Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 9118 Porta-Plane 7 Amp 2-13/32-Inch Planer

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one tool not to be without if you find it necessary to process and hang your own doors. I have found it the best door planer in the world. It's long shoe and standard bevel guide make it easy to maintain an accurate cut. The spiral cutter is without a doubt the smoothest of all the power planes out there. Opt for the carbide blade. If you need to plane wide boards or timbers this is not what you need, but if door and board edges are in your future get one now. I'm glad to see it returned to the market. Rumor has it that the tooling was wearing out so these new ones should be a well made tight tool.

I HANG CUSTOM MAHOGANY DOORS FOR A LIVING AND THIS PLANER IS THE BEST. IT PLANES THE WOOD WITH ACCURACY AND SMOOTHNESS WITH LITTLE EFFORT. I RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT TO ANYONE. I WISH I HAD TWO OF THEM.

I use a planer several times a day, and have been impressed with the quality of this product. One feature that no one seems to think about, is the ability to set the Porter-Cable down without chipping the carbide blade. Other planers that I have used,(without a fence), tend to rest on the exposed blade. On the downside...Good dust collection would be important for many of the applications that I use. I have used this planer for many years and am glad that Porter-Cable is re-introduceing this product.

Over the years I have tried lots of different ways to fit doors and have not really been satisfied with the end result until after buying this plane and the book "Door Hangers Handbook". The Spiral bit makes all the difference compared to my other straiht blade plane. The cuts are smooth and easy to control. The depth of cut lever is very easy to adjust. The Bevel fence feels real solid compared to other planes I've used. I bevel the sides of the doors to 3 degrees so I just cut a block of wood using my miter saw that has a 90 and 93/87 degree faces. This way I can set the plane to the bevel and back to 90 in a couple of seconds and it is super accurate. One last thing, this plane is much quieter than I thought it would be. I'm actually looking forward to doing more doors with it!

My wife bought me this machine 25 years ago. I still have the plane, and the wife. It is (the plane) a sweet machine. It is primarily for resizing doors, but I have used it for a jointer of sorts with good success. If you are a door man/person (sorry) its the one for you. I assume it still comes with a carbide blade. If you want to surface plane, you want something else, but for up to about 2.5 inches this is the one.

Hope this helps. JA

If you plain on hanging doors for a living, or already do so. buy this planer. it will last forever. with the finger lever you can adjust the height as you plane to help follow high and low spots.

for 3% bevels it is perfect. one other reviewer mentioned about beveling a block to help set. great idea. but it only takes a few minutes or less to adjust bevel.

I have owned it for 2 years (since 5 2003) and have hung over 300 doors.

kreg

When I learned that this classic model is in its last production run, and that stocks are limited, I ordered one immediately. This is the best production planer ever, period! The price is a little steep compared to the competition, but you're paying for the the quality and design. I haven't used it to hang any doors yet, but I know I will. This tool is my companion for remodeling carpentry work. It helps me to shape framing members to fit inside the walls and floors of my 1930's vintage home where nothing is square or level. I use it when drywalling to straighten out bowed studs and ceiling joists, too. My craftsmanship has been improved greatly by owning this wonderful tool.

I've been using this door planer for years and it has been around longer then i've been hanging doors. It must be about 20 years old. This planer is a necessity for hanging doors. In fact, that is all I use it for.
When i'm dealing with doors that cost more then a $1000, I don't want to mess it up with some cheap planer, I use the right tool for the job.

Excellent tool for door installation, doesn't have an equal.

I have used the Porter Cable Porta-Plane before, so I already new it was a good planer. Now that I own one, I finally got the chance to use it brand new. I have used it on about 5 doors, so far. Once you get the hang of how it works, you can make absolutly straight runs with it from one end to another on a door. I have even been able to shape the doors to fit the old jambs when they weren't straight. I can just draw a pencil line, and I am able to basically free-hand the planer along the line. I have even used it to cut the height of the doors so I didn't have to use a saw, and I have used it to clean-up the saw cut on some doors that needed to be cut down. I would recomend having a second blade ready because if you do a lot of deep cuts, it dulls pretty quickly.