A cutter head (40) having cutting blade positioning slots (50, 52) wherein a portion of the positioning slots accommodate cutting blades (42) for right-hand cutting and another portion of the positioning slots accommodate cutting blades (46) for left-hand cutting.

A bevel gear manufacturing face cutter head (2) for face hobbing and face milling wherein the face cutter head includes a positive blade seating and stick-type rectangular or square cross-section cutting blades (6) are clamped tight to the positive seating surfaces (14, 18). The cutting blades are adjustable radially by axial movement by a non-self-locking system.