planer. I will be using the machine for stud straightening, deck trimming, door/doorway adjustment, cabinet scribing, subfloor leveling ... and whatever else comes up. All-around functionality is my #1 criteria; expense is secondary, but important.

There are several different types of planers, as you will find out when you Google "planer". A "thickness planer" is used on boards to shape them into a uniform thickness. A "door planer" or "edge planer" is the kind we are talking about here. Searching on "planer" will bring up lots of false leads: authors, books, celebrities, floor-model tools, etc.. While most specific, "door planer" or "power hand planer" don't produce a whole lot of hits (other than advertisements).

After about 6 hours of on-line research as well as a review of JLC's July 2005 issue I've discovered many currently available models. They are, in alphabetical order:

Black & Decker 7696 - low-end stuff made by Dewalt... I skipped.
Bosch 1594K (planer and case/kit)
Bosch 3365 (a "stripped down" 1594 without carry case or fence)
Delta - none
Dewalt DW680K (planer & case/kit)
Festool HL850E (planer & case/kit)
Hitachi F30A (no longer sold)
Hitachi P20SBK (planer & case/kit)
Jet - none
Makita N1900B (planer & case/kit)
Makita N1902X7 (planer, no case - alot like N1900B)
Milwaulkee - none
Porter-Cable 9125 (planer, case/kit)
Porter-Cable 9118 (planer, case/kit)-- older, well reguarded
Ryobi L1121 (not much info...no longer sold?)
Ryobi HPL51K (planer, case/kit)

Of these units, the Bosch 1954, Porter-Cable 9118 (possibly 9125), and Festool HL850E seem to be best reguarded by professionals with the Mikita and Dewalt next. But I would say each of these models above have their fans.

The Bosch 0125, Festool HL850E, and Ryobi HPL51K have the capability to expel sawdust to one side or the other, a much-liked new feature.

The Porter-Cable 9118 cannot plane flat surfaces like floors (all the others can).

The Hitachi, Makita, Porter-Cable 9118 models have no dust bag or vacuum sawdust pickup capability at all.

A long base and a rear handle close to the back end make control easier. Bad control leads to snipe (gouging at start and end of runs). The Festool did the best here, but the (otherwise well liked) Bosch 1594 did poorly.

For me, I've narrowed the field to either the Festool HL850E or the Bosch 1594.

After reading all the reviews here, I bought the 1594K planer expecting nothing but the best. I was sold by the chip eject direction feature, power, smoothness, and my previous positive experiences with Bosch tools. To me the mis-aligned shoes mentioned elsewhere seemed like a short-term QC problem that had been resolved, judging by all the positive reveiws.

I was concerned when I received my new planer and saw machining marks that were less than confidence-inspiring. The machining marks on about 30% of one side were obviously not machined the same way as the rest of the sole plate. It looked like the tail end of the cutting tool was doing the work in that area, as the tool marks were arcing in the opposite direction. So I began to doubt the rear sole plate was flat.

I contacted Bosch via e-mail on this matter. They responded quickly, and were extremely helpful. They sent me a new rear sole plate and forwarded my comments to a senior technical advisor to look into the matter. They also requested digital pictures (that I offered in my e-mail) to help them investigate the matter further.

After looking at the tool more closely, the rear sole plate WAS ACTUALLY FLAT and fully functional. So, this issue turned out to be nothing more than a cosmetic complaint, but Bosch listened to my concerns and did everything in their power to make me happy. Customer service this good is rare, and I applaud Bosch on their efforts.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that the planer kit comes with a chip bag, not the vacuum hose adapter. This typo appears in more than one place, but it's a fact that you get the chip bag instead of the VAC002 hose attachment.

And, yes, the planer works great too. I'll let the other reviews speak to that!

Typically, I use a power planer for installing doors, surfacing boards that are too large for a stationary planer and sometimes for removing finishes. This tool excels at all of those tasks.

Bosch blades are the best I have found. Blade-change is easy and fast with no alignment problems.

While considering a new planer, I also tried the Festool planers. There are three advantages to the Festool planers:
1- Slightly better dust collection. I have to give this to Festool... They always consider dust-collection in their designs.
2- Micro adjustment of cutting-depth.
3- The ability to cut rabbets.

The dust collection advantage was too small to justify the grossly higher price. This Bosch tool adapts to my cheap shop-vac and removes dust 95% as well as the Festool.

I do not need the super-precise depth-of-cut feature because I use tape shims on the front sole of this planer. That is fast, secure, cheap and often more accurate than mechanical-adjustments.

Although the ability to cut rabbets is nifty, I always do that with a router or a hand-plane.
So, none of those features was enough to justify the MUCH higher expense of Festool planers.

After reading other reviews I must respond to two negative comments.

One reviewer pointed out that the fence leaves something to be desired. I agree, this fence is not perfect. But I have never used these types of fences "as-is." All the professionals I know attach a wood or MDF face to these types of fences, to prevent marring the work. Then we shim the face with tape for a nearly perfect 90-degrees: + / - .001". That is plenty accurate enough, even for fine cabinet-work. It is more reliable and secure than any mechanical adjustment mechanism.

