Byrd Head worth the money?

[Fred Damkroger]

Recently installed Byrd heads in my General 15" planer from Grizzly, and PM 6" jointer from Holbren. First, the performance is superb. I have ran walnut, elm and aromatic cedar through both machines and mercy, is it smooth.
CS from all three vendors was very good. Holbren gave me a SMC discount, and kept me informed throughout a lengthy backorder on the head. Grizzly's price was *very* good.
Encountered a loud howling noise with the planer, and the folks at Byrd sent me a diagram of a possible problem of a gear in wrong. Kept in touch with emails and phone calls until it was fixed. Turned out to be a bad bearing, my fault.
I would do it again in a heartbeat, I hate changing knives.

[Paul Johnstone]

I didn't read the entire thread, but IMO, you'd be better off spending the money to upgrade the lunchbox planer to a floor standing one (if that is possible). A floor standing one can make deeper passes and it saves a ton of time planing. Also, the floor standing ones have a longer expected lifespan. I too would question spending so much $$ on a Byrd for a lunchbox planer.

I used blades for a long time, and was satisified. I'm just a hobbyist, so a set of blades lasted a long time. This made the changing blades/and cost of doing it a non-issue really.

I upgraded my planer again (on my third one). I got the Byrd on this one. It is really nice. However, if money was tight, I would've just gotten blades on it. I was fortunate to be able to get my dream planer, so I just went for it.

I never got around to putting a Byrd on my jointer. For me, it's not worth the hassle. (I could afford to do it).. Again, jointer blades last a long time for me. I end up planing and sanding the joined face anyhow, so that takes care of the tearout issues.

[Jim Andrew]

I saw most of my own wood, from trees on my property, and most of them are not 1st grade. But it seems as though defects are in style. The byrd is great on less than perfect lumber. And also, I am about to be 59 years old, and I don't see as good as I did when I was 20 years younger, and I don't miss adjusting the blades. As to the heads getting worn by the cutters, suppose that happens. But they use these heads in industry, so suppose they last a long time. And I don't run my jointer 8 or 16 hours a day.

[Mike Cruz]

I just put a Byrd on my jointer and LOVE it. The jointer is no noisier with the DC on than with it off. If that is making you scratch your head, let me just say that my 20" planer runs VERY quiet without the DC on. But with the DC on, it whines so loud that it is VERY annoying. So, that alone would be a worthwhile reason to get the Byrd for my planer. Of course, that would set me back $700 or $800....money that I just can't justify spending on my planer.

I have to agree with the post two above me that questions whether the Byrd head is a good idea for a lunchbox planer. I, too, would spend the money first to upgrade to a 15" floor model first. Then, later, put a Byrd head on it when/if you can afford it.

[Nathan Palenski]

Do all the byrd heads use the same blades? If I get a byrd head for my planer and jointer, can draw from the same set of inserts for both?

[Mike Cruz]

I THINK so, but don't quote me on it. I haven't seen extra replacement packs for individual units....just replacement packs.

[Gary Herrmann]

The inserts for my jointer and planer heads are interchangeable.

[Mark Lawrence]

How difficult is it too install the Byrd cuuterhead? I have a 20 year old Delta DJ -20.

[Homer Faucett]

I think there has been some great points made, but I think it is important to reiterate that a lunchbox planer uses a universal motor, and therefore has a limited lifespan. I have some woodworking machines with induction motors (the types you see on floor standing jointers and planers) that are still original from the 50's, and going strong. A shelix head with carbide inserts has a high likelihood of outlasting a lunchbox planer, and by the time you have spent $500 on the planer and $400 on the shelix, you could have easily picked up a used 15" or maybe a 20" floor model.

On the other hand, it's not likely that you can get a carbide head in one of those for less than another $550, so I guess you can pick your poison as long as it makes you happy.

Second, I've used straight HSS knives on a 6" jointer for the past 6 years. I hone the blades on the machine, and don't feel the need to replace or sharpen the blades more than about once per year, and I joint a fair amount of oak and maple. Exotics are clearly much harder on HSS, as I have experienced from Jatoba, cocobolo, etc., so take that into consideration.

With straight knives, I do get tearout if the grain reverses, or if I'm not paying attention to the grain. I agree that there is almost no way to prevent tearout on reversing or tricky with straight blades other than angling the piece, taking light cuts, and maybe wetting the surface. But tearout is really only a problem on that truly tricky grain, so I don't see a great benefit from using a shelix on the vast majority of lumber an average hobbyist would run through a jointer.

I just upgraded my jointer and planer. Jointing width is important to me, so I got a 12" machine. It was a used Robland with straight carbide knives. I also picked up a 20" Asian planer for one heckuva deal, and am seriously considering dropping on a shelix or the Grizzly equivalent if it will work. I always wear ear protection in the shop, so the noise is not the driving factor for me. I want to be able to joint wide boards, and I'm not overly concerned about tearout from jointing because that can be fixed during planing.

My solution was to save some dough on the jointer by buying used with straight blades so that I can justify plunking down the money on a 20" shelix if I so decide. I'm still going to run the 20 knives until their dull before I pull the trigger, though. IMHE, a hobbyist doesn't tend to wear these down that fast if the lumber is cleaned off before running them through.

