upgrade to spiral cutterhead

I am a fan of spiral cutterheads, but I have a couple thoughts on this. Setting jointer knives can be a bit tedius, but with a good jig it is doable. This is the main reason that I upgraded to a spiral cutterhead, but I admit that it is much more of a “nice to have” than a “need to have”. So, while I favor the upgrade, for roughly the same cost of adding a spiral cutterhead, you might be able to upgrade your jointer to an 8” model. As much as I like spiral cutterheads, if I had to choose between a 6” jointer with spiral cutterhead and an 8” with straight knives, I would take the 8” in nearly every situatino. If you can swing both, better yet.

I wrote a comparison of straight and spiral cutterheads that you can find here: https://www.wwgoa.com/articles/product-reviews/spiral-cutterheads-for-the-jointer/

-- PaulMayer, http://www.vernswoodgoods.com

What Paul said…

-- I long for the days when Coke was a cola, and a joint was a bad place to be (Merle Haggard)

I’ve wrestled with this same issue – in fact, I’m still wrestling with it. I have a 5 year old PM 6”, and I’m not sure that I want to spend xxx amount upgrading it; knowing that I want an 8”, or more, and the spiral cutter.

It DOES come down to finances, and the amount your willing to spend. Just as there is no doubt that we all want something like an 8” and something like a spiral cutter, the question is – are we going to sell our 6” HSS and invest $2,500 for what we now want. Or is the $500 upgrade of an old machine we don’t really want, the only ‘practical’ solution? When I solve this, I’ll have cured the common cold and solved world hunger in the process.
MJCD

-- Lead By Example; Make a Difference

Fine Woodworking has a 5 minute, very informative video of how to upgrade. Check it out.

MJCD

-- Lead By Example; Make a Difference