Tersa Vs Spiral

[YellowHammer]

I'm thinking about upgrading my 12" jointer to a 20" and the two options I'm considering have either Tersa or Spiral heads calls Xylent heads. 

I've read through the FF archives and but am looking for any updated info.

My planer and current jointer has spiral heads, so I'm pretty familiar with them, my old planer and jointer had HSS cutters, and they were extremely loud and I'd get about a week or two out of them before I had to replace or sharpen.  Also the feeding force was harder on knives vs spiral heads if I remember correctly.  Currently I can go several months before I dull up my carbides. 

I've heard good things about the Tersa heads, but don't want to go down the wrong path, or have buyers regret.  I've not heard anything in the Xylent heads other than YouTube stuff.

Any experiences good or bad with Tersa or Xylent heads and cutters?

[Larry]

My 12” Griggio jointer has the Tersa head.  It does a good job with figured wood, possibly on par with a spiral head.  Much better than a standard jointer and I ran comparison tests against a 12” Northfield I had at the time.  I've used standard HSS knives and a higher grade, think it is M2 HSS.  Knife life is comparable to a standard jointer.  No difference in noise level compared to a standard jointer.

The knife's are two sided and not practical to resharpen.  Fairly inexpensive and knife changes take less than a minute.

I also have a Byrd Shellix head in my planer so have some experience with that style.  With funds I would try a jointer with the Byrd head.