Spiral Heads on Old Equipment Re-tooling an old, heavy piece of iron with a new helical cutterhead can be the ideal value solution for some shops. August 18, 2009
Shaper Cutter Choices, Alignment, and Balancing In this interesting thread, a question about good cutterhead choices for occasional use in hardwood evolves into a conversation about setting up and balancing the shaper. August 19, 2013
Troubleshooting Moulder Head Vibration Many things could potentially throw a moulder head out of balance. Here, pros discuss the possible causes of excessive vibration. August 23, 2005
Spiral Cutterhead Experiences Woodworkers discuss the cut quality and performance they've achieved by switching to spiral insert planer tooling. March 26, 2009
Tooling for Teak Teak is hard and abrasive, and takes its toll on knives and blades. This long, informative thread delves into the heavy-duty tooling choices for handling extra-hard woods, and also touches on useful techniques for working with teak. December 1, 2005
Sharpness of High Speed Steel Versus Carbide Tooling Here's a long, technically detailed, and authoritative thread that explains why high speed steel can be sharpened to a finer edge than carbide, but will lose that edge quickly in hard or abrasive materials. (And more.) February 22, 2011
Stepping Up to a Shaper After burning out yet another router, a one-man cabinet shop owner gets advice on investing in a shaper and some raised-panel cutters. July 3, 2008
Tooling Life: Assessing Cutterheads for Replacement Straight-bore cutterheads can last a long time, under ideal service conditions. But here's what to look for if you're wondering whether it's time to replace one. April 21, 2011
Teak and Tool Wear Teak contains silica sand, and it quickly wears down cutting edges on every kind of tool. October 27, 2011
Understanding Carbide Planer Knives A question about planer knives that can hold an edge with exotic hardwoods leads to a detailed explanation about quality grades in the carbide knife market. June 9, 2007
Storing Moulder Knives Shop owners trade ideas for keeping track of all those moulder knives. December 26, 2006
Saw Blade Rake: Negative or Positive? The rake on a saw blade's teeth affects the tendency of wood to move during cutting. Rake angle should be different for blades used on different types of saws. October 1, 2010
Tooling for Double End Tenoner Cutterheads from some other equipment can be used with a double end tenoner. December 11, 2006
Using Router Bits with a Shaper The proper spindles sizes are hard to find, and there's also debate about whether a shaper spins too slowly for router bits. Still, here is some practical advice. January 2, 2012
Spiral Head Wobble Could be an adjustment problem, or maybe the heads are just too heavy for the machine to handle. January 27, 2008
Tool Wear and Resawing Teak Teak dulls blades and loads up sandpaper. Here's advice on the tooling required to process it. February 17, 2014
Upgrading from a 3/4" to a 1-1/4" Shaper Spindle A shop owner is considering whether he can put a larger spindle on his 3-HP shaper and run larger cutters. But in the opinion of colleagues, he needs a heavier-duty machine. December 15, 2005
Saw Blades for Hardwood Tips on choosing a saw blade that's appropriate for the machine and purpose. January 3, 2014
Tooling tips for African wawa More important than knife angles to obtaining a smooth machined finish is feed speed. 1998.
Rounding Over Corners on Blocks (Mass Production) Woodworkers brainstorm in search of a high-volume, high-accuracy production method for a repetitive task of rounding over corners on small hardwood blocks. September 15, 2011
Purchasing a Helical Planer Extended discussion of the fine points of various new and used planer options. August 21, 2006
Rx for Wood Machining Defects Dr. Gene Wengert examines the causes for defects in solid lumber caused by machining. 1998.
