Circle saw tension

[bandmiller2]

I enjoy reading old sawmill books,picked up a little tidbit from a book written back in the 20's.If a headsaw runs true out of the cut at its hammered speed the tension is right.If when in the cut it wobbles or dodges the problem is not with the tension but something else arbor,track, teeth, alignment ,carrage est.Outher than computers their is little new with circle mills in the last 100 yrs.Frank C.

[timberjackpa]

Where are you finding these books I would really enjoy reading them.

[Old Iron nut]

  Years ago Simonds used to put out a small handbook about 3" by 5" that gave all that info. At the moment I can't put my hands on mine. One of the problems that one of the old sawyers I used to hang around with said that the main problem was to keep the speed the saw was hammered at in the cut or or out of the cut. The blades have a slight cup to them and when they are run up to the hammered speed they straighten out which gives them a certain amount of stiffness. Slow them down and they tend to revert back to the slight dish which then lets the blade rub on the log which tends to heat the blade. Then the blade starts to wobble. This can get very scary depending on the amounrt of wobble. If you can start into a log it will straighten out, but the speed has to be maintained. I had a neighbour that would pour water on his when it got to wobbling. I warned him about doing that and finally one day he pulled that trick and went into the house for lunch. When he came back after lunch he noticed the blade seemed to look a little funny. Upon closer inspection he observed a crack from the centre out. Needless to say, this blade was now junk. If he had taken the time to set the mill up properly he would saved himself a lot of grief. Just lucky no one got hurt.

[Ron Wenrich]

There are some old timers ways to get rid of wobble.  You shim it with paper.  One piece on the offending side on the mandrel collar will do it.  Not a recommended thing on high speed mills, but you can get away with it on a small operation.  I sawed like that for 6 months way back when. 

[bandmiller2]

Ron,I think the paper shims are used to compensate for sprung or worn collars,a poor mans remachining.Frank C.

[bandmiller2]

Timberjack,google log turners, second page.google books "lumber manufacture in the douglas fir reagons".Take note of the steam log turners how times have changed.Frank C.

[Ron Wenrich]

A worn out collar will cause the saw to wobble.  The way I was showed how to do it was to back the guides off the saw.  Find the spot on the saw that was midway between the guides.  Then advance the saw one tooth at a time.  As you got closer to the left guide, you would mark it with a +.  The closer to the guide, the more + signs.

When it moved to the right guide, you would use a -.  That will show you where to put the shim.

To check if its the saw or the collar, after you make your marks, rotate the saw 180° on your mandrel.  If the marks remain the same, then its your collars.  If they are opposite, then its your saw.