Shop Fox W1741S Jointer Question

[Greg Bender]

I'm looking at a Shop Fox W1741S 8" jointer with the Spiral Cutterhead and wanted to find someone who had one who could offer their opinion. The good and the bad preferably.I have seen different comments in regards to the many designs of spiral cutterheads and want to Know where the Shop Fox/Grizzly design performs.I realize that it is not a Byrd but will it do a decent job till I can put some money aside for the Byrd Head? Any and all help will be much appreciated.I was going to pick it up tomorrow.
Greg

[Greg Bender]

Somebody must have the Grizz or the Shop Fox 8" jointer with the spiral cutterhead, What do you think of the cut quality? I need to make the decision about whether to get the factory spiral cutterhead or the 4 knife cutterhead and later on upgrade to a Byrd.
Greg

[Cary Falk]

I have the 1741 and put a Byrd head in it. I went this route because I got a smoking deal on the Jointer. I have a grizzly 15" planer with a grizzly head. There is no difference in cut quality between the 2. The Shop Fox jointer is the same as the Grizzly G0490x. It has a Grizzly head. There have been many threads on the cut quality between Grizzly and Byrd. The result is that there isn't any noticable difference.

[Matt Winterowd]

To provide the exact complimentary feedback to Cary's: I have had a grizzly head on a 6" jointer and have a byrd head in my planer. I also couldn't tell any difference in the cut quality. I believe that one of the mags did a head-to-head comparison and found that the different designs left slightly different patterns of tiny ridges on the wood, but that there was no practical difference in quality or finish. I'd say get the grizzly spiral up front to save a bit of money.

[Greg Bender]

Matt and Cary,
Thanx for the response ,I did buy the 1741S today and just finished setting it up.So far I'm thinking I made a good move.The fences adjusted exactly 90* to the tables and the finish on the tables is flawless. Had to tighten the belt and clean the spiral head of all the cosmoline which was fun.Jointed a couple of pieces of 10/4 red oak and the surface looks great and the whole process was alot quieter that my old 3 knife jointer.All in all,I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase.And I got a great deal on it. Thanx,Greg

[ed vitanovec]

You will like the spiral head, it is quitier. I have a Byrd 8" on my older Shopfox jointer, it was an easy install. I think the cut quality is better than the 3 knife head it originally had. One big benefit is no time consuming knife height adjustments, just loosen the screw and rotate the cutter 90 degrees. I have heard if you over tighten the cutter hold down screws the cutters will crack into pieces. Enjoy your new tool and let us know what you think. Also post some pictures before the gloat patrol comes knocking on your shop door.

Regards!
Ed

[Matt Winterowd]

Greg, I think you love the jointer. It's a really nice machine! One thing you might check is whether the chip chute is open or covered. I think that they've started totally enclosing the chute, but it used to be open on top on the inside of the base. If it's open, it's just a quickie fix to slap a piece of plywood up there to improve DC significantly.

Enjoy!