Four years ago I went to the Atlanta IWF tool show looking for a 12 inch jointer that could joint and flatten figured wood without blowing out the grain. The show had lots of machines to look at and after it was all said and done I walked off with the General model 780, the machine is equipped with a helical cutter head, containing carbide 4-sided insert knives. I came to the show prepared with a super piece of Birdseye maple stashed in my briefcase and promptly ask the salesman to take a pass across the machine. The first thing that got me was the sound, quiet, big time quiet, next the finish came out like glass. On top of it all the factory rep claimed I would be able to surface wood for several years before having to replace the inserts. I was skeptical about the claim but bought the machine on the basis it would do what I wanted. I use this jointer every day and after 4 years still have not rotated the knives, although it is getting close to the “need to do stage”. If all this wasn’t, enough the paint job is a sight, man, this gem has an automotive quality paint job, it’s one of these machines you want to give a hug every time you go to use it.
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close up of cutterhead
Photo of Jointer and curly maple plank
By the way the curly maple board and her close cousin are being offered on the “Quittin Time” auction block, here is a great chance to get a couple nice boards for yourself and help out the fine folks at Quittin Time.
How 'bout a URL for the auction?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
"it’s one of these machines you want to give a hug every time you go to use it"
Careful, that puppy will give you a nasty hickey...
Forest girl,
here is the link. to the auction site. Click on the back porch, Curly Maple will be listed on the auction page
http://www.quittintime.com/
You'll be pleased to know that the cutterhead design was first used on a Polish built machine well over 35 years ago.. I love the fact that if you get a piece of grit and ruin the blade instead of sharpening the whole blade, all you need to do is turn the damaged cutter. The quiet is cool too.
Now several manufacturers offer the same design. Grizzley for example has one.
I did not know that about the polish cutterhead. I think the insert spiral cutterheads will become very common in the future. Bridgewood, Grizzle and General now offer them on both jointers and planers. I'm so happy with mine I'm planning on trading in my SCMI 20 inch planer next year for a model with an insert head.http://www.northernsunwoodworks.com
Too bad it's only a 12"er. If I may be so bold, how much did it set you back?
Is it just me, or does anyone else shiver at the thought of rotating all those blades.. hehehe guess thats just the lazy bastahd in me coming out.... good thing you only rotate them every few years... hehe
For me the 12 in was the best choice, small enough footprint yet big enough to do stair treads & stringers. There were several nice Italian & German 16 inch jointers at the show but they were huge. besides not of them performed as well on figured wood as the General. The show special was $5500 however I was not so lucky since I wanted to by the floor model and cart it home with me. Diddled around to long at the show and somebody else got it. I ended up paying 6 thousand plus shipping to the boondocks.http://www.northernsunwoodworks.com
http://byrdtool.com/journals.html
Compare modifying versus replacing the SCMI 20"
I see Woodtek is offering 6", 8", and 15" replacement heads now as well.
Hugging this machine ? It reminds me of the love stories coming out of the Soviet Union in the fifties where the 16 year old farm girl falls in love with her....tractor.
Just kidding, it is a wonderful woodworking machine!
John Cabot
Always wondered when someone would make a joiner like that Are the knives in that carbide or HHS? Any idea what they cost to replace?
Jon, the blades are cheap, less than $2.00 each. I'm not sure but I think this machine takes 60 inserts. thats $120 spread over 10 years or more, not to mention they cut so clean it's unreal. Gone are the days where I have to check the board to see which way the grain runs, it just doesn't matter with this machine. I don't know how long it takes to rotate the inserts, will most likely take on the task next month, I suspect about an hour, two at the most.
Inserts are are super fine grade of carbide, razor sharp.http://www.northernsunwoodworks.com
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