Byrd Head in Jointer

[Jim Riseborough]

This weekend I replaced the Geetech spiral head I had in my Ridgid jointer with a Byrd Shelix head. The change was easy, popped the bearings off, and put onto the Byrd head. Tuned up the jointer a bit, cleaned it, waxed it. Installed the new head in about a hour, and adjusted everything. It runs quieter, and the cut is great. There are no lines from the cutter head, but still would need to hit with a plane to finish the edge.

Its not as a quick as the old head, seems its a bit slower in pushing the work thru, but maybe thats me.

For $250 its brought a bit of new life to my jointer, and beats the money on a new one for now, and I am happy with it.

[Dave Cav]

What's the difference between the Geetech and the Byrd head? Is the Geetech a carbide insert head? Does the Byrd have more inserts?

[Jim Andrew]

I'm also interested in a description of the Geetech head. The downside to a Byrd head on a jointer is you lose the ability to rabbit on the jointers edge, and you also lose about 1/4" of your capacity, due to the angled cutters. Since I got the Griz 453 planer with the helical head, which has straight faced cutters, wondered if I screwed up putting a Byrd on my 609 jointer?

[Bruce Wrenn]

The change was easy, popped the bearings off, and put onto the Byrd head.

Why reuse old bearings when new ones are so cheap?

[Alan Bienlein]

I'm also interested in a description of the Geetech head. The downside to a Byrd head on a jointer is you lose the ability to rabbit on the jointers edge, and you also lose about 1/4" of your capacity, due to the angled cutters. Since I got the Griz 453 planer with the helical head, which has straight faced cutters, wondered if I screwed up putting a Byrd on my 609 jointer?

According to the video put out by Holbren you can still rabbit with a Byrd head installed on a jointer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd7IJemG1Kw

[Rich Riddle]

I put a Shelix head on my Jet 8" jointer and love it. The Shelix produces far less noise than the straight blades. You'll love the difference. Good luck.

[Clay Fails]

I ordered a shelix for my Delta DJ20 from Byrd Tools back before Thanksgiving..... January 1 and still no cutter head! Vyrd has twice now promised delivery dates that came and went. Current "projection" is maybe this week, if I'm lucky. Anyone else get this level of service from Byrd?

[Brian Gumpper]

Correct, there is a special cutter you need to put at the end for rabbeting.

According to the video put out by Holbren you can still rabbit with a Byrd head installed on a jointer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd7IJemG1Kw

[Alan Bienlein]

Correct, there is a special cutter you need to put at the end for rabbeting.

There is no mention of a special cutter required in there video. They tell you to make sure you line up the outer cutter with the out feed table for rabbiting.

You would think they would list something like that with the heads for the jointer.