Spiral Cutterhead

[fRED mCnEILL]

Grizzly is having a sale on spiral cutterheads and I am considering getting one for my 20" G454 planter.
Does anyone have one of these cutterheads. Are the Byrd ones better than the Grizzly ones.

Thanks

Fred

[Jim Andrew]

I added a Byrd cutterhead to my G0609 jointer, but bought my G0453 px planer with the grizzly head, no difference in the cut or wear, neither breaks cutters, far as I can tell, they are equal. Did lose 1/4" capacity on the jointer, as with the angled cutters, they don't go quite to the edge of the cutter on the Byrd. Mine is about 10 years old.

[glenn bradley]

This question has repeated over the years. I and a few others who have used both generally reply that there is no difference in the result from either head. This response is based from the time when Grizzly only offered the one German made head. I believe there are a couple Griz version now so factor that in.

[Mike Goetzke]

If you do a tremendous amount of planing you may look into cutter replacement costs. I recall a somewhat recent thread where the Grizz inserts were quite expensive. I have a Byrd on my Grizz jointer and Grizzly brand on my planer. Both perform great.

Mike

[Adam Merritt]

If you do a tremendous amount of planing you may look into cutter replacement costs. I recall a somewhat recent thread where the Grizz inserts were quite expensive.
That was probably me talking about the cost. The Grizzly inserts (H9893) are $83/ten, whereas Byrd are ~$30/ten. I should know today or tomorrow how the Byrd inserts work in a Grizzly head, but my test will be with all cutters replaced at once. It may be different if you are only replacing a few. When you're talking about 70-100 cutters, the price difference becomes significant!

[fRED mCnEILL]

Is there a significant improvement in longevity of the spiral vs knives given they are carbide. I realize there are 4 sides to each insert but am thinking about only on side of the insert vs a set of knives?

Thanks

Fred

[Adam Merritt]

Here is a link where this was discussed previously. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?52007-Carbide-or-HSS-jointer-knives-Advice-please

[Rick Alexander]

I put a byrd head on my G454 about 3-4 years ago. Best thing I ever did for that planer - well that and putting a digital readout on it. Ended up selling my finish planer after a couple of years because I never used it. I did the change-out myself - took about 3 hours but most of that was trying to figure out what I was doing. If I had to do it again I think I could do it in less than an hour. I have yet to turn those cutters and I can't imagine how many BF have gone through it already. I use nearly exclusively rough sawn lumber so it gets used for every project I do and most of what I use is red or white oak.

[Rick Fisher]

The cutters are made by Tigra .. You can buy them from all sorts of sources. Byrd cutters are used on other machines so they compete with Weinig.. I had a General Helical planer and bought replacement cutters from BAM in the USA .

[glenn bradley]

If you do a tremendous amount of planing you may look into cutter replacement costs. I recall a somewhat recent thread where the Grizz inserts were quite expensive. I have a Byrd on my Grizz jointer and Grizzly brand on my planer. Both perform great.

Mike

Griz is high on the replacement cutters. I buy the same JT inserts from another source. They even package "sets" for specific Grizzly models.

[Jason Lester]

Griz is high on the replacement cutters. I buy the same JT inserts from another source. They even package "sets" for specific Grizzly models.

Can you share the vendor?