I machine all my door rails and stiles from hard maple. I recently bought a new 5hp planer and knives to go with it... I'm having bad issues with maple chipping on during thicknessing. I have wood heat in the shop, so the m/c of the wood is real low. Yes, I've tried the usual techniques to reduce tearout.

Is a Byrd insert cutterhead going to solve my woes? It's not a cost issue, I just want to solve this issue in the shop asap!

Thanks, Brent

I believe yes. We have very little tear out even with crazy grain.

Before laying out the money on the new head try setting up the machine so the knives, breakers, and rollers are at the correct height. It will make a world of difference in performance for any planer. You can google the generic specs for each relative to the knife height.
I have started to set up my knives in jointer and planer with a dial indicator. It is way better than relying on supplied jigs.

Yes a spiral insert head will decrease tearout in maple, BUT the machine has to adjusted correctly as stated above. I have insert carbide in most of my machines and the ones without are on the short list to get changed. If you work with a lot of chip prone woods, get the insert style, you won't ever wish you had straight knives again.

Okay thanks all. Just checked: lead time on a custom insert head is 4months! :(

You care chipping maple because you are sending the boards thru in the wrong direction or taking too deep a cut. Insert carbide is the obvious solution. Keep in mind that straight knives have been used forever with great success. Insert takes all of the skill out of using jointers/planers

Brent, have you tried Hermance to see what their lead time is?

https://www.hermance.com/Industrial/HelixHead-Cutterheads

I was going to get one for my planer because I read good reports about them, I had to get some other stuff for the workshop and never bought one so I can't report on if they are any good.

More importantly than knowing your planer is 5hp, sharing what the cutting angle and sharpness angles are might solve your problem.
You might solve your chipping by grinding a face bevel to get ~12º.

Or, If your craftsmen suspect a certain board has a lot of grain change, having a wet sponge handy to wipe the face down a minute or two before sending it through can make it cut a lot smoother. I was working with some fiddle back hard maple a while back that suffered a lot of tearout after the first pass, then had none after wetting it.

Wet wood has about half the hardness of KD.

Good point Keith. My knives are ground to 45deg (after I had them sharpened, I see the manual specs 30deg bevel). Can this difference in bevel angle contribute to the problem (ie: is the heel of the knife contacting the workpiece)?

For context: this machine has been completely gone through by me with a dial indicator, and all rollers are all properly positioned relative to the cutting arc. On straight-grained maple I get wonderful results; unfortunately, when my paint-grade maple comes on the lift, it's not all straight-grained!

Brent, Here is a link to this subject on wood web that covers this better than I can. Your knives may be set in the head for 30º or whatever which may be fine for soft woods, but not so good for hardwoods. I grind a 20º face bevel on my jointer and planer since hardwoods are about all I do. This requires more power but it will do the trick.

https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Knife_Grinding_and_Woodworking_Manual_5.html