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Thread: Helical head jointer

  1. #1
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Helical head jointer

    Any of you using a helical head jointer on figured wood with any success? I have one now but have not tried. I hate to ruin a nice piece of wood so I just get my jointer hand plane and load it in a shooting board for the figured stuff.
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    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    It’s the angle of the cutter into the wood that prevents tearing, like a scraper. In the old days, the blades were back beveled to scrape a bit on tough woods. They dull quicker but tear less. Can’t really do it on a helical head.
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    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    Not currently using one, but have used one in the past. Never 'blew out' any figured grain using it (but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be done). Generally speaking, the spiral cutter head is safer for figured wood than standard straight-across knives.

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  6. #4
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    I have an oversized piece of curly redwood. I can afford to experiment on a couple of passes with no loss to the overall pice as far as jointing it up goes so I guess I will give it a shot to see what happens. If any wood is going to be an issue it will be this piece. I just have to add some outlets and rearrange the shop a bit first to make room for it. Thanks!
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    Adrian Minarovic
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    There was a thread on other forum few years ago with experience of Roger Hagrave...
    https://maestronet.com/forum/index.p...c-new-machine/

    You can buy retrofit spiral head almost for any jointer now. There might be diffrerences in overall result but they are generally much better than any well setup standard jointer both in quality of cut in troublesome woods as well as loudness.
    Adrian

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  9. #6
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    Quote Originally Posted by HoGo View Post
    You can buy retrofit spiral head almost for any jointer now...
    Yes you can. One for my jointer costs 50% more than I paid for the jointer itself.

  10. #7
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    Of all the woods I would worry about, something soft like redwood would be minimal. Set the tables for a tiny little paper thin cut and give it a try. If you are worried, try it on the non important edge of the wood first.

    I don't necessarily find the end result to be what I would accept for a finished instrument grade glue joint.

    John is correct about retrofitting them- there are plenty of options for the smaller common sizes, but when you get up to big old iron, they get expensive. I think John's is a 12", correct? A replacement for my big old 16" Yates was close to $2000!

    The best jointed surface I have ever been able to obtain was with my old 20" four head Crescent machine from approx. 1920. When the blades were sharp and fresh and well tuned, I could run the wide side of curly maple double bass backs across it and the finish was like glass with not a single bit of tearout. I wish I still had that one!
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  11. #8
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    I bought a 6” power matrix with the helical blade already in. When looking it seemed a better move than to try and upgrade an old bench top craftsman. Especially since having the longer tables will end big plus.
    I honestly though the redwood, which has the knarliest curl I have seen, would be a hard one to run if not I’ll try some maple.
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    James- My Porter is from about 1918, babbit (sp?) bearings. 4 knife. Was your Crescent babbit bearings also? They just purr.

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  14. #10
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    Kind of straying form the instrument world sorry, but I remember Babbitt bearings as a kid and couldn’t remember why. So I googled and found this, pretty cool read.

    https://autowise.com/babbitt-bearing/?amp
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  15. #11
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head joijter

    Quote Originally Posted by Dale Ludewig View Post
    James- My Porter is from about 1918, babbit (sp?) bearings. 4 knife. Was your Crescent babbit bearings also? They just purr.
    I had a Porter. Jr with 2 knives and babbitt bearings. When set up well it ran sooo smoothly, and cut a surface that felt like plate glass on hard maple. It was less that 6" wide though, so I sold it rather than move it 400 miles.

    My 12" Crescent has ball bearings. Much noisier than babbitt but slightly easier to maintain.

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  17. #12
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head jointer

    My Crescent 20" was original with ball bearings and four cutters. Similar cut to John's description- a surface like glass on curly maple. I had a 16" early 20th century Porter a few years back, but friend talked me out of it. I've been without a big powered jointer for a few years now, and I do just fine, even on the big basses with a steady grip and sharp hand tools.

    Babbit bearings are incredibly smooth when setup well and seem to outlive several owners. My giant 1920 Oliver patternmaker's lathe still has the factory original babbit setup and it is amazing how smooth it runs after almost a century of hard use, even with big 24" diameter pieces chucked up and running....

    I know there are plenty of other big old tool nerds around here. I get waaaaaayyyyyyyyyy more excited when I see an old Yates snowflake bandsaw than when I get to play a 1920s Loar!
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  19. #13
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head jointer

    Oh man, I love those old tools. I would be absolutely ecstatic if I had a shop full of them!
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  21. #14
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    Default Re: Helical head jointer

    I retrofitted Shelix heads on my 6" Jet jointer. I can join curly maple to a glass surface if I set it for a thin pass. Worth the $450 I spent years ago. Didn't hurt that I got the jointer for free. I also like that there are 4 cutting edges per blade. Loosen the set screws and turn the blade 90 degrees for a new edge.

  22. #15
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Helical head jointer

    Well, did the first trial today on a 2x6 chunk about 8" long just to see how smooth it would go. I was taking off about 1/16" a bit less and it cleaned the wood up nicely no matter which direction there was some tear out of the faces and some undulations about one-thousandth of an inch deep. Not terrible but not glass-smooth easy enough to clean up I suppose. Also, a bit of snipe on the leading or trailing or both edges. I have some setup to do, all in all, it is very quiet and did a decent job but to my mind for instruments not joint-worthy. Now that aside it got it really close and one-thousandth is a very small amount. On pine or other softwood and not for instruments it would possibly be acceptable. Not sure about hardwood yet as I haven't tried it on any yet. This small piece also had some tear-out in every direction on the face I tried. I attribute that to this piece of fir. We will see. I am still amazed at how quiet it was. I needed no hearing protection could carry on a conversation in a normal tone and no one else even knew I turned it on.
    My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A

    Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.

  23. #16

    Default Re: Helical head jointer

    Someone wrote a song about my plate joining skills: Planish Misfortune...
    If Condino put me on some bass wood-- by the time I was done he'd have two sticks that would be good for a go-bar deck. Maybe.

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