Some time back, Julie Moriarty contacted me about the DeWalt 735 planer. As part of that exchange she mentioned the shelix head for the planer. I've been using the stock blades for years in my 735 and have been satisfied but her mention got me to looking at the shelix head.

I found that there's two Byrd shelix heads. The "standard" one is a bit smaller than the straight blade head that comes with the planer. It's smaller so that you can install it without having to remove all the cutters (40). People report that with the smaller shelix head, the rollers put too much pressure on the wood. So Byrd also makes an "OEM size" head but to install it, you have to remove all the 40 cutters so you can get it through the hole in the side of the planer.

My questions to those who have the Byrd shelix head for the DeWalt 735 are:

1. Which head did you buy? The smaller one or the OEM size one? If you didn't know about the OEM sized head, you probably have the smaller one.

2. If you bought the smaller one, do you experience any problems because it's smaller?

3. Any other comments will be appreciated. Do you think the upgrade was worthwhile? Does it do a better job than the straight blades (independent of blade life)? Any problems with popping breakers with the shelix head? Anything else?

Mike

[Also, I remember there was a distributor who would give a discount if you mentioned you were a SawMill Creek member. Who was that? Holbren?]