Increasing Shaper RPM for Use With Router Bits A discussion of modifying a shaper to work effectively with router bits, versus shop-rigging a router table or integrating a router into a re-purposed shaper bed. February 14, 2010
Problem with Insert Tooling Teeth Breaking A shop owner tries to figure out why teeth in his helical insert planer heads keep breaking (which leads to further problems and headaches). October 19, 2013
Multiple Dowel Moulders Dedicated machinery to make more than one dowel at a time is an unusual application. Here's a detailed thread on the ins and outs of it. July 3, 2008
Insert Tooling Versus Knives Machine owners weigh the pros and cons of standard planer knives compared to helical insert tooling. It gets complicated. October 27, 2013
Horsepower Issues with Helical Cutterheads If you switch to spiral knives and you want to keep hogging out deep cuts, you may need to upgrade to a more powerful motor. July 8, 2014
Keeping cutterhead balance Number of knives and other factors in cutterhead balance. (From WOODWEB's Solid Wood Machining Forum) March 5, 2003
Jointed Moulders Explained Here's the rundown on what makes a jointed moulder different from a regular moulder, how it works, and what it's good for. October 4, 2007
Moulding Cutters for a Shaper A newcomer seeks advice on tooling up to make mouldings on a shaper. In a long discussion, pros explain some of the options. August 31, 2005
Rapid Dulling in Planer Knives: What's Wrong? Trying to figure out why knives go dull so fast in a planing operation that handles both reclaimed and freshly sawn lumber. January 14, 2008
Hook Angles for Hardwood and Softwood Moulder pros discuss the reasons to prefer a 12° or a 20° hook angle in different situations, for minimizing tearout, getting a good finish, and maximizing tool life. May 28, 2008
Knife Steel 101 Here's a nice rundown of the various materials used to make cutter knives, along with some lively discussion. November 27, 2007
Helical cutterheads Surface quality compared to other cutterheads. November 18, 2002
Regrinding Corrugated Knives Is it worth it to try re-grinding an odd-lot batch of old knives to new, useful profiles? Or alternatively, is there a used-tool market for them? July 25, 2010
Helical Cutterheads and Clean Gluelines Will a helical cutterhead leave little lines that may compromise glue joints? Professionals discuss finish quality, sharpening, and setting. March 26, 2007
Raised Panel Bits for Routers Shapers are more powerful, but vertical raised panel bits put door panels within the reach of a good router. April 30, 2009
Keeping the Knife Collection Organized A place for every cutter, and every cutter in its place — but how? Pros suggest ways to categorize and file cutter heads. March 3, 2006
Machining Jatoba Like other tropical hardwoods, jatoba is high in silicates and wears out knives quickly. Here is some advice on tooling and other aspects of working with jatoba. November 18, 2006
Number of Knives and Planing Quality More knives is not always better, and RPMs also play a role. Here are tips on obtaining good cut quality at various feed rates and RPM settings. May 28, 2006
Insert Cutterheads for Finish Planing Despite their advantages, spiral insert cutters may not be suitable for finish planing for glue-ups, according to some users. November 13, 2005
Does Helical Insert Tooling Create Glue-Ready Edges? A shop owner asks about helical insert jointer knives for edge jointing, and sets off a long and informative discussion about the comparison between high speed steel, carbide knives, and insert cutterheads. April 18, 2015
Axial Constant Grinding: Is It Worth It? A discussion on the costs and benefits of switching to an axial constant system on moulder and shaper knives. August 18, 2009
Choosing a moulder Jointed- vs. non-jointed-head moulders; choosing the right machine for a custom moulding business. November 21, 2000
Carbide Tipped Versus Solid Carbide Knives The comparison between high-speed-steel, carbide-tipped, and solid-carbide knives depends in part on what material you're machining. August 12, 2007
Bandsaw Blades and Cut Quality Blade characteristics go a long way toward explaining the smoothness of bandsaw cuts. December 1, 2005
Changing Heads on an Eighteen-Inch Planer A woodworker who is swapping out straight knives for an S-helix head for his new Powermatic planer gets advice on the task.October 19, 2013
Diamond Saw Blade It costs more, but rarely needs sharpening. Is it worth it? April 10, 2005
Balancing Drill-Holes on Tooling Cutterheads may be balanced at the factory by drilling small holes to remove weight. But that won't salvage a poor-quality cutter. September 10, 2007
Chip-out from a year-old moulder The moulder had worked perfectly for a year when all of a sudden, chip-out reared its ugly face. June 14, 2000
Cutter Choices Carbide cutters, insert knives, or high speed steel? Pros weigh in on the options. August 31, 2005
Choosing shaper tooling Making the most of a new spindle shaper. Includes advice on grinding knives. November 7, 2000
Black streaks in birch Searching for clues to the cause of black streaks, showing up in birch dowels during manufacturing. 1998.
