Thread: Scalloping Marks Left by all Helical Spiral Head Cutters?

I have a Sherwood 500mm thicknesser, I think all Sherwood heads have the standard 15mm x 15mm carbide cutters.

I do get lines running across my timber, but they sand out ok, however looking at your second pic you seem to have a lot of liners close together (closer than 15mm apart) so your helical head must be designed in such a way that the 15mm cutters overlap each other and do so in a way where there not hitting the surface uniformly, thus giving you those tramlines.

Have you tried the sander on them?

Originally Posted by Camelot

I have a Sherwood 500mm thicknesser, I think all Sherwood heads have the standard 15mm x 15mm carbide cutters.

I do get lines running across my timber, but they sand out ok, however looking at your second pic you seem to have a lot of liners close together (closer than 15mm apart) so your helical head must be designed in such a way that the 15mm cutters overlap each other and do so in a way where there not hitting the surface uniformly, thus giving you those tramlines.

Have you tried the sander on them?

I've tried hand sanding them, slight improvement. At this stage I'm thinking of taking it back to Timbercon and getting my money back on the grounds of not being fit for purpose. I've seen video's of the Crabatec one for roughly the same price and the stock comes out smoother than a babies ar3e. Pretty disappointing to be honest.

My Sherwood helical head unit produces a far better finish than that, and far superior to my H&F standard two blade unit. The board only requires a light pass through the drum sander with #120 or higher grit.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

My Sherwood helical head unit produces a far better finish than that, and far superior to my H&F standard two blade unit. The board only requires a light pass through the drum sander with #120 or higher grit.

Which one you got?.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Which one you got?.

Sherwood 13in Deluxe Thicknesser with Helical Spiral Head (timbecon.com.au)

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Sherwood 13in Deluxe Thicknesser with Helical Spiral Head (timbecon.com.au)

Yep got the exact same one. Have you tried looking at a freshly planed piece of wood with a raking light or angled at the light, this is what I did to see the ridges.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Yep got the exact same one. Have you tried looking at a freshly planed piece of wood with a raking light or angled at the light, this is what I did to see the ridges.

Have a look for yourself. I just popped out and took a couple of shots under an LED flouro.

Reclaimed Northern Silky Oak aged at least 40 years insitu as rafters - 6m x 240mm x 90mm. Most is perfectly quarter sawn. Last week I ripped some 15mm boards for box sides. I ran through at least 20 lm two faces and this is indicative of all the boards. Yes, there are barely discernable scallops, and I mean barely discernable to the naked eye. The medullary flecks in aged NSO will test any planer.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Have a look for yourself. I just popped out and took a couple of shots under an LED flouro.

Reclaimed Northern Silky Oak aged at least 40 years insitu as rafters - 6m x 240mm x 90mm. Most is perfectly quarter sawn. Last week I ripped some 15mm boards for box sides. I ran through at least 20 lm two faces and this is indicative of all the boards. Yes, there are barely discernable scallops, and I mean barely discernable to the naked eye. The medullary flecks in aged NSO will test any planer.

Thanks for going to the trouble of uploading those. Would it be possible to angle them so the lights hitting the wood like my second photo?.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Thanks for going to the trouble of uploading those. Would it be possible to angle them so the lights hitting the wood like my second photo?.

I have done that, and I can't get them to show in the image, they are that indistinct. I honestly can't get them to show in an image. They are very difficult to see with the naked eye and imperceptible to the touch. The medullary figure, and vascular structures is more noticeable to the touch than any scalloping.

Thanks for checking mate. I think I'll get a refund on mine and go with the Carbatec 13" Spiral head, It'll match my Carbatec cabinet saw anyway

My uneducated guess is that it has the wrong carbide inserts fitted to the helical head. The Sherwood inserts are rather unique and not a typical "industry norm." Search the forum as there have been posts about the inserts and sourcing them.

The scalloping in your second image is unacceptable imho.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

My uneducated guess is that it has the wrong carbide inserts fitted to the helical head. The Sherwood inserts are rather unique and not a typical "industry norm." Search the forum as there have been posts about the inserts and sourcing them.

The scalloping in your second image is unacceptable imho.

You may very well be right you know. Is there any way of finding out from looking at them under the hood?. If this is the case then they have sold me completely different machine to what was advertised, false advertising...

And if I find out this is whats happened I'll be going straight to Consumer Affairs Victoria, not my first rodeo unfortunately...

for details of the cutters go to post #88 here New Sherwood 13in Deluxe Thicknesser with Helical Spiral Head on it's way