Has everyone been satisfied with their Byrd head upgrades?

[Larry Feltner]

I have the Grizzly G0490 jointer with knives. I have thought about upgrading to the Byrd head. The head is on sale right now at Grizzly for $330. I love the idea behind the head and longevity of the cutters, but I have read several examples of people getting scalloping, ridges, etc., especially after rotating the cutters for the first time from the original factory setting. I certainly do not want to spend the time and money for the upgrade and not be as satisfied with the quality of the cuts I am getting. I'm just curious if these are common problems or am I worried for nothing? I know there are several folks on here who have made the switch and I'm curious how it has turned out in the long run.

[ron ogle]

I have an 8 inch joiner with byrd cutter head but have not rotated any cutters yet.byrd head is great and any scallop is gone with 150 sandpaper and a few seconds. I will not buy a tool without these cutters again.I really dont know anybody who would take their wood straight to the finished product without sanding anyway!:)

[Larry Feltner]

What about edge jointing. Does the scalloping effect the quality of the joint?

[Cliff Holmes]

Byrd heads (and other similar) don't scallop any more than normal jointer knives at the same feed rate.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Ditto on what Larry and Ron said. There's scalloping but no more than with straight knives. Wouldn't buy another tool without them. Haven't rotated mine yet either. I've read they last 10 times longer than straight knives. After coming off the jointer, I always finish the edges with a #7 jointer plane anyway.

[Derby Matthews]

My head is a Jet, not a Byrd aftermarket (though they may be the actual manufacturer) and I second all comments above. After one year with this new setup I think straight blade cutter heads are now as obsolete as square cutter heads became when cylindrical heads started becoming available. In a few years - maybe a decade, no one will make straight knife heads any more. Byrd style heads are quieter, safer, easier to maintain, and leave a much cleaner cut that easily finishes with 150 (180 if you're talking hard maple) grit sand paper. See the below thread for more:

Byrd Shelix for Jet 12" Jointer Planer? (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=111158)

:rolleyes: Disclaimer:
The comments in this post are my own and in no way reflect the views of inferior straight-knife cutter head manufacturers, their respective advertising agencies, rabidly faithful users, flat-earth societies or of-late "Tea Party Planer" members. Please send any hate mail to me and not them. On second thought.... please send any hate mail to you, not me.

[Joe Jensen]

What about edge jointing. Does the scalloping effect the quality of the joint?

The "Scalloping Effect" is nothing. When you use a straight knife planer you get "planer marks" that are 1/32" apart, and less than .001" deep. All power planers have them. If you go straight from a planer to staining and varnish they jump out. With a Byrd you get marks that are different, but no deeper. If you straight from the jointer or planer to stain and varnish they jump out. They are about 1/2" apart, and less than .001" deep. You can't go straight from the power tool to finish with either, and both are about the same depth. No issue glue ups, and super quick to sand out for a finished surface. Plus, with the Byrd I never get tearout. I often had tearout with straight knives on both the jointer and planer.

[Jeff Miller]

I have the Grizzly spiral cutter head on this Grizzly jointer and have no scalloping just smooth as glass



http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f32/woodfarmer/GRIZZLY/Harley021.jpg?t=1279845074



This head

http://cdn8.grizzly.com/pics/jpeg288/h/h7654.jpg




Repeat......smooth as glass,no sanding:D


JEFF:)

[Mikail Khan]

I have a Byrd head on my planer and Grizz head on my jointer. No regrets about either one.

The Byrd cutters have a small radius on them which leaves scallops that have to be sanded out.

The cutters for the Grizz head have straight edges so they don't leave scallops along the length of the board.


MK

[Will Overton]

I have the Grizzly spiral cutter head on this Grizzly jointer and have no scalloping just smooth as glass



http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f32/woodfarmer/GRIZZLY/Harley021.jpg?t=1279845074



This head

http://cdn8.grizzly.com/pics/jpeg288/h/h7654.jpg




Repeat......smooth as glass,no sanding:D


JEFF:)


Me too!

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/jointer.jpg?t=1279848549

[Eiji Fuller]

I installed a byrd head on my A331 and it is amazing. I would have gone thru 2 sets of straight knives for 60 bucks each by now and the cutters are still cutting great. I havent rotated the cutters yet. best WWing investment I have made to date.

[Larry Feltner]

For those who have done it, how difficult are they to install? Do you need any special tools? I'm a little nervous about tearing everything apart. I don't want to get the old head off and not be able to get the new one on. That would not be funny. One more question for those who have used both the Byrd and the Grizzly head. Which do you prefer? Are there advantages/disadvantages to each one?

[Bill Geyer]

I recently replaced the head on my 14 year-old Powermatic 8" jointer with the Byrd head. he job took all of 90 minutes, and that included a trip to the local bearing shop for new bearings.
I am very pleased with the Byrd head and wouldn't go back.
As the others have said, smooth as glass, no tearout on difficult woods, and quieter, to boot.

[Tom Esh]

...The Byrd cutters have a small radius on them which leaves scallops that have to be sanded out...
MK

The radius is actually necessary to reduce (and ideally eliminate) longitudinal "scallops". For example if you just took a straight cutter insert and angled it for a shear cut, the corners would contact the work first and cut deeper. Conversely if an angled insert's radius is too small, the center cuts deeper. Either way - scallops. Point being when you angle the insert, it has to have a radius that closely matches the cutterhead. I don't know how many different radiused inserts they make, but a perfect match would require a specific one for every single incremental head diameter.

[ed vitanovec]

I have the Byrd on my 8" shopfox, older model. I have been really happy with the upgrade and would highly recommend one. It's noticeable quitier and the finish is great, plus no painful knive adjustments. I ordered mine with new bearings already installed, it took about 25 minutes to do the swap.

Regards!
Ed

[Joe Jensen]

The radius is actually necessary to reduce (and ideally eliminate) longitudinal "scallops". For example if you just took a straight cutter insert and angled it for a shear cut, the corners would contact the work first and cut deeper. Conversely if an angled insert's radius is too small, the center cuts deeper. Either way - scallops. Point being when you angle the insert, it has to have a radius that closely matches the cutterhead. I don't know how many different radiused inserts they make, but a perfect match would require a specific one for every single incremental head diameter.

Exactly, and the radius Byrd choose would leave no sallop with one diameter of cutter head. I've had 2.75", 3", and 3.85" heads, and based on the scallops I've seen in my shop (none are an issue at all) I think the Byrd head on a 4" diameter head would essentially no marks.

[Chip Lindley]

I would have gone thru 2 sets of straight knives for 60 bucks each by now.

Hmm... Eiji, if you were indeed referring to sharpening two sets of knives until they were unusable, boy that's lots and lots of grinding!

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Larry, it's no difficult at all. I have an 8" grizzly jointer and I ordered the head direct from Holbren. For an extra $25 they installed new bearings. Money well spent. I borrowed a bearing puller set from work just in case but I don't remember using it. The whole job was well inside an hour.

[Rod Sheridan]

Chip, they're double sided disposable knives so he's used 4 edges or 2 knives.

Regards, Rod.