Molder/Planer Frequently Asked Questions

There are several immediate advantages to owning a planer:

1. Set up as a MOLDER, you can create high quality, high dollar molding. Many Woodmaster owners have built profitable businesses making molding.

2. Set up as a PLANER, you can increase the quality and variety of your projects. You can quickly dimension stock without depending on anyone else.

3. You can substantially reduce lumber costs by purchasing rough-cut stock direct from local sawmills. (As a Woodmaster owner, you’ll have exclusive access to our Sawmill Registry to help you locate mills nearest you). This is one reason people say that a Molder/Planer with enough muscle to handle rough-cut stock easily pays for itself.

With a multi-duty machine, you can create trim molding, picture frame stock, custom designs, log cabin siding, antique molding and much more…either for yourself or on a commercial basis. And with a variable feed rate machine, you can produce smoother, higher-quality molding than any you can buy at the lumberyard…and at a fraction of the price! Plus, because the Woodmaster quickly converts to a power-feed drum sander, you can use it to save hours of tedious hand sanding. And set up as a gang rip saw, you’ll produce multiple, identical blanks in minutes.

The Woodmaster is 4 machines in 1. It converts easily to a Molder, Planer, Drum Sander, and Gang Rip Saw. Each of the four machine functions can save you time and work — and that means money in your pocket. And when you put all four functions in one machine, you’ve got yourself a real moneymaker.

Some combination machines try to be “Swiss Army Knives,” trying to do too many, entirely different functions. They may change from table saw to a horizontal lathe to a vertical drill press and so on. Too many different functions: that’s where performance gets compromised. All the Woodmaster’s four functions operate identically: your work piece passes from infeed to outfeed, past a horizontally-rotating head, under variable speed feed rollers. The big difference in function is the head. Each of the four heads performs a different task: molding, planing, sanding, or sawing. So there’s no compromise in performance with any function.

Our owners tell us they use their Woodmasters most frequently and regularly as planers and molders. We suspect there are several reasons why, most of them tied to earning power: Rough-cut lumber is less expensive than already-planed stock so the woodworker who can “plane-his-own” has more opportunity to add value. More advanced woodworkers want and need the ability to precisely dimension lumber so their work can command top dollar. Our owners who make molding tell us it’s like printing money: they get top dollar and sometimes have trouble keeping up with the demand.

Perhaps you didn’t realize you can get the Woodmaster as a “Planer Only” machine. We sell many of them that way. But far more frequently, a customer orders a “Planer Plus Pro Pack.” The Pro Pack is a bundle of accessories that add convenience and capacity, allowing your Woodmaster to sand, saw, and make molding. A few dollars more gets you a LOT more capability.

The low-cost machines in catalogs are imported from China and Taiwan. They’re inexpensive because they have smaller capacities, a lot less power, and are built to different quality standards than the Woodmaster. Plus, you really can’t compare one-function imported machines to the 4-in-1, USA-made Woodmaster — they’re in different quality, function, and price categories altogether. Plus, Built-in-USA means if you do have a problem, we’ve got knowledgeable technicians to help … and parts on the shelf. When you call Woodmaster, a human being answers the phone and gets you the help you need.

Simple answer: no, they can’t. That’s because most of these machines are powered with a 3HP or 5HP motor. And because they don’t have a separate power source for the feed, up to one-third of the cutterhead motor’s power is “robbed” to drive the feed rollers.

Let’s take the planing function as an example. Taiwanese planers can rarely take more than a 1/8″ full width cut. However, variances in rough-cut stock commonly run as high as 3/16″…and these variances are often random along the board’s length and width.

Woodmaster’s exclusive two-motor system uses a separate, variable-speed gear motor to handle the feed.  100% of the 5HP (or 7.5HP) motor’s power goes to the cutterhead…right where it counts! Woodmaster’s variable feed rate means you can adjust feed to exactly fit the wood you’re planing, producing a satin-smooth finish impossible on other, fixed feed or 2-speed planers.

