Grizzly G0453ZW Planer - Spiral cutterhead or Shelix cutterhead?

[Mark W Pugh]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a new planer. I've picked the model (G0453ZW), now it's time to decide weather to spend another $600 on a Shelix cutterhead, or just use the spiral cutterhead that Grizzly uses.

Or, I could buy the G0453W model and replace the 3 knife cutter with the Shelix.

Any comments, and how hard is it to replace the cutterheads? I don't need a 3 day process when it arrives.

[Cary Falk]

I have had the G0453Z for about 5 years now. It has the Grizzly insert cutterhead. I put a Byrd head in my 8" jointer. I can't tell the difference in the cut. I wouldn't waste $600 on an additional head. I wouldn't go to the trouble of trying to install different head either. There are plenty of videos on how to do it. I don't think it would be hard, just a pain.

[eugene thomas]

I changed out the straight knife to byrd in my g0453 when bought new. Took few hours. The YouTube videos made easy.

[Rick Alexander]

I have the G0454 and swapped out the straight head - actually with the quick insert system as well - to the byrd head. The process was easy to find on the web like Eugene said and pretty easy to do. All total maybe 2 hours tops to swap it out and that's with taking my time and trying to figure things out as I went. Never looked back afterwards. Can't comment as to how it compares to the other style insert head as both my jointer and planer have the byrd heads. I will say it changed the setup ever so slightly so I really need to go in there and adjust the feed rollers because it is a little worse for snipe now but just ever so slight - I never took to the time to correct it yet.

Do yourself a favor - go ahead and put a digital read out on that Grizzly planer as well - sure makes things a lot quicker and easier to use. That thing is a joy to use now.

[David Helm]

I have the Grizzly head on my jointer and a friend has the Shelix. I cannot see a difference in the results. I use a lot of highly figured maple and have face jointed on both. Results are the same.

[Wes Ramsey]

I've got the Grizzly spiral head in mine and love it. I haven't used one with a Byrd head to compare it to, but I can't imagine a Byrd head would be $600 better than the Grizzly version or give any better of a finish. $600 better than the straight knife version, you betcha. Every day of the week. I don't see my shop ever having another straight-blade jointer or planer after enjoying this one.

[Jim Riseborough]

I've got the Grizzly spiral head in mine and love it. I haven't used one with a Byrd head to compare it to, but I can't imagine a Byrd head would be $600 better than the Grizzly version or give any better of a finish. $600 better than the straight knife version, you betcha. Every day of the week. I don't see my shop ever having another straight-blade jointer or planer after enjoying this one.

The only thing with a spiral is if you bugger up the blade, you are done for the most part.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The Grizzly spiral head uses carbide cutters similar to the Byrd cutters not blades. If you bugger one up, you just remove the screw, rotate it 90º to a new edge, reinstall the screw and torque it.

Of course, any carbide "bits" can be damaged and need replacement on either a Byrd or Grizzly spiral.

[glenn bradley]

I'm another who has used the Grizzly and the Byrd side by side; no discernible difference in the cut.

[Erik Loza]

I'm another who has used the Grizzly and the Byrd side by side; no discernible difference in the cut.

Honest question: Don't all spirals basically give the same result? Isn't "a spiral is a spiral, is a spiral", if you know what I mean? That's always been my impression.

Erik

[David Kumm]

Erik, I'm no expert but have always thought the quality of the insert and the chip evacuation were the only real variables with the various spirals- other than how many inserts per diameter. I'm a semi fan because they do improve an average or mediocre machine but not a high end one. Dave

[Erik Loza]

Erik, I'm no expert but have always thought the quality of the insert and the chip evacuation were the only real variables with the various spirals- other than how many inserts per diameter. I'm a semi fan because they do improve an average or mediocre machine but not a high end one. Dave

This is my suspicion, too, Dave. SCM is going to have a planer with their new Xylent spiral head at IWF, so I am curious to see it myself. Hopefully, it will be powered.

Erik

[mreza Salav]

Erik, Grizzly's spiral (along with a bunch of other ones) are simply small carbide knives that are placed in a spriral form but the cutting angle of them is the same as a straight knife.
Byrd head is a helical cutter head, meaning that the angle of the cutting edge is not perpendicular to the direction of the feed, hence it behaves like a shear cut. For the same reason the cutter knives are not straight edge, they have a very small curve.
Now theoretically, these are more complicated to build and theoretically they are supposed to give a better end result in complex grain directions. Whether in practice you get different results or not has to be tested on various conditions. I suspect there are situations that the Byrd head performs better but might not be worth the extra $$ for those rare situations.

[Brad Schmid]

They are not terribly difficult to change as everybody else has mentioned.
Here's a thread about the different cutterheads when I was investigating them about a year ago.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...lix-Cutterhead
Now that I've got a Grizzly head in my jointer and a Byrd head in my planer, I'm convinced there's no discernable difference between them. Both are vastly superior to straight knife heads and worth every penny.

[Jim Andrew]

Grizzly has a 3rd option, a cutterhead with fewer cutters, looks like the silent power Felder sells, and has several fewer cutters than the other 2. Fewer cutters take less power.