Advice on Byrd cutterhead

[Grant Charlick]

I am currently debating on purchasing a new cutterhead for my jointer and am seeking any advice from those that own a Byrd Shelix Carbide cutterhead. I process a lot of roughsawn lumber and to be honest I like the finish that my HSS knives leave but I am sick of having to stop in the middle of a big cabinet order to sharpen the knives. I have heard a lot of people say that they would rather have them on their planer but I use my drum sander to sand out small defects. So I guess I just would like to know how long the carbide inserts last before you have to dink with them and any pros or cons.

[Lee Hingle]

Grant,
I put a byrd head on my 6" jointer a few months ago. Very easy to do, and the results are fantastic. The only negative, if you even could call it that, is that the radiused edge of the carbide inserts leave a slightly "scalloped" groove in the board, which is sanded out fairly easily. I will be putting one on my grizzly 20"planer soon as I can.

I can't comment on longevity, but from what I understand, they last quite some time before needing to be rotated.
Good luck with your decision.

[Joe Jensen]

I have a Byrd head in my planer I have yet to see a downside. I sanded everything off the planer before. Now I don't have to worry about tearout, or direction of cut, and I have carbide knives that will last maybe 10X as long as the HSS straight knives. Yes, there is a slightly scalloped surface, but with fressh straight knives, there were still knife marks every 1/16th of an inch or so.

Bottom line, it took me 4 hours to get the knives perfect with straight knives, and now that the Byrd is installed, I'll never have to do that again. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Dick Latshaw]

I've had my 8 inch jointer with a Byrd head for a little over two years. I haven't turned the cutters yet. Now. I don't use it every day, but at the rate I'm going, I'm thinking 10 years or more for the four cutter sides.

[Russ Massery]

I highly recommend it. I have one my G0490. The other big plus with a Byrd head is chip control.The head cuts the chips into small individual pieces. Making dust collection much easier. I'll be installing one one my planer soon.

[Rob Will]

I have one on a 24" planer. Other than a few broken teeth, it works well.

Rob

[Grant Charlick]

Grant,
I put a byrd head on my 6" jointer a few months ago. Very easy to do, and the results are fantastic. The only negative, if you even could call it that, is that the radiused edge of the carbide inserts leave a slightly "scalloped" groove in the board, which is sanded out fairly easily. I will be putting one on my grizzly 20"planer soon as I can.

I can't comment on longevity, but from what I understand, they last quite some time before needing to be rotated.
Good luck with your decision.

These small curves you are talking about, how noticable are they. I also do a lot of edge jointing for door glue ups, is the depressions going to make this difficult. Other than that it seems like a go for me.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got one on my 8" jointer. Very happy with it. I do have lines on the boards, but even without sanding it wouldn't impact a glue up. Have a shelix on my planer too.

[gary Zimmel]

I to have one on my 8" jointer and have been very happy with the results I have got. It runs very quiet and to me cuts like a dream.
I would recommend the upgrade and wish I did it a long time ago.

[Grant Charlick]

I've got one on my 8" jointer. Very happy with it. I do have lines on the boards, but even without sanding it wouldn't impact a glue up. Have a shelix on my planer too.


Alright my mind is made up I am going to order one first thing tommorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul B. Cresti]

ever consider a Tersa Head? Straight knives (disposable and reversable) and can be changed out extremely fast without any set up ever...no scallops either. Now I have never use a spiral cutter head but I wonder in their is anyone around here that have used both a Tersa and a spiral head? Same goes for a true helicoidal head?

[Gary Keedwell]

I can't wait to get my byrd head cutters for my planer and jointer but I have to wait until we decide where were going to retire to. As the prices keep going down..I predict that years from now HSS blades might be just a quaint memory.
Gary

[Gary Herrmann]

ever consider a Tersa Head? Straight knives (disposable and reversable) and can be changed out extremely fast without any set up ever...no scallops either. Now I have never use a spiral cutter head but I wonder in their is anyone around here that have used both a Tersa and a spiral head? Same goes for a true helicoidal head?

Considered Tersa heads, but when I upgraded Holbren was having a 25% off sale on the Byrds.

Never actually used a Tersa. Heard good things tho.

[Steve knight]

Considered Tersa heads, but when I upgraded Holbren was having a 25% off sale on the Byrds.

Never actually used a Tersa. Heard good things tho.

it costs more and you are not going to get less tearout in figured woods and you will go through more knives.

[Joe Jensen]

ever consider a Tersa Head? Straight knives (disposable and reversable) and can be changed out extremely fast without any set up ever...no scallops either. Now I have never use a spiral cutter head but I wonder in their is anyone around here that have used both a Tersa and a spiral head? Same goes for a true helicoidal head?