Choosing Flap Sanding Wheels Advice on selecting sanding heads for profile sanders, and some thoughts on the best use of the machine.June 30, 2014
Are Cryogenic Tool Treatments for Real? Ultra-cold treatments make claims for improving tool hardness and increasing life, but this thread provides no testimonials. December 1, 2005
Troubleshooting Moulder Tear-Out Tweaks to the knives, the feed rate, the drive belt set-up, or the bed board may help eliminate moulder chatter and tear-out. August 29, 2005
Troubleshooting Cut Quality on Door Profiles A cabinetmaker's knives are wearing out too quickly. The discussion leads into various aspects of door profile machining. September 17, 2008
Suitable Bits for Cutting Thick Solid Hardwood High speed steel (HSS) outperforms carbide in solid wood because of heat issues. But HSS is getting hard to find. How about a carbide spiral fluted hogger instead? January 3, 2012
To Nest or not to Nest? A spirited discussion on which is more productive: nest-cutting parts with a CNC router, or using a beam saw and point-to-point machining center. June 30, 2005
Tooling Up for Door Production A discussion of the ideal machinery setup for efficient production of cabinet doors on a regular basis. February 26, 2007
Interior Door Construction Questions Here's a long and detailed discussion of lumber choices and construction methods for thick custom interior doors. March 20, 2012
Increasing production flow Presenting to a boss the numbers that prove production flow could be improved. (Business Forum) May 17, 2003
Profile Grinding Bent Wood The developer of an innovative method for extreme-bending hardwood explores options for profiling his bent pieces using abrasive wheels. March 12, 2014
Making Square and Octagonal Handrail Caps Is a CNC router or an old-school rotary lathe the best way to machine a profiled square cap for a newel post? February 27, 2015
Running Tight Radius Trim on a Moulder Short-radius curved mouldings are tricky to run on a moulder (a CNC or lathe works better). It can be done, though — here are photos and advice. May 17, 2011
How to make a tenon Accurately sized tenons without a tenoner. September 25, 2002
Making Templates from Existing Mouldings Moulding shop pros discuss how to scan and import profiles of existing mouldings in order to make exact drawings or manufacture new knives. November 10, 2006
Getting Your Waterstone Back in Shape If your waterstone isn’t flat, it can’t deliver a proper edge to your tools. Here's how to fix that. December 18, 2013
Multi-Profile Knives and Heads Shop owner gets advice on finding appropriate cutter heads for a set of nice knives (manufacturer unknown). Included are some set-up tips. July 13, 2005
Measuring Router Bit Diameter Advice on how to verify whether tooling diameter is correct within proper tolerances. January 12, 2015
Portable Bandsaw Pros discuss options for detail cuts on heavy timbers. May 4, 2005
MDF and Tooling MDF dulls tooling quickly, so craftsmen tend to keep a set of cutterheads dedicated to MDF. March 28, 2015
Fuzz and Tearout with Soft Maple What's causing machining problems with soft maple? Could be the hook setting, the knife angle, or just too high a moisture content. July 13, 2005
Elliptical Jig Q&A Before buying, a shop owner gets info on how the device actually works. July 14, 2005
Are Small Moulders Practical for Small Runs? Here's an extensive and informative run on the hows and whys of buying and using a small moulder to make short runs of custom profiles. October 19, 2013
Chip Removal and Planer Finish Defects A classic defect with a well-known cause: chips recirculating around the cutter head and being pounded into the wood. But how to fix it? May 15, 2012
Chip Dents, Cutter Choices, and Dust Extraction Dents made by chips being pressed into the wood by the planer or jointer knives are a common problem. Here's a thorough discussion of causes and remedies.April 15, 2013
Cloth Versus Paper Sanding Belts Cloth belts are washable and last longer, but may mark the wood more than paper belts. Here's a detailed look at all the pros and cons. January 12, 2015
Compression and Chatter Pros discuss the meaning and causes of "compression" and "chatter" in moulder operation. October 4, 2005
Climb Cutting on a Moulder Molding manufacturers discuss the potentially dangerous but sometimes necessary practice of climb cutting. January 22, 2006
Cutterhead Options for a Five-Head Moulder Shop owners who machine S4S mouldings discuss the relative merits of carbide versus high-speed steel knives, and 2-sided versus insert cutter heads. September 15, 2006
Brush Backed Flap Sanding Wheels A simple question about where to buy a replacement sanding wheel prompts an information-filled thread about brush and flap sanding technology. August 29, 2014
Dust Collection and Planer Noise Airflow from a new dust collection made a planer noisier, but switching to helical insert tooling made it quieter again. January 12, 2015
Custom Door Profile: Custom Cutter Versus CNC Solution While searching for a particular profile cutterhead for his shaper, a cabinetmaker learns about a possible way to get what he needs from a CNC-equipped shop. April 29, 2013