DeWalt DW735 vs DW735X — Is the Upgrade Worth It?

The DeWalt DW735 vs DW735X question is one I spent way too long overthinking before I finally just bought the X and moved on with my life. Here’s the thing nobody tells you upfront: these are not two different planers. They are one planer sold in two different packaging configurations, and once you understand that, the entire buying decision collapses into a simple piece of arithmetic. I’ve been using my DW735X in a small workshop for about three years now, and I’ve had enough conversations with other woodworkers — some of whom bought the base DW735 and immediately had to track down the accessories separately — to know exactly what the right call is and when.

The Only Differences Between DW735 and DW735X

Let me just say this plainly. The motor is identical. The cutter head is identical. The two-speed gearbox, the material removal rate, the 13-inch cutting width, the fan-assisted chip ejection — identical. You are buying the same machine either way. Full stop.

What the X bundle adds is two things and two things only:

• Infeed and outfeed extension tables that attach to both ends of the planer
• One extra set of replacement knives (three-knife cutter head, so that’s three additional blades)

That’s the whole list. No upgraded motor. No different dust port. No enhanced depth adjustment. The base DW735 ships with the planer and one set of installed knives, and the X ships with the planer, the same installed knives, and those two additions bolted in the box alongside it.

I remember unboxing mine and genuinely double-checking the model number on the machine itself because I was half-convinced I’d gotten a mislabeled base unit. The planers are physically stamped the same. The extension tables were in a separate cardboard sleeve inside the main box. That’s your upgrade.

The extension tables themselves are worth describing in more detail because people treat them like an afterthought, and they’re not. They’re rigid steel extensions that slide into receiver slots on the infeed and outfeed sides of the machine. Each one adds roughly 16 inches of support surface, which matters enormously when you’re running an 8-foot board through and need it to stay flat on entry and exit without drooping. Without them, long boards tend to tilt slightly on the way in or out, which can create a slight snipe at the board ends — that characteristic divot that everyone who has used a lunchbox planer knows intimately.

The extra knife set is a practical inclusion. DW735 knives — DeWalt part number DW7352 if you’re searching — are double-sided disposable knives. You run one edge until it dulls, flip them, run the other edge, then replace. Having a backup set means you’re not stopping a project mid-session to wait on a delivery from Amazon or Home Depot.

The Cost Math — What You Actually Save

Probably should have opened with this section, honestly. This is the part that every other comparison article either skips entirely or waves past with a vague “the X offers better value.” Let’s use actual numbers.

As of the time I’m writing this, the DeWalt DW735 base unit runs approximately $530 to $560 new at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Amazon, depending on the week. The DW735X runs approximately $600 to $620 in the same retail channels. Call it a $60 to $70 premium for the bundle on average. I paid $609 for mine at a Home Depot in 2021.

Now let’s price the accessories separately:

• DeWalt DW7351 infeed/outfeed table set — retails for approximately $55 to $75 depending on the seller. I’ve seen it as high as $79 on Amazon with no Prime discount applied.
• DeWalt DW7352 replacement knives (three-piece set) — approximately $22 to $28 new.

Add those together. At the low end, $55 plus $22 equals $77 in accessories. At the high end, $75 plus $28 equals $103. The X bundle premium is $60 to $70. You do the math: buying the X instead of the base unit and sourcing the accessories separately saves you somewhere between $10 and $40, depending on where prices land on any given day.

That’s not a massive windfall. But it’s also not nothing, and more importantly, you never have to deal with the mild annoyance of tracking down the table set, which has historically gone in and out of stock in weird patterns because it’s an accessory SKU with lower inventory priority than the main unit.

Here’s the mistake I’ve seen people make: they buy the base DW735 because it’s cheaper, then they don’t buy the tables immediately because they figure they’ll manage without them, and six months later they’re ordering them anyway after a long board goes sideways on them. Net result — they paid full accessory retail plus whatever the inconvenience cost them. Buying the X upfront avoids that entirely.

One number worth anchoring: if the premium on the X ever climbs above $100 compared to the base unit at the same retailer on the same day, run that math again before assuming the X is still the deal. It’s only a deal if the bundled accessories are priced below what you’d pay for them separately. Check the current prices on both items every time. Retail pricing shifts.

Do You Actually Need the Tables

Stumped by inconsistent results on a 6-foot ash board, I spent an embarrassing amount of time adjusting feed pressure before I realized the real problem was that I was running the board unsupported on exit. The outfeed end was drooping about an inch below the planer bed, which was enough to induce snipe at the trailing edge every single pass. Once the extension tables were attached, the problem evaporated.

But that’s my situation. Yours might be different.

If you’re running the DW735 on a sturdy, flat workbench and that bench extends at least 16 to 18 inches beyond the planer on both sides, the extension tables are genuinely redundant. The bench surface itself serves the same support function. I have a friend who keeps his DW735 base unit bolted to a dedicated outfeed station he built from 3/4-inch Baltic birch, and he’s never once needed the extension tables. He bought them as part of an X bundle anyway, used them twice out of curiosity, and they’ve been in a drawer since.

Job site use is a different story entirely. If you’re loading the planer into a truck bed, taking it to a renovation or a client’s shop, and setting it up on whatever surface is available — a folding table, a stack of lumber, the tailgate — the extension tables are not optional. They’re the difference between consistent results and a frustrating pile of snipe-riddled boards.

Home workshop with a dedicated setup: tables are a nice-to-have. Anywhere else: tables are essential. That’s the real filter.

The extra knife set is less situational. You will eventually dull a set of knives. It’s going to happen sooner than you expect if you’re running a lot of figured wood or anything with silica content. Having a backup set in the drawer below the planer is genuinely useful every time. No one has ever complained about having a spare set of blades on hand.

The Verdict

Here’s the decision tree, and it’s short.

If you are buying new and the DW735X is within $80 of the base DW735 at your preferred retailer — get the X. The math works in your favor, you get the accessories bundled without a scavenger hunt, and you’ll avoid the mental accounting of “I should probably order those tables eventually.” Just start with the complete package.

If the premium on the X is over $80 compared to the base unit — price the accessories separately that same day. If the table set plus knives still costs more than the X premium, get the X. If somehow the accessories are running cheap and you can beat the bundle price by buying piece by piece, buy the base unit and order the accessories with the savings.

If you already own the DW735 — do not buy the X as an upgrade. That would mean paying full retail for an entire second planer just to get $80 worth of accessories. Buy the DW7351 table set and the DW7352 knife set individually. You’ll spend around $80 to $100 and have exactly the same configuration as an X owner. The machine you already have is not inferior in any functional way.

The DW735 is one of the best benchtop planers available at its price point regardless of which packaging configuration you buy it in. Three years in, mine still cuts clean and flat on hardwoods up to about 5/8-inch removal per pass without bogging. The two-speed gearbox is genuinely useful — slower feed rate for figured grain, faster rate for rough dimensioning. Nothing about the base machine has ever disappointed me.

Just don’t let anyone convince you the X is a different or better planer. It’s the same planer. You’re buying a bundle, and whether that bundle is worth the premium is a $70 math problem, not a woodworking decision.