We haven’t been tempted to build overseas. It seems to us that, in today’s world, now is no time to put profits ahead of keeping jobs in America. Just like your Chevy or Ford, some of our components are manufactured elsewhere, like in Germany and Scandinavia. But the vast majority of our parts and components are from the USA. And EVERY Woodmaster is built and assembled right here in Kansas City.

We are highly cost competitive for several reasons. First, you buy your Woodmaster factory-direct with no middlemen and no markups. Second, we sell more machines than any other manufacturer in our industry so we can purchase materials in volume for big savings. Third, our overhead is low: our factory is 85 feet BELOW Kansas City, Missouri in commercialized caves. And fourth, we’re not looking to make a killing, just to make a decent living wage. That said, like most manufacturers these days we do source some components overseas. For instance, our sandpaper comes from Scandinavia and the carbide inserts on our spiral planer head come from Germany.

Yes, you can. Hundreds and hundreds of our owners have developed lucrative part-time incomes and impressive full-time salaries in Woodmaster-based businesses of their own. We supply the mechanical advantage; you supply the willingness to work, ambition, imagination, and persistence.

The answer depends on you. If you’re a highly skilled craftsman, you could earn the most making fine furniture, cabinetry, or room interiors. If you’re more of a production woodworker, you’ll find the Woodmaster’s speed, precision, and repeatability boost your earning power. But if you’re looking for a single product that can make you a lot of money, the answer is simple: molding.

Molding is profitable because you buy low and sell high: you purchase raw materials inexpensively and sell your end product at a high price. In between, you’ve added value — that’s where the profit is. You can easily turn a $5, rough-cut board into $75 worth of molding and trim. That’s a 1,500% return on your investment! Of all the kinds of moldings you can make with a Woodmaster, the most profitable by far is CURVED molding. Want to know more about making curved molding? Call and we’ll send you our FREE Curved Molding DVD.

In a nutshell: make top quality molding and the markets will find you: contractors, cabinetmakers, home remodelers, picture framers…even lumberyards. For a complete answer and “how to” details on starting your own molding business, call and ask for our FREE booklet, “How to Start and Operate Your Own High Profit Molding Business.”

No, because your Woodmaster can grow right along with your woodworking operation. We stock several attachments you can add now or later: our Twin-Router Power Platform lets you shape multiple sides per pass; our Spiral Cutterhead gives you super-fine finishes fast; our 2-Knife Molding Head can make perfect molding twice as fast. (Another way to keep up with orders is to add another Woodmaster later — many of our owners have)  And, finally, you can move to the Woodmaster 4000 High-Production 4-Side Molder/Planer – a true, industrial capacity, wood dimensioning machine.

No. Quite a few Woodmaster Owners are home or “hobby” woodworkers. These folks aren’t trying to make a living; they’re in it for fun. They’re interested in increasing the quality of their work, making more ambitious projects, or being able to build something totally from start to finish. Of course, once their quality and speed improve, a funny thing happens: more than one “hobby” woodworker has found his pleasant pastime becoming a very lucrative weekend, evening, or retirement venture once his friends, neighbors, and relatives begin asking him to make them everything from knick-knacks to furniture.

The best way to find out what it’s really like to operate a Woodmaster is to talk with an Owner. We have extensive lists of Owners who’ve agreed to “tell it like it is” to would-be customers. Give us a call and we’ll pass along the name of an Owner or two near you.

If you don’t “love” your Woodmaster, we don’t want you to own it! That’s why EVERY Woodmaster comes with a 60-Day RISK FREE Trial Offer. Use it in your shop for two full months. If you’re not completely satisfied within that time, you can send it back and we’ll refund your money, no questions asked. What’s more, every Woodmaster comes with a 5-Year Limited Warranty covering parts and workmanship. That’s the longest and strongest warranty in the industry!