GrizzlyH7764 Byrd Tool 6-Inch Shelix Cutterhead

The cutter works great and makes a very clean finish. Installing was pretty easy but I would recommend buying new bearings even if your existing ones are still good they are too much of a pain to take off compared to being able to get new ones on amazon for a $10-20 bucks. Check both bearing for size though mine had two different sizes. There all random small holes drilled in the cutter but that is from machine balancing.

Night and day difference on a new 6” jet long bed. Ran 40 board feet of rough, 8/4 hard maple and walnut over this new head and no noticeable change in sharpness/cutting quality. That would have blown the edges right off the straight knives. Finish is outstanding. No lines. Some very light scalloping, but we’re talking a couple thousandths. I’m getting a full 6 1/8” of width face jointing on my head. Noise is reduced. It’s also surprisingly easier to feed material across it. This allows for a much more consistent feed rate, although the feed rate is a little slower. Much easier to keep the face against the fence when edge jointing as you don’t have to muscle the board as much across the cutter head. I will never go back to straight knives on a jointer. They go dull in 30 mins, the finish is hit and miss, and they take half a Saturday to install and recalibrate. Best upgrade in a long time. Worth every penny.

I got some tiny nic's in the blades on my Grizzly G0452 Jointer and figured with these being onsale at Grizzly, why not avoid the hassle of the getting new knives and having to get them set correctly and all that trouble again. It arrives packaged as seen, in great shape, and I'd be very impressed if the shippers were able to damage this in shipping.Installation was a little tough - pulling the bearings off the old jointer head required a pulley puller/extractor that I borrowed from a local auto parts store for a fully refundable deposit.Here is my short version of Installation steps for the G0452 series jointer:Remove the top fence (two hex screws) and then remove the fence support (four hex screws). Once they are removed, take off the belt (I just rolled it over the upper pulley) and lower both infeed and outfeed tables (the outfeed has set screws on the back that need to be loosened). To remove the cutter head, there are two 17mm nuts on the front and back at the base of the jointer platform above the base, below the cutting head holding it in place. This takes a bit of time to get these off, but once off the cutter head will just lift out. (In the interest of safety I removed the blades on the old head to avoid cutting myself while trying to perform the next steps. ) Use the puller to take off the pulley (and spine key) and the bearings. It's recommended to not apply pressure against the outside of the bearing to get it off the shaft, however I did it and have not had any trouble with them since installing them. Once the bearings and pulley are free, install them on the new cutter head. (Again, in the interest of safety, before removing the new cutter head from the packaging, I used some hockey tape to wrap the head (it spins in the shipping box) so I could handle it with "less" concern for the need for a trip to the ER. ) The bearings are a different ID for front and back, and once they are installed - I used a block of wood to hammer them in to place the installation is basically the opposite of removal. Getting the two 17mm nuts started is likely the hardest part.So what you're really interested in - Well, it cuts, and it cuts well. After the initial start up/installation and vibration check I ran some already dimensioned red oak through it. I didn't however remember to reset the infeed table height, and ended up taking a 1/4 off the 3/4" board edge. The jointer could have cared less that I was making such a deep cut and the edge was outstanding considering the speed and the depth of cut I took. (This was a mistake on my part, I usually only take 1/16 at most, generally 1/32nd while jointing edges. ). After resetting my infeed table height to a more manageable 1/16th" I face jointed the same board (about 5 1/4" thick now) and the jointer had no trouble and was noticeably quieter than before. I usually use ear protection, and with out ear protection it was about the same as it was with ear protection on the old cutter head.Overall I'm very impressed with the cutter head so far, and I've since run about 100bf of oak, poplar and hard maple though it with no noticeable degradation of performance or cutterhead sharpness. If you're not upgrading to an 8" jointer any time soon, and it's time to replace your HSS cutter blades, spend the money, it is worth the upgrade. I'll likely be replacing the HSS knives in my DW735 with a Byrd tool once I've used up the last edges on my last set.

I have lusted for a Byrd cutter head for my 6" Jet jointer for a number of years and I finally gave in to my passions and purchased one.Installation is easy, although if you don't have the knowledge and tools to remove the bearings from your existing cutter and re-install them on the Byrd, get help early so you don't damage anything. I made a bearing separator from a large washer and and a gear puller, that worked just fine.The biggest installation problem was shimming the jibs to parallel the cutter to the out-feed table, I think its a Jet problem, no fault of Byrd.I just finished surfacing about 200ft of rough sawed walnut, some fairly gnarly and:No noticeable wear or nicks on the cuttersVery quiet in operation.Very easy to feed.Small chip size.Almost no tear-out but finish is improved if the grain direction is observed.Conclusion:In a perfect world of absolutely straight and flat grained, knot free stock the Jet's 3 blade HSS cutter head would probably give a better finish until the blades start to dull. But in the real world of wild grain and knots and the hassle of changing a set $70 cutter blades in the middle of a job,if even only occasionally, I think that Byrd Shelix is a good value and a great addition to any shop.

Fit my Ridged JP06101 jointer perfectly. I was the exact same size as the original head

Whether you are a hobbyist woodworker or a professional like myself. Don't wait so long to buy one of these cutterheads. They will make your job so much easier and will eliminate some of the frustration dealing with figured woods. Now, I'm not saying that it will eliminate tearout 100%. But, it sure will reduce it drastically from a standard straight knife cutterhead. Not to mention how much more quiet they are. That alone was worth it for me. Installation was really easy even know it didn't come with any kind of instructions. Would highly recommend!!!

Jet jj6-cs jointer head replacement should have been done years ago. No more sharpening headaches. Fit like the original. Makes an old machine better than new.

Great upgrade for my jointer. Noise reduction is noticeable.It will be great if you know in advance the bearings you need for your jointer model.For my powermatic 54A jointer I used62036202