Shaper cutter selection assistance needed

[Mike Kees]

Jared thanks for telling me this. I had a set of knives made to run in my molder for a profile I needed for base board a year ago. They were supposed to be the "combi" but ended up just being flat steel and not corrugated. My plan was to order only the combination knives in the future. So the actual cut profiles will be different ? Unless I have a corrugated cutter with the 25 Degree slots ?My molder does run the Hussey pattern knives which are bolted to a square cutter head with a small positioning lip at the bottom edge.

[Jared Sankovich]

Jared thanks for telling me this. I had a set of knives made to run in my molder for a profile I needed for base board a year ago. They were supposed to be the "combi" but ended up just being flat steel and not corrugated. My plan was to order only the combination knives in the future. So the actual cut profiles will be different ? Unless I have a corrugated cutter with the 25 Degree slots ?My molder does run the Hussey pattern knives which are bolted to a square cutter head with a small positioning lip at the bottom edge.

The cut profile changes with hook angle, more hook the more height compressed the profile becomes. It's the same if you run knives ground for 20 degree in a 12 degree head or vice-versa. The difference isn't huge but butting them together end to end will show a profile mismatch.

[brent stanley]

Custom cutters can be made for a “Euroblock” type head. I will bang the drum for Whitehill again because their steel is excellent, and thick, and their blocks have limiters.

They made custom cutters for me in carbide for my 55x120 block.

Oella Saw also supplied me with a big cutter for my Schmidt corrugated head.
Dave at Oella is my other recommendation…plus he carries Freeborn and other brands too. It should be telling that I am willing to go around the world to deal with those two suppliers when I have a woodworking store 35 minutes away.

There are lots of suppliers of Euroblock cutters. Most of them are short use hobby stuff.

The most common size knife for the euroblock in the EU is the 55mm high knife, and that knife collection has hundreds and hundreds of off-the-shelf profile options. I have a couple of limiter blocks that are 100mm high that take 6mm steel and even limiter style panel raisers. You're correct that the steel used by most manufacturers is vastly superior to that used in the little "three hole" 40mm knives. Whitehill won't have anything to do with those "three holers" as their quality is too poor. They are mass produced by one company in Germany and sold by Dimar, Felder, CMT, tools today etc

I have dozens of customers in North America who run 55 to 100mm high limiter blocks because it gives them access to custom profiles in a chip limiting, low kickback head. I think when Jared and I went through the math in a thread a while ago, off-the-shelf profiles are very similarly priced, but as soon as custom is required local corrugated is cheaper.

I was talking to a custom shop owner the other day who is now only interested in chip limiting tooling and said that ordering from the UK is not a problem if he is disciplined about ordering as soon as the customer comes in. If he does, knives always arrive before he is ready to use them. As a backup, he has a pile of blanks on the shelf he can grind if needed. That said, Whitehill has recently changed couriers and now stuff gets to central/eastern Canada in as little as 2 days somehow!

[Mike Stelts]

So, the advantage of corrugated heads is 1) when you need a profile taller than 40-50mm, and 2) ability corrugations to change the depth of cut?

[Jared Sankovich]

So, the advantage of corrugated heads is 1) when you need a profile taller than 40-50mm, and 2) ability corrugations to change the depth of cut?

Height of the profile, depth of the profile (convention is 3x the thickness of the steel) and generally cost.

The corrugations don't have anything to do with the depth of cut.

[brent stanley]

So, the advantage of corrugated heads is 1) when you need a profile taller than 40-50mm, and 2) ability corrugations to change the depth of cut?

Non-corrugated blocks that take HSS and carbide tipped, custom grindable knives are available up to 100mm high in 6mm steel, they're just not as common on this side of the pond. I believe your shaper is tiltable? This can help reach out a bit (depending on the profile), as do cone heads. Corrugated is around 8mm thick and can project out further, but also will allow for deeper peaks and valleys in the profile due to the strength offered by this thicker steel.

[Mike Kees]

Question for the Guru's ,I assume when you order corrugated knives you specify hook angle wanted ? I received all my corrugated heads when I purchased my Minimax shaper, looking at them yesterday and the 6'' tall one is a Titan that has four blade slots two at 12 degrees(I think) and two at 20 degrees . Obviously this head is meant to run with only two knives at a time with choice of angles. Which angle for what ? Is one more suitable for hardwood and one for softwood ? Or does the lower angle produce less tear out and more of a scrape type cut ?

[Joe Calhoon]

Mike, yes, always spec hook angle when ordering custom corrugated. For the dual pocket heads 20 degree is for softwood and 12 for hardwoods. I have a 15 degree Zuani head that I prefer to the dual pocket heads. It does well in most types of material.
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[Mike Kees]

Thanks Joe. My other two heads have 15 degree pockets.

[Jared Sankovich]

Mike, yes, always spec hook angle when ordering custom corrugated. For the dual pocket heads 20 degree is for softwood and 12 for hardwoods. I have a 15 degree Zuani head that I prefer to the dual pocket heads. It does well in most types of material.
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Joe, I didn't know you got your knives from Neil. That magnet is nice. I couldn't find mine the other day and resorted to using the mag base of a dial indicator.

[Joe Calhoon]

Jared, Neil does a amazing job on grinding! A cut above the rest for sure.