I'm going to be upgrading to an 8-inch jointer in the near future and
am having trouble deciding which knife system to get. At $200+, is a
spiral knife cutterhead really that much better than regular knives? At
a cost of $400+, is a helical (4 sided cutters) cutterhead really
worth the money?

Thanks for your opinions

Ed

ectablesaw wrote:
I'm going to be upgrading to an 8-inch jointer in the near future and
am having trouble deciding which knife system to get. At $200+, is a
spiral knife cutterhead really that much better than regular knives? At
a cost of $400+, is a helical (4 sided cutters) cutterhead really
worth the money?


I didn't think so when I got my 8" jointer. I've seen no reason to change my
opinion either.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"ectablesaw" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm going to be upgrading to an 8-inch jointer in the near future and
am having trouble deciding which knife system to get. At $200+, is a
spiral knife cutterhead really that much better than regular knives? At
a cost of $400+, is a helical (4 sided cutters) cutterhead really
worth the money?


Unless you're in production, can't see an advantage to option c that would
justify the expense. It's ease of getting new sharp edges into action that
you're paying for. The better cut you can get in option b.

Of course, there is the sharpening problem beyond that. The Makita does a
great job on flat blades, and a spare set gets me down close to helical
change speed.

Now as to carbide....

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:00:34 -0400, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote:

ectablesaw wrote:
I'm going to be upgrading to an 8-inch jointer in the near future and
am having trouble deciding which knife system to get. At $200+, is a
spiral knife cutterhead really that much better than regular knives? At
a cost of $400+, is a helical (4 sided cutters) cutterhead really
worth the money?


I didn't think so when I got my 8" jointer. I've seen no reason to change my
opinion either.

Logically, I'd think the spiral knife would be better at cutting
because there is more blade and the blade is slicing at an angle. Does
that $400 include lifetime sharpenings? Straight planer knives are
easy to sharpen.

On 26 Oct 2006 18:17:05 -0700, "ectablesaw"
wrote:

I'm going to be upgrading to an 8-inch jointer in the near future and
am having trouble deciding which knife system to get. At $200+, is a
spiral knife cutterhead really that much better than regular knives? At
a cost of $400+, is a helical (4 sided cutters) cutterhead really
worth the money?

well if you want extreamly long edge holding then the helical is great
in tropicals I get about 8 months between rotating verse's at most 1.5
months from regular knives. if you do tropical's or lots of curly
woods it will make a huge difference. if you hate setting knives it
will make a huge difference in time and frustration. it is also far
quieter when cutting wood.

and a spare set gets me down close to helical
change speed.

I doubt it since you would need about 6 changes for each time you need
to rotate the cutters. and we won't even talk about the nicks you get
when you put a fresh set of knives in.