KNOW anything about the G1021X spiral planer?

[jon claw]

Hello. I'm new to this site. I'm thinking of picking up a Grizzly G1021X, 15" spiral head planer. I know that some people are not into Grizzly but just wondering if anyone out there has used one or KNOWS anything about it. We've got a Tersa head planer at the shop I work at and it's great. I'm sure the Grizzly isn't as good as the shop planer but is it somewhat comparable? I don't know anything about spiral heads and could use some feedback. I already have a Grizzly g1023 10" table saw and I'm very happy with that if it helps frame your response. Thanks.

[Kim Spence]

I don't have any experience with that head on a planer, but I have the Griz 8" jointer with the spiral carbide head and I love it. Quality of cut is nice. If I was buying a new planer today the G1021X is likely the one I would buy, based on my experience with the jointer.

[John Bush]

Hi Kim. I have been considerig a spiral head joiner and was wondering which model you have. I live near Griz in Bellingham Wa. and have seen most of the models in person and I may "downgrade" from my PM60B to a spiral head. Even considering the new J/P combo. Thanks, John.

[Kim Spence]

Hi Kim. I have been considerig a spiral head joiner and was wondering which model you have. I live near Griz in Bellingham Wa. and have seen most of the models in person and I may "downgrade" from my PM60B to a spiral head. Even considering the new J/P combo. Thanks, John.

Hi John. I have the Grizzly G0593 8". Its a very nice machine, the head cuts very cleanly in all wood. Highly recommend it. And for what its worth, you can probably order just the head and add it to your PM60B. I don't have any experience with J/P combos.

Thanks,
Kim

[Joe Jensen]

Hi Kim. I have been considerig a spiral head joiner and was wondering which model you have. I live near Griz in Bellingham Wa. and have seen most of the models in person and I may "downgrade" from my PM60B to a spiral head. Even considering the new J/P combo. Thanks, John.

Hi John, I have a circa 1990 PM model 60 jointer. I've considered moving to a 12", and I was surprised at how little the model 60 is worth now days. You might consider just adding a Byrd head. I think you can get one for $350 from Brian at Holbren...joe

[Jerry White]

Welcome to SMC, Jon. Many knowledgeable people here, I know you will find it rewarding.

I have owned the Grizzly 1021X for about six months now and I highly recommend it. It is a premium machine. The cut is great, it is quiet, and it arrived from Grizzly very well adjusted. The packing was also very impressive, the best I've experienced with any machine shipment.

I have no experience with the Tersa blades, so I can't compare results between the two. There are several members here who have Tersa machines. Maybe someone has used both the Tersa and the Grizzly spiral.

Good luck on your planer purchase.

[jon claw]

Thanks for the responses from everyone. Sounds like you're having a good experience with your machine Jerry. Tersa heads can be great as far as set up time goes and, from my experience, the parallelism to the tables, side to side, is great. To me it seems like the blades dull a little too quickly for my liking though. Do the inserts on the spiral head seem to hold an edge for a while or have you noticed quick wearing on those as well? How about the movement on the table while running material? Seem like it locks down pretty well? I imagine every planer leaves some marks but I'm hoping that once the wood's out of the planer I can just give it a few passes with 150g and it'll look pretty good. What do you think?

I'm also curious about the spiral jointer that Kim has. Thanks for the response Kim. My thinking was that I'd get a standard head for the jointer and even if there were marks on the material they probably wouldn't project through when I sent them through the planer with the spiral head and it would leave me with a pretty clean piece. But maybe I need a spiral head on my jointer as well. Don't know if I will do that but would be interested in how your set up woks out for you Kim.

Thanks again.

[Kim Spence]

Thanks for the responses from everyone. Sounds like you're having a good experience with your machine Jerry. Tersa heads can be great as far as set up time goes and, from my experience, the parallelism to the tables, side to side, is great. To me it seems like the blades dull a little too quickly for my liking though. Do the inserts on the spiral head seem to hold an edge for a while or have you noticed quick wearing on those as well? How about the movement on the table while running material? Seem like it locks down pretty well? I imagine every planer leaves some marks but I'm hoping that once the wood's out of the planer I can just give it a few passes with 150g and it'll look pretty good. What do you think?

