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