I have a very old Rockwell 4 inch jointer with both tables adjustable.  Nice machine.  I see that Byrd makes a helical head cutter for this machine.  About $400 with tax and shipping.  I am considering it.  Has anybody any experience with a helical head cutter in a small jointer.  It makes sense to me but I would like to know if it really improves the cut.  I keep my knives sharp but do get a lot of chipping and tear out on some woods.

I don’t have a dog in this fight and other than 2nd hand experience from my little brother who makes high end cutting boards of the end grain kind  - he owns a thickness planer with a rotary head with the indexable carbide cutters made by grizzly - so I asked him if he ever had to replace the carbide cutters a few months back - he told me that he has only had to rotate the cutters once …. So yes the helical head with the indexable carbide cutters does a good job - he also sands them post -running them through the thickness planer not unlike a woodturner on a bowl

I also would point out that grizzly came out with a Christmas catalogue - that for @$500 including shipping you could get a bench top 8 inch wide jointer with a rotary head - I am just saying that I would always dream of more capacity if I was going to spend that much money - that is just my pov - I would be torn

Here is my brothers website :

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