Justifying A Major Tool Purchase

[Martin Wasner]

I don't know how or why the Tersa knife does so well compared to a regular straight knife, but it does. So much so, that I'm going to put them in the moulder instead of insert heads. I don't know what the price difference is.

The insert heads leave a good cut, but it's REALLY easy to not do a good job reinstalling the inserts. Everything needs to be cleaned properly and torqued properly to get things to seat properly. I think they make a lot more sense in smaller heads and in a hobbyist shop. I can throw away a lot of wood for the cost of changing inserts a 24" head, or I can swap Tersa knives in few minutes is my justification.

I wish I had a Tersa head in just about everything.

[Brian W Evans]

I’m very happy with Tersa, beautiful finish off the planer and change knives in a minute. I’m not that into spiral cutters, having seen the results of them for years with a little wear on them and comparing to Tersa. I use HSS and M+ knives so far, will probably buy carbide too so to have them for the harder stuff. It produces enviable finishes on everything from cedar to tear out prone woods and grain reversals.

This is my experience as well. I used to have a Byrd head in a jointer, but I prefer the Tersa in my J/P. I also used to have a DW735. I don't think the Tersa does quite as well as sharp knives in a DW735, but pretty close.

[Julie Moriarty]

Outside of quick change and self adjusting, how does Tersa differ from straight knives?

[Mel Fulks]

They are available in several steels. Like most they refrain from actually telling you the what the grade actually is. But the one that is 18 percent tungsten is T1 , a good grade that was for years unavailable after being withdrawn from sale for war
effort.

[Jim Becker]

Outside of quick change and self adjusting, how does Tersa differ from straight knives?

They tend to be sharper and it's bone-head simple to shift one or more slightly laterally to deal with a nick from material. Multiple metal formulations also provide some flexibility, especially when combined with how fast it is to change them. They are also two-sided, meaning each knife can be flipped over...twice the life. That said, they are not re-sharpenable to any degree compared to traditional straight knives.

Spiral has the advantage of quieter operation and is particularly good at dealing with very gnarly material.

Both are good systems. I'm very happy with my Tersa knifes on my MiniMax J/P and have been since I bought it in about 2003-4...I forget the actual date.

[Charles P. Wright]

I only took a look at it casually. Prices I saw seemed to be about the same but that was with the Tersa knives, not the Xilent cutterblock. I'm pretty set on the spiral cutterblock.

You should get in touch with Sam Blasco. When I inquired about a spiral head last year, he said he could do it for the same price as a Tersa. I did go with the Tersa based on his recommendation of getting a smoother finish than any segmented spiral head.

[Julie Moriarty]

The first thing I hated about the DW735 was how crazy loud it was. Much louder than the Delta it replaced. You'd think that working on construction sites would have acclimated me to noise but from the earliest days I used ear plugs. I remember being in my mid-30s and going in for a union-recommended hearing test. After the test, the tech told me I had amazing hearing for someone working so long in construction. My eyes may be going bad but my hearing is still good because I've never tolerate being pummeled by loud noises. It was so much easier to just put in ear plugs. I'll put up with time-consuming insert changes if it gets me some quiet.

[Julie Moriarty]

You should get in touch with Sam Blasco. When I inquired about a spiral head last year, he said he could do it for the same price as a Tersa.

Thanks, Charles. I'll do that. The Felder rep has gone silent.

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks, Charles. I'll do that. The Felder rep has gone silent.

Call the one I shared. He emailed me this morning about my order, on a Saturday.

Tim Derr
Sales Representative
FELDER GROUP USA
2 Lukens Drive, Suite 300
New Castle DE 19720
	+1 866-792-5288 ext. 225
t.derr@felder-group.com
www.felder-group.com/us-us

For a minimax, there is a dealer down the road from you in Bonita springs advertising the lineup online here. About same price as the hammer with silent head sale price. If nothing else maybe it gives an idea on pricing.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MiniMax...MAAOSwkVxa~qsC

i don’t know this dealer so do your due diligence of course.
24577 Redfish Street; Bonita Springs FL 34134
Website: http://www.reardonmachinery.com

• Ebay Site: http://stores.ebay.com/ReardonsWoodworkingMachinery
• Fax Number: 239-498-1809
• Office Number: 239-947-0348
• Cell Phone: 239-250-1528

[Dave Cav]

All of the woodworking machinery reps are probably crazy busy with IWF right now, but I have had excellent luck with Sam Blasco at MiniMax. I spent a lot of time with him last year in Las Vegas when I bought my MM20 Bandsaw.

[Jim Becker]

Sam's contact information:

Sam Blasco
sam.blasco@scmgroup.com
512-931-1962 (shop)
512-796-3036 (mobile)
866-216-2166 (main office/parts/tech services)
www.minimax-usa.com

[Julie Moriarty]

I was grocery shopping today. When I went to the deli for some reason I wondered what the price per pound of the JP would be. Rough calculations came up with $7/lb. I looked at the prices of meats and cheeses in front of me and I realized that JP is a pretty good deal.

[Warren Lake]

The demo shows what they are comparing this head to machining done on the other side with zero info about how it was done. If you point is to show something is better then show it dont leave out five or six details that all have an affect on cut quality. Use the same side of the board in the same direction and same feed rate never mind the other stuff missing.

[Jacob Mac]

I bought a JP from Sam Blasco and a bandsaw from Reardon. Reardon was orders of magnitudes more responsive than Sam. But nether one of which was helpful, or all that necessary. If you have a problem, neither Sam nor Reardon will help. They will just tell you to call Minimax. So I would put little stock in who you buy a Minimax product from.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Julie,

I had the Hammer mobile base on my A3 31. If you only want to roll it forward and back it's fine. But if you want to reposition it to somewhere else in the shop it's not optimal. Another option for the mobile base is to get the Shopfox D2508A mobile base and a pair of Steelex D4173 swivel casters to replace the non-swivel casters on the base. You'll have to drill some new holes in the caster mounting plate to move the new swivel casters out enough to allow full movement. With this combination you can move the Hammer in any direction.

And seriously consider the Silent Power head. It handles gnarly grain so well you can usually get away with running against the grain if needed.

Cliff