I was using old barn wood of various sizes to build a gaming table and knew I'd need a planer to get everything to the same thickness for the various pieces such as the frame, supports and legs. This planer was the perfect tool to do that. It came with the stand, removable input and output shelves, and an extra set of blades.While the planer itself comes fully assembled, the stand does not. It is easy to assemble and took me a casual 30 minutes to do that. Aligning the bolt holes between the stand and planer was tricky but eventually no issues there. Quality of parts is excellent all-around, and the fully assembled planer and stand moves easily on my concrete shop floor. NOTE: the planer itself weighs 92 pounds, so you may need a second person to lift it up onto the stand. If so, the planer has two nicely designed handles to assist.The tool has two speeds for rough planing and finish planing. With new blades, the rough planing was more then good enough for my use, and the finish planing made the wood (elm and ash) look like it had a glass-like finish, so good performance there. The tool will handle up to 6-inch thick wood and I used it for some 3-1/2 inch thick pieces with no problems at all. Adjusting the height of the cutting blades is easily done with the side wheel; two different gauges let you set the height and amount of cut. I generally was cutting no more than 1/16 inch at a time and the gauge is marked in 32nds. This tool will handle up to 13 inch wide wood. I put about 40 feet of 8-10 inch wide wood through (not including up to four additional passes per board) with no issues. I did try to plane some small pieces (3-inch wide, 5-inch long and 1/4 inch thick), and the planer left some rippling due to their small size and the quick feed speed, so a potential limitation there.The planer exhaust is centrally located at the rear near the top, and when connected to a vacuum hose the hose will sometimes interfere with the exiting wood, so watch for that. The planer and vacuum combo is quite noisy, so ear protection is highly recommended. The planer pulls the wood through nicely and quickly, so watch your hands.The planer comes with a Torx t-wrench tool (in a storage slot on top) that is used to disassemble anything on the planer (including blade replacement). A nice touch.Finally, I'd recommend putting some paste wax on the extension shelves and inside the planer to help the wood along; that made a big difference after the first 40 feet or so of wood throughput.Overall an excellent tool that should last me through many projects.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]