Grizzly spiral head planer and figured wood?

[gcrimmins]

I recently bought a used Grizzly 1021X 15" planer with a spiral head. It runs fine, but there's a lot of tearout when I plane figured wood. It's way worse than my friend's Dewalt 735 with Shelix head. I'm wondering if there are any other Grizzly planer users who can tell me if this is normal for the Grizzly spiral head, or if it's a sign that the carbide cutters are dull?

[Lumber Yard®]

Tear-out should be minimal... Since the planer was used then I would guess the cutters are dull and I would rotate the cutters to see if it resolves the problem... if it doesn't you can always rotate the cutters back.

[fredhargis]

What he said...but how deep are you cutting? Also, I have had some figured wood (curly soft maple) that even with the Shelix it still had some tear out, not severe; but enough that I switched to the drum sander.

[Steve N]

fredhargis said:

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What he said...but how deep are you cutting?

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Usually the culprit

Advice to flip the cutters, or possibly replace if they look worn all the way around is good, especially on a used machine. Also as Fred stated sometimes even with a good head, and a shallowish pass you may still get tear out. If the stock allows feed it across the cutterhead at an angle, and wet the stock down with a spay bottle with MS in it. The MS will flash off but allows the fibers to become more similar so they cut easier. What you are experiencing is hard grain, with valleys of softer grain woven in as the tendrils you see in "curly"

[gcrimmins]

Thank you for all the replies, it's good to know that the planer should be cutting better than it is. After taking a closer look at the carbide cutters, it looks like it's probably time to replace them. I saw a post that recommended Global Tooling as a good place to buy them. Do they offer the best cutters for the price, or is there another source I should consider? Thanks.

[AHill]

Before you replace them, check to see if all four sides are worn. Each cutter has 4 good sides. It may be that all you need to do is rotate each cutter to a fresh (sharp) side. It's a good idea to take a Sharpie and put a dot on the worn side of each insert, so you'll know when you need to order a new set.

gcrimmins said:

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Thank you for all the replies, it's good to know that the planer should be cutting better than it is. After taking a closer look at the carbide cutters, it looks like it's probably time to replace them. I saw a post that recommended Global Tooling as a good place to buy them. Do they offer the best cutters for the price, or is there another source I should consider? Thanks.

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[AHill]

The Grizz carbide inserts are still parallel to the shaft, so the only real slicing you get when cutting is due to the rotation of the spiral. On a Byrd Shelix head, the cutters are angled in addition to being mounted on a spiral, giving you more slicing in the cut. Back off on the depth of cut. As you have already mentioned, you bought it used and it's possible the edge has worn and you will need to rotate the cutters to get a fresh edge. If backing off on the cut doesn't solve the problem, check the inserts for sharpness.

[Tapper]

I have the ShopFox version of this planer and have experienced little to no tearout as yet. Thus far it is not heavily used and I haven't had to rotate any inserts. I haven't done any heavily figured wood, but have planed quite a bit of QSWO with no problems whatsoever.

Being a used machine it may well be ready for a rotation. If it continues after that I would try a very light cut or two at the end to sneak up on your final dimension. As for the difference in the two heads, Byrd Shelix vs the Griz design, tests in WW mags have shown that there is little discernible difference in the final cut quality.

Doug

[Lumber Yard®]

Tapper said:

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...As for the difference in the two heads, Byrd Shelix vs the Griz design, tests in WW mags have shown that there is little discernible difference in the final cut quality.

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I own and use both the Griz and Byrd cutterheads... my experience mirrors the "magazine tests" in that I haven't seen nor noticed any difference in finish quality.

[Arlin Eastman]

I also have the grizzly 15" planer with the spiral head.
I just planed a board of Very curly maple for a friend and I had to find where the grain was going and I planed just 1/64 off at a time and it came out really well. It did have just a little tear out but not much and was not deep tear out either.

The smaller cut the less tear out.

Arlin