A lot of the numbers derive from the KWO designs (1 to 128) which almost everyone and their dog has copied. Wealden in fact sell the original KWO cutters. As JFC says a lot of the smaller blocks will only take a 40mm high
x 4mm (5/32in) thick cutters. This is the standard thickness for pinned cutter block cutters, whilst serrated back cutters (used in a different type of cutterblock) come in 6mm and 8mm thick. You will need to order the limiters separately as they have a different code reference to the cutters. These 40mm cutters are a lot cheaper and come in a far wider variety (pre-ground) than the larger 50mm high cutters, so I'm not sure that I'd advise in favour of the 50mm over the 40mm, in fact for some purposes I use 30mm
Whitehill cutterblocks and grind my own cutters - this requires a profile grinder and cannot be readily done by hand and eye any more. Be aware that the majority of these pre-ground cutters are tool steel. Longer life cutters (in HSS or TCT) are available from some manufacturers in a more limited range of pre-ground profiles, and for rebating the best blocks have skew cut disposable TCT inserts and spurs. I'd recommend getting a copy of the current Whitehill catalogue to see what is available (and in their case made inthe UK).
Many of the pre-ground cutters have two or three profiles on a single cutter to increase their usefulness. Seeing the profiles full size (KWO do a profile chart) can help you visualise the effect, especially if the chart shows the wood cross section rather than the cutter profile.
I'd also agree with JFC re the limiters. They increase your tooling costs and the set-up time, but in the event of an accident they'll substantially reduce the chance of an amputation of finger or in extreme instances hand :shock: Because they limit the "bite" of the block you may also find that they improve the quality of the cut. Whatever else you do a spindle needs to be guarded properly and used with either Shaw guards or a power feeder. There is some good advice on the use of spindles on the HSE website
here. This is not "nanny state" stuff but genuinely useful gen and explains the use of the false ("zero clearance") fence, Shaw guards and jigs, etc for ring fence work (which can still give me the willies despite many years experience). I'd also recommend Eric Stephenson's excellent book on the subject
"Spindle Moulder Handbook" (publ. Stobart-Davies, reprinted 1999, ISBN 0-85442-031-2 , £18.95) as well as F.E.Sherlock's more general text
"Machine Woodworking Technology - for Hand Woodworkers" (publ. Stobart-Davies, ISBN 0-85542-041-X, £16.95) which covers spindles in less detail but does deal with operation of other machinery in the shop. Bear in mind that these are older publications, there being relatively written about this subject, and do not cover many of the more recent changes in cutter legislation, details of which may be found
here. But they do cover European and in particular British practice which is sometimes at variance with American practice, especially where personal safety is concerned.
I hope that you get much productive work from your purchase
Scrit
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