Stanley nbr 77 dowel maker

[Gary Herrmann]

I may be getting my hands on one of these. A friend described the tool, and from that and the terribly dark pic he took, I think that's what it is. 'Course, the knucklehead only showed me the pic, hasn't sent it to me yet.

I know there are 9 cutter sizes. Here's my question:

Does anyone know if the irons that come with the different cutter heads are interchangeable or do they only work with specific sizes? I'm wondering what my options might be, because those cutters tend to be expensive on the interwebs. Maybe I'll get lucky and there will be a box full near the machine. Uhuh, it could happen...

Thanks.

[Bill Houghton]

If I recall correctly, Jim Reed, who posts mainly over on WoodNet, has multiples of these and knows quite a bit about them. You might wander over there and do a subject line search on the hand tools forum.

[James Taglienti]

The cutterhead itself is machined to cut a very specific size. The blades for the cutterhead should switch easily from one head to the other as all the mounts arethe same. The size of the hole and the placement of the cutter are the only real differences from head to head, but unfortunately they engineered them to require you to buy a different head in order to cut different dowels... An adjustable head just would have been too easy for such a HOT seller as the 77But seriously congratulations i always wanted one of those