Revolutionise Your Planer with Sherwood's Spiral Cutterheads for all Sherwood Planing Machines
Please note: If you own one of these cutterheads, replacement knives can be purchased from the drop-down menu.
There are a few products we sell at Timbecon that we've taken a leading role in testing from the very beginning. These are the products that we've build our business on - the reasons why we're Australia's leading woodworking suppliers.
Sherwood's Helical-Patterned Spiral Cutterheads are one of those products and they're basically unique within the Australian woodworking industry because while lots of brands flaunt 'spiral cutterheads' they don't have helical heads, they don't have shear-cutting capabilities and they are nothing to compared to Sherwood's.
Why are Sherwood's Spiral Cutterheads unique?
Sherwood spiral cutterheads are designed with a true shear cut. What this means is that the knives are arranged in a helical spiral pattern and are also set at an angle relative to the previous knife, meaning that rather than punching at the material at a 90° angle, the knife slices away the material and then the very next knife in the pattern engages at the same slicing angle, shearing away the timber. This provides for a very efficient and smooth cut.
For that reason, true shear cut helical spiral heads require less horsepower, make smaller chips and operate with far less noise than other types of cutterheads.
Unlike conventional single straight knives, you do not need to replace the knife if it becomes damaged or dull. Instead, if one knife edge is damaged or needs sharpening simply turn it to another edge. You will only need to replace the inserts when four edges are dull, giving you more life than steel knives.
How long do Sherwood Spiral Cutterheads knives last?
The question that we are commonly asked is how long do these knives really last? The reality is that router bits used to be high-speed steel and then when they went to tungsten tipped, or solid carbide, they revolutionised the router bit industry and life spans of the bit increased 8-10 fold. Sometimes more with correct care. So how much longer will tungsten spiral heads last - expect to rotate the knives once for every 8-10 blade changes on straight HSS blades. And rotate it four times before ever replacing them. So the knives will last up to 40 times longer than straight blade knives.
All cutterheads come standard with solid carbide knives and replacement packets of 10 are available separately.
Your initial investment is paid back in no time. When you compare to straight blade cutterheads - the cost of buying a second set of straight blades so you can get one set sharpened while the other is in the machine and then the resharpening cost itself over a number of years, you really are just taking all of these costs and making that payment in one large sum with a spiral head - with the added benefits of a smoother, cleaner cut, quieter operation and much lower down time without having to get into the cutterhead to manage the cutting edges as often.
Why are these Spiral Cutterheads available separately?
Most customers choose to buy the planers bundled with the spiral heads already fitted. You can get information on pricing on each machine's page on our website. You can choose to purchase the spiral cutterhead separately, either at time of purchase so you can fit it yourself, or to retrofit on to a pre-owned Sherwood machine. Estimated time to replace the cutterheads on planers is listed below.
Jointers & Cominbation Planers - 1 - 2 hours
Thicknessers - 2 1/2 - 4 hours
These cutterheads are designed to fit Sherwood branded machines only. Timbecon will not be liable for any operation on a different branded machine.