Martin T54 Jointer Tersa vs Spiral

[Anthony Spotorno]

Was wondering if anyone here with experience on a Martin T54 can comment on the Tersa vs Spiral head.

I have a spiral head now, but from what I understand the Tersa head will give slightly better results...

Love how easy the blades on the Tersa can be swapped vs the spiral head.

Basically 2k additional cost to get the Spiral vs Tersa.

Any other comments on the T54 are appreciated.

Thanks.

[David Zaret]

i don't have the T54, but i have the Martin TP300, which has a 530mm tersa head. i went to this machine from a minimax with a spiral (byrd) head. i wouldn't go back - i love the tersa head, love the cut quality, and love the speed of switching knives.

the only thing i would suggest is investing in carbide tersas. they can be sharpened, and they stay sharp a long time. the M42/HSS tersas are very sharp out of the box, but dull relatively fast, and can't be sharpened. despite the cost, i think the carbides make sense.

good luck with your decision!

-- dz

[Anthony Spotorno]

Thanks for the info, have a minimax combo unit now and hate it, moving to 2 separate units. Tersa blades look very easy to switch vs trying to rotate doz of small cutters. Do you have any issue with cutter alignment or is that not an issue with Tersa?

[David Kumm]

I have Tersa and spiral. On a high end machine I prefer tersa, especially a jointer. There is no issue with knife alignment ( except maybe mixing carbide and HSS in the same head ). What is really nice is the ability to quickly swap to mediocre steel blades if you have a piece that may have dirt or crap imbedded and then switch back. Dave

[Martin Wasner]

Thanks for the info, have a minimax combo unit now and hate it, moving to 2 separate units. Tersa blades look very easy to switch vs trying to rotate doz of small cutters. Do you have any issue with cutter alignment or is that not an issue with Tersa?

There's no issue with alignment. Every other time I blow the head out. Nothing ever really comes out, it just makes me feel good

I just flipped the knives on my planer this morning. Took me longer to open the lid and unbolt the poorly thought out access cover than it did to change four knives.

I keep wanting to buy a set of carbide knives, I'm not super impressed with the m42, (or whatever it is), lifespan. It's not terrible, but a few thousand feet and they start getting really loud. The cut quality falls off quickly after that. The carbide knives are stupid expensive, but everyone that has them has good things to say

[Brian Holcombe]

Martin, I switched to carbide at the start of last quarter, the intial super keen edge wore off after a few weeks but it has a nice clean sharp edge still going strong.

I suspect they’re about 25-30% less expensive over their lifetime by comparison to HSS.

[Patrick Walsh]

I have a terse t54.

I also have a spiral Felder ad941.

Clearly I prefer the tr54 but this is about knives.

The spiral can handle anything even dull but it does leave a scalloped pattern even when sharp. Not a issue as planing is never the finished product but the start.

Tersa does leave a cleaner finish with non figured lumber but so far I find the blades dull very fast. So far the ad941 I have had for like 4 years and never turned the knives. The t54 I’m on my second set in a year two sides a piece so four changes.

I also notice that when the Tersa wear and they do my outfeed table needs to be adjusted to account for this wear or I get poor results jointing. On a 20” machine that means the front of the machine is highly worn while the back not so. So adjusting the outfeed fixes the front of the machine but screws up the back.

But yes I work myself slowly to the back of the machine as the blades wear.

[John Sincerbeaux]

I have a Martin T45 with their XPlane (spiral) cutterhead. I researched and struggled for a year as to which cutterhead to go with. Like most things, guys seem to prefer what they own. Almost all my work is using highly figured wood, so I decided on the Xplane. All I can say is at least in my planer, using the spiral CH, and planing very figured wood, there is absolutely no way you would get better results by going with straight knives. Who knows, straight knives may equal these results, but no way superior.

Results:
1) 15” X 8/4 private stock quilted Maple
2) 8/4 premium Curly Koa

These pics are of wood right out of the planer.

I don’t know how the T54 would behave with the spiral as obviously, they are two different animals.


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[Larry Edgerton]

There's no issue with alignment. Every other time I blow the head out. Nothing ever really comes out, it just makes me feel good

I just flipped the knives on my planer this morning. Took me longer to open the lid and unbolt the poorly thought out access cover than it did to change four knives.

I keep wanting to buy a set of carbide knives, I'm not super impressed with the m42, (or whatever it is), lifespan. It's not terrible, but a few thousand feet and they start getting really loud. The cut quality falls off quickly after that. The carbide knives are stupid expensive, but everyone that has them has good things to say

Martin, I ran two M42 and two carbide for a long time with no issues. I only need two sharp knives at one time to get a perfect cut. I keep a piece of tape on the cutterhead guard to keep track of new/flipped because the interval of change is so far apart that I would forget. I took number stamps and numbered each knife slot on the tersa head to be able to keep track. Like David, I keep old knives around for questionable stock, two minutes to change out.

Oh, to the original question: I have had both, and I prefer the Tersa. I can plane birdseye without pops, and the changeover is a big deal. I have not had both on the same machine but on the planer at 16 ft/min for final pass there is no tearout and almost no sanding. I was worried about carbide chipping, but it has not been a problem. also I believe that the cut from the carbide knives is better than the M42, seems illogical, but I am not the only one that feels this is true.

[Brian Holcombe]

I agree Larry, I get a much better cut from carbide than M42, especially after a few hours of use.

[Jim Becker]

Martin, I switched to carbide at the start of last quarter, the intial super keen edge wore off after a few weeks but it has a nice clean sharp edge still going strong.

I suspect they’re about 25-30% less expensive over their lifetime by comparison to HSS.

I can see the longevity in general coming out as you say. The thing that's kept me from getting the carbide knives to use full time is that "nicks happen" and you can only slide them around so many times. But when my current supply of M2 is used, I might just try the carbides and see how things go. Your report of the carbide not being as "keen an edge" after a little bit of use is kinda normal, but with the feed rates we typically move material through, the long-term edge should be more than adequate, especially since the surface isn't intended to be the "finished" product and will get further processing. Traditional hand planes for that in your case and the multi-grit electrically powered oscillating hand plane in my case.

[Brian Holcombe]

Absolutely, I got a minor nick right away with them but nothing since. They’re just painful to purchase and I’ve yet to have to toss a used set, not sure that will be an easy thing to do.

[Martin Wasner]

I'm sure I can find them cheaper than $150 a knife. $600 for my planer.
I spent $1400 on carbide already today...

[Anthony Spotorno]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I'm at the Alpine Workshop and got to play with Joe's T54. Wow love the machine and the Tersa heads.

Is everyone buying the cutters directly from Martin or a 3rd party?

[Martin Wasner]

I get them from my blade guy