Byrd Cutterhead For New Jointer

[Rob Will]

If you were going to purchase a 16" jointer equipped with a Byrd cutterhead, where would you start looking?

Is there any cost savings to simply equip the jointer with the Byrd as purchased rather than buying a jointer and changing the cutterhead?

Thanks,
Rob

[Ken Belisle]

Probably the Bridgewood at Wilke Machinery.............

[Richard Wolf]

Mini Max F1. It does not have the Byrd cutter but comes with the Tersa head as standard eqipment.
It is a beautiful machine that has been on my short list for awhile.

Richard

[John Miliunas]

Rob, I agree with Ken on Bridgewood from Wilke. You'd have to call them to find out for sure but, I think if you purchase the Byrd at the same time, they may install it for you prior to shipment. Not sure if there would be a cost savings, so if you go that route, be sure they also send you the original head w/knifes, as you can probably recoup some $$ selling it on "the Bay".

[Rob Will]

Rob, I agree with Ken on Bridgewood from Wilke. You'd have to call them to find out for sure but, I think if you purchase the Byrd at the same time, they may install it for you prior to shipment. Not sure if there would be a cost savings, so if you go that route, be sure they also send you the original head w/knifes, as you can probably recoup some $$ selling it on "the Bay".

Thanks gents,
I have been looking at the Wilke Items.
Rob

[Alden Miller]

I agree with Bridgewood but I would also take a look at the Oliver jointers.

I recently purchased a 10" Oliver and it is a thing of beauty! I looked hard at the 12" Bridgewood while I was shopping and settled on the Oliver. The Oliver has four choices for cutter heads. Standard, spiral, and two insert cutter heads (Byrd being one of them).

-Alden

[Brent Harral]

If and when you do call Wilke, ask for Steve. He's a saleman but had been a tech for many years and knows his product, and will give you his un-biased opinion...really! I recently bought a 12" BW jointer and he could talk through the pro and cons of every cutterhead option.

I'm sure you know, but there is the import version of the Bryd. About half the price, is readily available and Wilke can install these cutterheads on their machines..

Good Luck..

[Dev Emch]

If and when you do call Wilke, ask for Steve. He's a saleman but had been a tech for many years and knows his product, and will give you his un-biased opinion...really! I recently bought a 12" BW jointer and he could talk through the pro and cons of every cutterhead option.

I'm sure you know, but there is the import version of the Bryd. About half the price, is readily available and Wilke can install these cutterheads on their machines..

Good Luck..

Brent...
Be careful here. The SHELIX head looks similar to others but its got patent protection. If someone is importing a shear cutting insert head, I am sure there are a number of folks who would truely like to know about this!

[Brent Harral]

Yep, er...no...I mean you are correct! I know just enough about all these cutterheads to properly confuse, ME! Was just trying to point out there are *similar* types that have been around for while, and may fit the bill at a lessor cost.

Thanks for clarifying that!

[Dev Emch]

Yep, er...no...I mean you are correct! I know just enough about all these cutterheads to properly confuse, ME! Was just trying to point out there are *similar* types that have been around for while, and may fit the bill at a lessor cost.

Thanks for clarifying that!

THis is true. You can find a zero degree shear angle geometry head for lots less. But truth is, these are not all cracked up to what folks say.

My buddy has a slab of nice walnut burl about 14 inches square and about 1/2 inch thick. High Figure. Its glass smooth with virtually no and I do mean no tearout. This was planed using a 1950s Oliver 299 three knife planer. The knives were schmidt T1 and ground and honed using the onboard insitu knife grinder. The feed rollers, pressure bar and chip breaker were dialed in using a typical dial indicator setup. About 2 hours to tune up the whole machine including grinding and honing of the knives.

Realisticly, it dont get any better than this! Today he is running a hoffman jointer/planer with a terminus head using HSS knives. Similar results with similar figure. THe only difference is that the knives pop into place and because they register in almost the same place, it is not necessary to readjust your chipbreaker, pressure bar and feedrollers each time you change out knives. Only once to establish reference. This is because the terminus head is a constant cutting circle head as is the insert type head as well.

In my book, the best finish I know of was the result of a finely tuned planer using an onboard knife grinder and honing rig. That and having its settings dialed in using a dial indicator. I have seen the results of insert heads including the byrd head and they are all good. Are they better to the old knives? Not Really. Easier to work with? Yes, but after you grind and hone your knives about two or three times, the process becomes old hack. So the direct convenience advantage goes away.

And remember that for the nasty grain on a jointer, you always have the ability to skew cut on a wide bed jointer. You also have the option of using a set of back beveled knives as well. So for now, I simply cannot justify the purchase of a byrd head as I am able to replicate the performance to within 98 percent and the remaining two percent is super high figure pagan grain which I am not usually working with.

Just a few thoughts...

[Rob Will]

I'm not really qualified to comment on this but it does seem to me that the wider a given cutterhead is, the better an insert head would perform relative to a straight blade cutter head.

For example if you are using a 16" jointer with straight blades, that is a lot of knife striking the work at the exact same instant and creating chatter. A small jointer would have far less blade striking at the same instant.

It is logical that a helical insert head would have even less noise and vibration.

Rob

[Paul B. Cresti]

OK Guys I just do not get it call me thick headed.... why is it so important for a cutter head to be quiet??? I put my hearing protection on, no matter what, and I work away. I could care less if the cutter head spinning is 10 decibels less. What is next window treatments in the shop . Second.. why would someone want to spin or change all of those little knives? Believe me once you use a Tersa head on a nice wide jointer nothing else matters...

[tod evans]

it`s not a jointer, but i can carry on a conversation in a normal tone of voice standing next to my 20" planer with a tersa head, in fact the d/c is actually louder than the planer...about 2min. to change all four knifes...02 tod

[Dev Emch]

it`s not a jointer, but i can carry on a conversation in a normal tone of voice standing next to my 20" planer with a tersa head, in fact the d/c is actually louder than the planer...about 2min. to change all four knifes...02 tod

Thats nice Todd.... And my brother's wife complained about my dodge diesel being so loud. That she could not hear the folks on the other end of the cell phone while driving.

WHAT! THey just determined that drivers with cell phone pose a greater thret to us all than the drunk driver. See insurance studies.

The last thing I want is a jointer operator carrying on a cell phone conversation at the same time. As my main man Homer SImpson says... DOHHH!

For me, any option is ultimately one of quality. How can your solution improve upon what I currently have. The extra cost of a bryd cutter does not justify making my neigbors happy nor does it beat the cost of my ex air force hearing protectors! To me its about cost and finish! And if I dealt with more tropicals than I do, I might opt for the bryd because terminus carbide is major money and the bryd inserts are industry standard with four sides.

[tod evans]

dev, for me the money comes into play not at the cost of the head or even the knifes but the amount of time needed to change/sharpen/rotate the knifes when dull or nicked. i was never able to get the cover off the old pm machines, dial in the wheel and grind the knifes, reassemble the cover and get back to work in less than 45min. so being as you`re working in straight grained lumber any head should do you an acceptable job as far as cutting goes. once again we`re to how much time can you afford to spend every x-number of feet fiddling with your cutters? over the life of a persons career as a one man band you should never wear out good equipment so really the cost is relevent only when divided by the number of hours spent making a head perform over the length of your career. .02 tod