I have both. My jointer has a Terminus cutterhead which is a clone of the Tersa. Knive changes are very quick, but I still get tearout on figured woods, even with fresh HSS knives. I first bought the Terminus for the jointer. I bought it with the belief that popping in fresh knives would solve my tearout issues. I wanted to test it in the jointer before spending bigger $$$ on one for the planer. Because the Terminus didn't solve the tearout issues, I bought a Byrd for the planer. I am thrilled with the Byrd. The scallops are very slight, I'd say no deeper than the 16 or so knife marks per inch from my old straight knives. I never went straight from the planer or jointer to finishing.

As far as glue ready edges with the Byrd, no problem.

I will be changing the Terminus for a Byrd, and will have a Terminus head for a Powermatic model 60 for sale :)

[Brad Shipton]

Any of you had much experience with Jatoba and the Shellix Head? I milled about 300bd ft and am not happy with the degree of tearout so I am torn right now between a 15" wide belt or a new head. I have about another 300bd ft of Jatoba and then maybe 1000bd ft of cherry. Suggestions?

Thanks

[Jim Andrew]

I have the Byrd head on my jointer, and purchased the same style cutter from Woodmaster for my 718 planer molder. The wonderful thing I find is that the defects in the wood do not blow out usually, although a loose knot will still fall out. I saw my own lumber, and most of it is not perfect first grade lumber, so it is only acceptable if it planes out smooth.
For some reason, defects in wood are cool now, people say they like it, adds character. But they don't want big chips where the grain changes. Jim

[Joe Chritz]

Just to add...

I just installed a Byrd on an 8 inch jointer and I like it a lot. Rail/stile edges can go right to glue up or a quick hand sand and finish. No need to worry about direction anymore. The reduced feed pressure is an added bonus as is reduced running noise.

Install was simple with a press, although a block of wood can be used. Only the pulley gave me any trouble and that was just a tight fit is all.

I am waiting on a new 15" planer and was tempted to get the Byrd as well. I opted for saving the money towards a dual drum sander but an insert head will be on at some point.

It will not end all tearout, but will end nearly all of it. For the last couple % of trouble boards there is always a drum sander or outsource to a wide belt.

Joe


Joe

[Dan Forman]

ever consider a Tersa Head? Straight knives (disposable and reversable) and can be changed out extremely fast without any set up ever...no scallops either. Now I have never use a spiral cutter head but I wonder in their is anyone around here that have used both a Tersa and a spiral head? Same goes for a true helicoidal head?

Paul---I put a Bryd in my MiniMax FS35 jointer/planer. It does a better job on figured wood, and though the knives on the Tersa are easy to change, they are also easy to chip (on knots), and don't seem to stay sharp very long. Over time, they get expensive. I like the freedom of not having to worry about knots or tearout, and it will be a LONG time before I will have to replace the cutters. I had a couple pieces of really gnarly maple that had some tear out, but also some very nice quilted that came through beautifully. On boards that shift grain direction in the middle, there is no problem.

Dan

[Mark Carlson]

Byrd sells a shelix for a minimax FS35 jointer/planer? Oh boy. I put a Byrd head on a powermatic 54a jointer. Probably overkill on such a small jointer but I wanted to try it. It leave a smooth surface, was easy to install and quiet. I real joy to use and no knife setting. I dont miss that.

Now I want a planer with the same head. I had always dreamed of a minimax FS35 but thought I'd miss the byrd cutterhead. What to do...

~mark

[Chuck Burns]

I've got a PM 15HH with the Byrd head. I love it. Fabulous finish and it is quiet.

How much do I like it? I just bought an 8" Byrd head for my PM PJ882. I just need to install it.

Do it; you won't regret it.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Shelix cutterhead? Two thumbs up. We put one on a 20 inch planer a few months back and after having planed about a thousand feet of aromatic cedar and having tearout on mayber three or four knots I figure it's already paid for itself. This is after milling countless feet with regular knives and having tearout around knots on practically every board.

I read a long technical dissertation on another forum about the "scalloping" caused by the helical cutter and how it couldn't be avoided....and understoood about a quarter of it. I've seen pictures some pretty irate people posted showing the scallops. The physics must work different for mine. Occasionally I will pull a planed board of various species and try as I may I never find scalloping.

Add to that using knives to plane/joint is something like standing next to the runway at an airport. I've not used one on a jointer but when the old junk jointer in use now gets replaced it will have a shelix.