Only reason I have not jumped on the Griz jointer with spiral head is
that the cutting edges are NOT really producing a spiral/angled
cutting edge, the inserts still have their cutting edge at 90degrees
to the wood feed direction.

Really feel that other than ease of replacing the knives, that the
Grizz is NOT going to cut BETTER than the standard with straight
blades.

It is cheaper to go the route Grizzly has in this situation instead of
producing a TRUE spiral/helical cutting head

I can get a TRUE helical head for a Delta DJ20 for about $400, and
that may be the best solution.

John

On 21 Dec 2004 10:41:45 -0800, "SonomaProducts.com"
wrote:

If you use the Jointer for jointing edges mostly then it's not worth
it.

If you do a lot of break down of rough stock so you're doing face work
all the time it will be better. Especially if you use figured woods. In
the long run, I'd say its worth it just from the maintenance aspect.

Keep in mind however that the segmented spiral heads is somewhat better
than knife blades but not as good as true helical knife. It will not
salve all your chip outs of highly figured wood (dimensional sanding is
a better alternative if you have it as an option for curl, burl, etc).
With segmented spirals, instead of getting the big bang, bang, bang of
a straight knife head you are getting lots of smaller bangs. However
you are not getting a true slicing effect of the helical which is, much
quieter and cleaner.

BW