I'm also curious about the spiral jointer that Kim has. Thanks for the response Kim. My thinking was that I'd get a standard head for the jointer and even if there were marks on the material they probably wouldn't project through when I sent them through the planer with the spiral head and it would leave me with a pretty clean piece. But maybe I need a spiral head on my jointer as well. Don't know if I will do that but would be interested in how your set up woks out for you Kim.

Thanks again.
I'm quite pleased with the Spiral jointer. The way I use it in conjunction with my planer may be a bit unique; I generally face joint one side of a board, then run through the planer till just a couple hundredths over final thickness, then run the planed face back over the jointer removing the last couple hundredths. Couple advantages I see to this - remove planer snipe and end up with "spiral" cut on both sides of a board. I have the Powermatic 15s planer and it tends to tear out unless the blades are brand new. By running back over the jointer I can run the planer blades longer because I'm using the jointer for the final surfacing.

[Jerry White]

Do the inserts on the spiral head seem to hold an edge for a while or have you noticed quick wearing on those as well?

At this point, it is too early for me to make a prediction on the edge life. So far, I haven't noticed any dulling. I have heard good things on the durability from others, though.

How about the movement on the table while running material? Seem like it locks down pretty well? I imagine every planer leaves some marks but I'm hoping that once the wood's out of the planer I can just give it a few passes with 150g and it'll look pretty good. What do you think?

The table locks well. There are some light marks left by the planer, but they quickly clear up with a pass of the scraper or the 150 grit sander would easily work, too.


Good luck to you, Jon

[jim gossage]

i have a yorkcraft 8" jointer with byrd spiral head. i have never seen tearout on a variety of woods, though i have not jointed any burl. after about 8 months of hobby work, the inserts seem just as sharp as day 1, and i still haven't rotated them. the surface is very smooth unless you pull out a microscope, and it cleans up well with a few passes of 120 grit.

[Joe Jensen]

Thanks for the responses from everyone. Sounds like you're having a good experience with your machine Jerry. Tersa heads can be great as far as set up time goes and, from my experience, the parallelism to the tables, side to side, is great. To me it seems like the blades dull a little too quickly for my liking though. Do the inserts on the spiral head seem to hold an edge for a while or have you noticed quick wearing on those as well? How about the movement on the table while running material? Seem like it locks down pretty well? I imagine every planer leaves some marks but I'm hoping that once the wood's out of the planer I can just give it a few passes with 150g and it'll look pretty good. What do you think?

I'm also curious about the spiral jointer that Kim has. Thanks for the response Kim. My thinking was that I'd get a standard head for the jointer and even if there were marks on the material they probably wouldn't project through when I sent them through the planer with the spiral head and it would leave me with a pretty clean piece. But maybe I need a spiral head on my jointer as well. Don't know if I will do that but would be interested in how your set up woks out for you Kim.

Thanks again.

The Byrd head is a spiral configuration that uses 4 sided replaceable carbide inserts. I have one in my planer and I have ZERO tearout even with highly figured curly maple....joe

[Ron Williams]

I was just in Vegas at The AWFS looking for a new jointer and planer. Byrd,Grizzly and Powermatc were all demonstrating spiral heads. Grizzly was demoing their 12" extreme series jointing curly maple. I was so impressed I bought the G9860ZX jointer and the G1021X Planer. I went to the show thinking I would purchase the FS 41 Minimax but after seeing the build quality of the grizzly and the cut quality and the fact that it was much quiter I bought Grizzly.
Ron

[Joe Jensen]

I was just in Vegas at The AWFS looking for a new jointer and planer. Byrd,Grizzly and Powermatc were all demonstrating spiral heads. Grizzly was demoing their 12" extreme series jointing curly maple. I was so impressed I bought the G9860ZX jointer and the G1021X Planer. I went to the show thinking I would purchase the FS 41 Minimax but after seeing the build quality of the grizzly and the cut quality and the fact that it was much quiter I bought Grizzly.
Ron

Does the Extreme series come with the Byrd head or the Grizzy head?...joe

[Ron Williams]

It comes with a Grizzly Head. This head was cutting Curly Maple with no visible lines etc. The Byrd Head at the Byrd booth was leaving visible ridges
Ron