What's inside
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The short answer: for most DW735 owners, the OEM DeWalt DW7351 reversible HSS knives (sold as a set of three, ~$45–60 street price) remain the safest buy, while budget aftermarket HSS sets from brands like FoxBC and POWERTEC (~$25–35) work well for occasional use, and carbide-tipped sets (~$80–130) only pay off if you regularly run abrasive or reclaimed lumber.
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Which knives fit which DeWalt planer
All three machines — the DW734, DW735, and DW735X — share the same knife geometry. The DW735X is simply a DW735 bundled with infeed/outfeed tables and an extra set of knives, so it takes identical blades. The spec you need: 12.5-inch knives, double-edged and reversible, indexed by locator pins in the cutterhead. DeWalt’s OEM part number is DW7351. Any replacement advertised as fitting the DW735 also fits the DW734, and vice versa.
One important distinction: these knives are indexed, meaning they drop into fixed pins rather than being set to height with a jig like older jointer-style heads. That makes knife changes a 15–20 minute job and means aftermarket blades either fit perfectly or not at all — poorly machined locator holes are the main quality risk in cheap sets.
OEM vs. aftermarket HSS vs. carbide: the real numbers
| Knife type | Typical price (set of 3) | Edges per set | Realistic edge life per edge | Re-sharpenable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeWalt DW7351 OEM HSS | $45–60 | 6 (double-edged) | ~1,500–2,500 board feet in clean softwood/hardwood | No — too thin; grind past the edge ruins the profile |
| Aftermarket HSS (FoxBC, POWERTEC, similar) | $25–35 | 6 | ~800–1,800 board feet depending on steel quality | No |
| Carbide-tipped 12.5″ knives | $80–130 | 6 | ~4,000–8,000+ board feet; far better in MDF, plywood, reclaimed wood | Sometimes (limited regrinds) |
| Disposable thicker “re-sharpenable” HSS blanks | $50–80 | 6 | Similar to OEM per edge | Yes, ~2–3 regrinds, but see below |
The edge-life figures above assume clean lumber. Sand, paint, embedded grit in barnwood, and glue lines in plywood can cut any number in half — that’s where the DW735’s reputation for eating knives comes from. The machine itself isn’t hard on blades; abrasive material is.
Cost per board foot: a worked example
Say you process about 3,000 board feet a year of mixed clean hardwood:
- OEM HSS: ~2 edges per side used across the year (roughly 2,000 bf per edge), so one set lasts about a year and a half. Cost ≈ $35–40/year.
- Budget HSS: roughly 1,200 bf per edge means burning a set a year. Cost ≈ $25–35/year — cheaper, but you swap knives more often and risk a dull set mid-project.
- Carbide-tipped: at ~6,000 bf per edge, a single edge lasts two years, and the full set could last 8–12 years. Cost ≈ $10–16/year — lowest long-term cost, but only at high volume.
Under ~1,000 board feet a year, carbide’s upfront premium never pays back. Over ~4,000, it usually does — especially if a chunk of that is sheet goods or reclaimed stock.
Picks by situation
| Your situation | Best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hobbyist, occasional weekend use, clean lumber | Budget aftermarket HSS | Lowest cost; edge-life penalty barely matters at low volume |
| Regular use, furniture and cabinetry, want predictability | OEM DW7351 | Consistent grind quality and locator-hole precision; known quantity |
| Lots of plywood, MDF, or reclaimed wood | Carbide-tipped | HSS dulls in a few hundred feet of abrasive stock; carbide shrugs it off |
| Want to re-sharpen rather than rebuy | Thicker re-sharpenable HSS sets — with caveats (below) | Only worthwhile if you have access to a sharpening service or jig |
Are re-sharpenable sets actually worth it?
Mostly, no — and this is where marketing oversells. Standard DW735 knives are ground thin and disposable by design; the OEM blades aren’t meant to be reground at all. Thicker aftermarket “re-sharpenable” sets exist, but the math is tight: a sharpening service typically charges $15–25 per set, which is 50–80% of a new budget set’s cost. On top of that, regrinding removes material, and after two or three grinds the knives sit lower and can no longer be indexed correctly on the pins — you’ve bought a second disposable set that costs more upfront.
Re-sharpenable knives make sense in one case: if you own or share a surface grinder or sharpening jig and do the work yourself. Otherwise, treat every 12.5-inch set as a consumable and budget accordingly.
Ownership realities most listings skip
- What wears first: the edge develops a micro-wire and nicks long before it looks dull. You’ll see raised lines on boards from nicked spots — often from a single hidden staple or piece of grit — before the whole edge dies. Rotate to the second edge when finish quality drops, not on a schedule.
- Resin buildup mimics dullness: pitch accumulation on the knife and head makes the machine strain and burnish boards. Clean knives with a resin/pitch remover (or oven cleaner on a rag, gloves on) before condemning them.
- Feed-rate matters: the DW735 has two speeds; the slower 179-cuts-per-inch speed extends edge life noticeably on hardwoods.
- Change all three at once. Mixing a fresh knife with two worn ones produces uneven cutting pressure and snipe. Rotate the full set, keep the used edges as spares for rough work.
- Torque the gib screws evenly in a star pattern; overtightening warps the knife and creates ridges you’ll chase for weeks.
- Common mistake: running painted or demolition lumber “just this once.” One pass over an unseen nail ends a $15 edge instantly. A cheap metal detector pays for itself the first time it saves a set.
Bottom line
If you want zero guesswork, buy the DeWalt DW7351 set — it’s the reference everything else is measured against. If you run the machine a few times a month on clean stock, budget aftermarket HSS sets give you 60–80% of the edge life at half the price. If sheet goods, reclaimed wood, or serious volume is your norm, carbide-tipped knives have the lowest true cost per board foot. Skip re-sharpenable sets unless you can sharpen them yourself, and keep a spare set of dewalt planer knives on the shelf either way — a dull blade always shows up mid-project, never before it.