# Grizzly H7653. The Best Tool Upgrade You'll Ever Make!



## Roco54 (Dec 2, 2011)

Greate review BrownWaterDesigns - thank you
I knew of the carbide spiral blade inserts and I thought it would be a nightmare to index them, untill I read an Roland Johson article in FWW magazine and as you said it is easy to install them. I definitely install spiral cuters on my new jointer/planer.


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## fito (Jan 13, 2009)

Well, i installed the byrd cutterhead for my delta jt360 about 3 years ago and i would say is the best thing i ever done for my jointer, no more sharpening and no more blade setting. i also installed on my dewalt 735 planer about 2 years ago and the only thing i can say is greattt.


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## Roco54 (Dec 2, 2011)

Fito,
Does DeWalt has a replacement cuterhead or did you install a third party?


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## fito (Jan 13, 2009)

hi Roco54, Byrd tool make it and Holbren sell it for about 400 bucks, it worth every penny, ist great!!!


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

Matt,

Thanks for the review. I've got the same jointer and am hoping to upgrade next year. Leaning toward the Byrd, but your review has me thinking about Grizzly too.


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## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

Very nice review : )
Out of my price range right now . : (


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## BrownWaterDesigns (May 3, 2011)

jmos,

Whether you go with the Byrd, Grizzly or another brand you will not regret upgrading to a sprial cutter.

Matt


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

I've run both a spiral and a knife jointer and did not notice alot of difference in the finished product. The spiral is a bit quieter but the cut was very much the same quality. This was even the same on some Birds Eye Maple which was very figured. For me, the only big difference is the ease of replacment…but with a good knife jig it is not really that hard now a days to replace a set of knives.

I changed out my planer (20" grizzly) and I would not recommend doing this to the faint of heart. The jointers have the cutters fairly exposed and easier to get to….for the planer you have to disassemble almost the entire machine…it was time consuming and required the removal of pulleys and bearings. To be honest…I do not see a big improvement over the blades (other then the blades I replaced where getting dull). The only advantage I see so far is that I can turn the inserts a few times before replacing….where the blades require sharpening or replacing much sooner.


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## tenontim (Feb 24, 2008)

Matt, I just installed the Byrd on my Powermatic 54. It's great. Last month I installed the Byrd shelix on my Grizzly 15" planer and it worked so good I decided to up grade my jointer. It took me about an hour and a half, from start to finish. I did have to pull the bearings and reinstall. My son has a diesel repair shop, so he has all of the gear pullers, but if you don't have access to someplace to remove and reinstall the bearings, the way you went is the way to go.

I'm very happy with the operation and finish of the face jointed boards. Looking forward to not having to change any blades for awhile.

Grizzly is the place to buy these heads. They're on sale right now until the end of the month. Go to the Holbren sight and find out which one you need then cross reference it to Grizzly.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

I want to play devils advocate for a minute and point out a couple of issues that you didn't mention. I currently have the Powermatic 54a and I spoke with Wm and was told I could put the factory HH from Powermatic in my machine. although the cutter head is slightly different on the 54hh that the machine will accept the cutter head no problem and I was all set to go when I was told by the way you cant do rabbits on the jointer with the hh. Well this is a major issue as doing rabbits on the jointer is fast and easy and very accurate. Secondly when you use the HH the motor is under a heavier load causing more strain on the motor Per wood Magazine last month. and third the finish of the wood is not as smooth on a hh as it is on a standard high speed steel cutter knife. I said what you mean the old blades are smoother and he said yes all their studies show that the steel blades do a better job on cutting a board smooth than the HH I asked then why is the HH more money his answer was that the cutters stay sharp longer and are easy to fix nicks by rotating the nicked blade a quarter turn and that a set of blades should last a pro shop 5 years with regular rotation then discarding after the 4 turns . and that alignment was easier no knives to set. now my jointer is supposed to have auto set knives. I haven't changed them but I do have the tormek to sharpen them and it wont cost me any where near the price of a HH so I just wanted to point out why I chose to stay with the steel knives and play devils advocate as their are pros and cons to the HH

Lance


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