Another reviewer claimed his planer had misaligned sole-plates so that it made concave cuts.
...That is impossible.
Concave-cutting can only be caused by improper technique.

It IS a bit tricky to use power planers at first. They do NOT operate on the same principle as hand-planes. The front sole is elevated above the rear sole. So you must start the cut with the front sole registered to the work, then immediately place the weight on the rear sole so that the cutter-head and blade register to the freshly-flattened surface. (Like a jointer, only upside-down and backwards.)

So it is easy to understand how a neophyte who does not understand the tool might make that mistake. A long time ago, I made the same mistake and ruined an expensive door.

Holding the tool with the weight on the front sole will ALWAYS cause gouging, even with a "perfect" planer.

When neophytes blame the tool for their misunderstanding, I feel obligated to help others learn and make an informed decision. Please do not assume I am "haughty" or a "know-it-all" for pointing this out. As admitted, I too made this mistake the first time I used a power planer.

Over three years of owning it and countless successful projects, I have been very satisfied with this Bosch planer.

It cuts well, and with a sound understanding and good technique, it cuts just as well as the more expensive Festool.
It is smooth, vibration-free and makes precision-surfacing a dream.

Props to Festool for great dust-control, rabbeting feature, micro-adjustment and generally great engineering. I admire Festool, and if price were no object, I'd buy one of every product they make.

For this practical old-pro, the Bosch planer is a much better deal.

This planer is excellent, as the other reviews have stated. However it no longer comes with the "VAC002" attachement that the first Spotlight reviews mentions as "actually comes with a WORKABLE shop vac adapter - THAT is great!" Yes, that would be great. I got the tool and needed it immediately, without the shopvac adapter, the entire room was quickly covered in wood shavings. The included bag is OK for mild cuts, for aggressive cuts the longer, thicker shavings quickly clog the port.

I bought this planer several months ago, largely on the strength of Bosch's reputation and my satisfaction with the 4410 sliding compound miter saw. The planer works like a dream, the plastic carrying case is well made and the chip collector bag keeps your work area clean, but Bosch should be ashamed to sell that cheesy stamped steel fence with such a fine tool.

It is impossible to adjust the fence accurately because it torques, allowing the two locking knobs to be tightened at different settings. No matter, the markings are inaccurate and hard to read anyway, and the mere act of tightening the knobs causes their settings to change. It is supposed to adjust from 135 to 90 degrees, but mine reaches only about 92 degrees at the stops, making it worthless for making a square cut.

Buy the planer if you will, but don't bother trying to use the fence.

I bought this tool this morning after reading all the reviews and deciding that it was the top of the line tool. I've been consistently happy with Bosch tools. This one, though, was terribly faulty. The planer soles were so misaligned that it was impossible to plane wood flat. I returned it, hoping to get a replacement. The only other one at the store was similarly misaligned. The clerk told me that others had been returned for the same reason. The alignment was so off that I can't believe that Bosch would put out such a lame tool. Perhaps the store got a bad batch, but I wouldn't buy one of these without looking at it first to see that the soles are in the same plane, not kinked to allow the tool to dig a concave hole in your work.

I am a home builder and after considering where my time and energy was leaking, I decided to pick up a planer. Went with the Bosch model because of the brand and because of the exhaust port. As you read in other reviews, planers produce wood snow faster than any other tool by far. My anticipated application was smoothing subflooring and punishing misbehaving wall studs. Turns out there are a lot more places where a quick judicial touch will plumb, square and level framing and cabinetry, thereby boosting overall work quality and satifaction. In other words, it makes life on the site easier all the way around.

Well, I got this planer after reading some reviews on here and is does live up to all the hype. It's lightweight and comfortable to use for long periods and it leaves a beautiful smooth finish that doesn't need further sanding if you can skillfully use this on wider surfaces. I purchased this for a fencing project that required smoothing of some really rough cut common cedar panels found at the large home improvement chains. Smoothed out about 6'x 200' of cedar and left an excellent surface for staining.
The only little nuisance on this planer is the chip bag hangs a bit low so it cathes on rough surfaces while in motion and seems to tatter a bit too easily from the inside as you constantly need to unzip and unzip. It does fill up quick so a shop vac hooked up would be a good idea on large projects, though mine didn't come with the claimed vac adapter on Bosch's site. Overall another excellent tool in Bosch's line up.

This is my fourth Bosch tool purchase so, I'm very familar with the Bosch tool company. This planer lives up to the outstanding quality of the others in every way. Very easy to use (planers can do a lot of damage to your work if you are not careful), cool adjustable chip port (left or right side), great balance (feels good in your hand), plenty of power, and the best planer blades in the business. The blades make such a smooth cut, very little if any sanding is required. No kidding. With the extra set of blades and the fence you get, no other extras are needed. Anyone that is considering buying a planer should give this tool serious consideration. I looked at all the others and this was by far the best. You will not be disapointed.