Anyone know if termious or other planer heads are avaible with two knife angles?

This is sort of a long term reply to my planer cutterhead obsession. (was thinking of making a new one)
I just put a byrd head on one of the planers and it is OK, but no better than my straight knives with a 10 degree back bevel. It leaves slightly grainy surface on hardwoods, on softwoods it is not so good. One of the drawbacks might be no chip breaker at all.

Thinking a terminus might be better- if I could find one with a 20 degree hook pocket for soft wood, and a 12 degree pocket for hardwood, and just switch the blades to different pockets ,that would be cool. I think some shaper or molder heads are made like this.

Interesting idea. I've seen corrugated shaper heads with 2 sets of pockets at different angles, but never planer heads.

I have both Byrd and Terminus shaper heads, I like them both. My shelix head leaves a very slightly scalloped surface, but it's not been a problem for glue joints, and planes/scrapes/sands out easily. It does a great job on curly hard maple, just about no tearout ever!

The terminus head leaves a slick surface, but I get some tearout with the hard curly stuff. I also like that I can kiss the knives on my surface grinder and get several sharpenings.

But I don't work with softwoods, so my experience is sort of irrelevant to you I guess...

I love machining and making cutterheads.

But the suggestion of your question begs another: Do you already have a widebelt sander?

smt

We have a small wide belt sander- most all the hardwood goes through the sander and gets finished.
The Port Orford cedar goes through the planer with a razor sharp HSS high hook knife and gets left as is- basically, like glass.

OK, for now hopefully this is solved- I am running a byrd insert head with a corrugated infeed roller on one of the planers, for roughing work. The other planer is set up with two interchangeable heads, one with a 30 degree knives, and the other one with 10 degree knives. These are a cassette system, they load from the side with bearings and pulley already on the shaft, so the only thing to do is to pop the belt off and take out two bolts. I set up the knife pockets and knives on the lathe, so the cutting circle is constant. Poly infeed and outfeed rolls let me take tiny cuts. This is an old Rockwell 13" for those interested. Not a big planer but ideal for small parts- this is being used to gang plane 3/8" x 3/8" stock,no sanding.

The Tersa knives are:

“What wood can the Knives be used on?

The HSS knife has an angle of 40°, ideal for soft woods such as cedar, pine, fir, etc. The M+Tersa™ planer knife has an angel of 55°which makes it more durable, used on hardwood like maple, birch, oak and cherry wood.”
More Info – Tersaknives Inc.

Tersa Knives – Tersaknives Inc.


I use the carbide knives in mine 100% of the time so can’t comment on how switching out the blade for angle works out.
I can’t recommend a Tersa head highly enough though.
12” MiniMax joiner/planer.