Just my experiences and thoughts.

[Mike Cruz]

Mark, I JUST did it on a 20 year old DJ-20. Hard? No. But you kinda need to know what you are doing. My brother, a master Mercedes-Benz technician, helped me (did it for me, while I "helped"). Seeing what he did, I realized I "could" have done it, if I had known what to do. I have to admit that I was VERY happy to have him do it...

[Michael Schwartz]

I recently upgraded my PM 60 Jointer which is about 30 years old to the Byrd Shelix head, and I also purchased a used Delta DC380 and had a Byrd head installed in that as well.

Impressions.


Scalloping. The heads definitely leave a very minor scalloped cut, but sanding that out is not a problem.

Tear Out. The finish is free of tear out in most circumstances. Wood that is not very sound combined with tricky grain can still cause some tear out. I am looking at piece of curly maple right now that I ran through and there is zero tear out. I still run anything particularly crazy through the drum sander.

Overall Finish.

The heads produce a finish that is free of tear out most of the time regardless of grain direction and requires minimal sanding. I have put over 1000 board feet through both machines so far, and the finish is the same as when the heads were brand new.

If you plan to apply finish right out of the planer, which is sometimes appropriate in production work and finish carpentry the scalloping may be a problem. However for most work, a planer shouldn't be used to produce a finished surface anyway, and I find quite a bit less sanding is required, then when I ran conventional knives.

Noise Levels.

The noise levels while cutting, are not much louder than the running noise of the machine, dust collector, etc... I still wear hearing protection, but the reduced noise levels are very nice.

Would I do it again?

Yes and no. I enjoy having the head in the planer, and wouldn't go back. I could see having two jointers, one with and the other without.

With the jointer, it takes extra effort to feed the board, which when milling long rough stock this becomes apparent. If I could only pick one I would still go with the Byrd Head on the jointer. If I buy a second larger jointer, I may opt for conventional or tersa knives.

I feel the investment was worthwhile, and I am very pleased. Tersa, and other systems with indexable knives are worth considering as well.

Conventional knives are easy to change on a jointer at least, since you can work above the table, and a planer gets used to remove more material so I would give priority to a planer.

[David Weaver]

I'm popping up here as a hand tool woodworker. I thickness probably half of my stock by hand (with hand planes and if warranted by large or way over thickness stock, removing most of the stock by resawing). I don't know if there's a more "skilled" way to thickness stock than with hadn planes.

I'm not sure that i understand the argument that they're an end-around on skill, as if there is some pride or magic in feeding a board through the first time and not having to turn it around on the second pass.

IF I were a power tool user, more than just the bandsaw, I would pay the price for a shelix in a second. My ww buddy, pretty much a power fanatic, has a shelix on his jointer and on a DC580 planer with a machinist readout setup. The dimensioned stock that comes thicknessed out of it could be sanded with 220 grit paper - no matter how heavily figured it is.

The "skill" of preparing stock never did exist as a high-level woodworking skill like joinery or design, and was done by shop grunts, so I don't understand what the fascination would be using a tool more difficult to use to do rank and file type jobs just to be able to say you can.

Even just the noise difference, especially planing thing items, is spectacular. You can plane without earplugs. Spend the money, you'll never miss it, but you'll absolutely love the results you get. Wear gloves the first time you work with a large amount of stock - you'll be shocked how precise the finish is and how sharp the corners of the stock are.

[Will Blick]

Michael S., thank you for the well composed and informative post....

I was considering upgrading my 12" jointer with Byrd, but might not after reading your assessment. It does make sense the planer is the tool that would get the most value from Byrds....

which I am in the market for one now... I am curious why Powermatic is the only company that offers the Byrd as an installed option?

[John Ferandin]

I changed out my 5 yr old PJ-882 head for the Byrd Shelix about six months ago (very easy to do) and am wondering why I took so long to do it.
I am getting ready now between jobs to do the same to my Jet 15" planer.

Grizzly's pricing was hands down better than any where else I could. New bearings are available anywhere (got mine at Grainger). Thirty buck to have the bearings pressed on at a machine shop made the job very easy and quick.

Good luck,
John

[Will Blick]

John.... $950 to change out my 12" jointer with Byrd...

It's clear thickness planers are no-brainers for Shelix.... soon, they will all probably ship with Shelix.

But what made you so high on the Jointer change out?

Maybe you can comment on my thoughts, for what I do...

I can change out straight blades fast, no big deal there... I use the dispoz a blade system. Fresh blades = Dead flat and dead smooth surface. I hate to surrender that for a scalloped finish...I can eat through lots of extra straight blades for the $950.

As I read these posts, I hear tear-out with highly figured woods being a big benefit of Shelix... but I rarely if ever have tear out. And when I work with the highly figured or Exotics, they are always relaively small pieces, say smaller than 2ft. In which case, my hand jointer blades are so damn sharp I can tackle anything with them... and I never thickness those knarly woods, cause they usually get re-sawed down.

Sometimes the type of wood, working methods, and volume we produce are not mentioned in posts, which can make a weekend warrior think he would benefit as much as high volume producer who uses mostly highly exotic woods. So based on what I wrote about what I do.... you still think the $950 Byrd is worthwhile? I have been on the fence about this for a few months...