spiral vs Byrd Shelix Cutterhead

[Brad Schmid]

I was always under the impression the Byrd Shelix cutter head was considered better than a spiral cutter head due to the skew of the inserts on the Byrd. If that's the case, why do the spiral heads command a premium over the Byrd on the Grizzly website? What am I missing?

Example - for G0453 15" planer:

Spiral Head = $795.00 (74 inserts + ?)
http://grizzly9-px.rtrk.ca/products/15-Spiral-Cutterhead-for-G0453/T10128

or (what's the difference between these 2 spiral heads?)

Spiral Head = $695.00 (72 inserts + 5)
http://grizzly9-px.rtrk.ca/products/15-Indexable-Spiral-Cutterhead/H7655

and Byrd Shelix head = $629.95 (75 inserts + 10)
http://grizzly9-px.rtrk.ca/products/15-Shelix-Cutterhead/H7768

In any case, the Byrd is the cheaper option.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.

[kevin nee]

I would like to see an answer to this as I am on the fence of changing
a jointer from blades to carbide. My experience is you often get what you
pay for. Byrd has a great reputation. My jointer is a 12 inch Grizzly.

[Myk Rian]

This subject is getting like to be like SawStop.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

In my case I have concluded that if the price was the same I would buy the Grizzly, as I am quite happy with what I see coming off my 8" inch Grizzly jointer with spiral head.

But if the price difference is about a hundred bucks...well when time comes it will be the Byrd for me. Everything I have read says the performance is about the same, more or less.

My impression anyway, for what it is worth!

Bill

[Cary Falk]

I have a Byrd in my jointer and a Grizzly in my planer. I can't tell the difference so I would buy which ever is the cheapest at the time.

[Mark Carlson]

Everything I've read over the years is that there is no noticeable difference. I wanted my jointer and planer to have the same head type, so I could use the replacement inserts on both. I went with a byrd head on a jointer and a jointer/planer. In this case I'd get the byrd, its cheaper and made in the US.

~mark

[M Toupin]

The grizzly has 4 rows and the cutters which are square to the cut. The Byrd has 5 rows and the cutter is slightly skewed. Everything being equal the Byrd "should" give less tear out on funky grain.

Mike

[Mark Kornell]

I have a Byrd in my jointer and a Grizzly in my planer. I can't tell the difference so I would buy which ever is the cheapest at the time.

My setup is the opposite - Grizzly head in the jointer, Byrd in the planer.

But like Cary, I cannot spot a difference in the surfaces they create.

[Bud Zeien]

I would assume it's a matter of simple economics. Byrd makes a lot more heads so they are better prepared to make them at a lower price!?

[Bryan Wiesendahl]

In theory the Shelix is better, since only one point of the angled inserts is cutting at a time, as opposed to the width of the insert on the spiral, as opposed to the whole length of the knife on a regular blade. In practice the difference between the Shelix and a Spiral is not noticeable.

[Rich Riddle]

I have used the Shelix and the Grizzly versions. Along with the results from Fine Woodworking and others, the results from the Byrd Shelix proved superior to the Grizzly version.

[Victor Robinson]

I went with Byrd on both my jointer and planer on the theoretical basis. Don't think you'll go wrong either way so just go with what's convenient and/or most economical.

[Jim Andrew]

The cutter with the least amount of inserts will most likely take the least amount of power to run. The newest cutterhead Grizzly sells looks more like the Felder silent power when I see the pics.

[Brad Schmid]

Ok, I called Grizzly this morning, so I'll wrap this up with what the technical representative told me.
First off, the tech could not tell me the names of the manufacturers of the 2 heads sold under their name. He said Grizzly did not divulge that information to them.

The original head they sold is this one:
Spiral Head = $695.00 (72 inserts + 5)
http://grizzly9-px.rtrk.ca/products/15-Indexable-Spiral-Cutterhead/H7655
He said it mainly targets those wanting to replace their original equipment (eg. damaged original head). Of course it is certainly an option for an upgrade.

Then there is this one:
Spiral Head = $795.00 (74 inserts + ?)
http://grizzly9-px.rtrk.ca/products/15-Spiral-Cutterhead-for-G0453/T10128
This one is just an option from a second manufacturer and has German made carbide inserts. The German inserts are roughly twice the price of the original one above which factors into the difference in the price of the whole head assembly.

And finally, there is:
Byrd Shelix head = $629.95 (75 inserts + 10)
http://grizzly9-px.rtrk.ca/products/15-Shelix-Cutterhead/H7768
Of course all made in USA. The explanation here (and this was just the tech's opinion I think) was that Grizzly is a very large reseller of Byrd heads. The Byrd head is their most requested head and Grizzly buys these in larger quantity than the spiral heads from their 2 other manufacturers, which in turn accounts for an ability to pass some savings to the customer.

So for myself, I'm going to accept as fact that there is very little if any performance difference between the 3 heads. And, given the good track record of the Byrd carbide inserts (I haven't ever seen a complaint?), I think the German carbide insert head offers little additional value to me. So it's a no-brainer, I just ordered the Byrd Shelix head. I do already have a jointer with a Grizzly spiral head and I've been quite happy, but I'm going to shift gears and go the Byrd route on the planer. Hope that helps others as well.
Cheers