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Product Ranking

The standings for the 12-13" Planers analysis has the Craftsman 21743 13 in. Bench Top Planer as 14th among 22 and 38th among 130 in the Planers category. The average price of is $373.24 and the Craftsman 21743 13 in. Bench Top Planer is 12th in price. It is 26th in Planers at $2196.23. It is the 21th ranked product among 153 in the Craftsman brand.

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grade B
WHAT'S THIS?

Nice Features, Though Loud & Heavy
Wood Magazine, Volume 148, 2003-05

The reviewer recommended this portable planer for users who do not own or do not plan to buy a dust collector, especially since this planer's built-in dust collection works well with regular trash bags and a trash can. There are several high points of this model: the power-assist feature allows large changes in cutting depth easily, the cutterhead crank can go on either side of the unit, the extension tables always fold flat, the thickness scale is highly visible due to its location above the cutterhead, and there is onboard storage of tools for changing the knives. Some low points are that the knife-changing area is cramped, which slows the changing of knives, and this portable planer is the loudest (106 db) and heaviest (86.5 pounds) of those tested. Some early releases of this model had a problem with thickness stops not being able to be adjusted accurately between stops, but this problem has since been resolved and any users experiencing this problem can call Craftsman for a free replacement stop.

grade C
WHAT'S THIS?

Some Good, Some Bad
Fine Woodworking Magazine, Volume 161, 2003-02

This Craftsman benchtop planer has some useful features not found on others in its class such as its very efficient built-in dust collector with canvas hood and high volume vaccuum. It is also unique in that it has a motorized carriage which can be moved with one finger by the flip of a lever. The machine had minimal snipe (0.001 in.). However, Fine Woodworking noted that its carriage was very out of parallel, although adjustable. The machine is noisy at 100 decibels, hard to move around at 95 pounds, and took more than twenty minutes to change the knives. It creates smooth surfaces that are acceptable but not as good as others.