Anyone running the new Wood-Mizer 7 degree bands?

Dave Shepard · April 23, 2009, 05:58:52 PM

I have a box of 9° .045" bands that I'll never use. I was thinking of sending them back and trying the new 7° bands. Do they come in an .055", or just the .045"?

MartyParsons · April 23, 2009, 10:05:35 PM

.045 and .055 1 1/4 and 1 1/2

Works well in White Pine, Spruce Hard to Medium hard types of wood.

Bibbyman · April 23, 2009, 10:07:14 PM

I'd like to try them. But we've not been able to beg, steal or borrow any.

Why won't you use the 9°? They work for us. ;)

Papa1stuff · April 23, 2009, 10:09:03 PM

I just got a box of 7degree ,but have not tried them yet ,Next week and will report !

Dave Shepard · April 23, 2009, 10:11:45 PM

I couldn't get the 9's to saw straight at all. Maybe if they were .055? I'd like something that did better in pine, I saw a lot of it. I think the new gullet on the 7 would help with the pine sawdust.

ladylake · April 24, 2009, 06:52:30 AM

Dave Maybe you should jump right to 4* for your tough wood, I've been running 4* for quite a while now sawing white oak, ash and dry pine with real good results with a 1-1/4 7/8 .42 blade. I got the bright idea to sharpen a few at 7* a little while ago, it's back at 4* again. Also plenty of set and clean blades. Steve

bandmiller2 · April 24, 2009, 06:55:07 AM

Dave, who sharpenes your bands?are you looking for a bigger deeper gullet??I know with my Cooks cats claw sharpener its no trick to change the gullet shape with different cams.I feel a little guilty my partner orders the bands from mizer not even sure what degree they are ,they work ,and the grinder is set up for them.Strange but I use the cam for a Simonds 3/4 band on a mizer 7/8" 1 1/2 band followes the gullet perfectly.If I want a deeper gullet I use a timberwolf cam,almost unlimited options.Frank C.

NMFP · April 24, 2009, 01:17:29 PM

I have been using a modified blade at 7* for almost 2 years now and they have proven to be very good. Excellent sawing in hemlock, white pine, spruce, larch and even Maples. I only saw with 7* or 4* and there hasnt been anything so far that I havent been able to saw successfully. The 7* is very good at chip removal and I can also typically run longer on a band than a 9-10*.

The Wood-Mizer 7* bands are excellent!

Bibbyman · April 24, 2009, 02:18:04 PM

Welcome to the Forum?

Tell us more.. We're writing a book here... :P ;)

Larry · April 24, 2009, 02:53:34 PM

If I had known you wanted some of those 7 degree bands so bad I would have given ya some out of the box I picked up at Arkies.

I can tell ya this...they make the boards fly off the log. About like a hot knife cutting butter. ;D ;D

Bibbyman · April 24, 2009, 03:15:17 PM

I didn't hear the anouncement that you were giving them away else I'd been first in line.

Dave Shepard · April 24, 2009, 06:09:45 PM

We send all of our bands to Re-Sharp. I run 4's for some woods, like white oak or black locust. Just wondering it the 7 with the new gullet shape might work over a broader spectrum. I run 10's for most woods. They work fairly well for pine, if I can keep the sap off 'em. :D

Brucer · April 24, 2009, 09:29:47 PM

I tried the 7 degree, 1-1/2", .045 blades in some wide, dry timbers where the 10 degree blades were useless. The 7 degree blades worked perfectly. I couldn't be bothered to change the blade back when I had to do some resawing of greener wood, and they worked fine with that, too.

karl · May 12, 2009, 05:13:37 PM

We just tried a few on our resaw.
Best blade we've used in hemrock, lookin' fwd to trying em in pine, they do seem to cut longer and faster.
Hopefully my sharp guy can keep 'em that way. ' Else I may have to send em to WM.....

woodmills1 · May 12, 2009, 09:53:55 PM

I got approx 3 boxes with my new(used) sawmill. they are 14 degree. Any advice?

11 are still new. What are they good for? or do I have to run them throught the sharpener first?

ladylake · May 13, 2009, 04:39:35 AM

I've sharpened new blades from 10 to 4* a few times, most time I try to use the new 10* blades in easy to saw wood. Steve

Engineer · May 13, 2009, 08:16:47 AM

Lately my sawing has consisted of wet red pine, very dry sugar maple, dry white pine, and a cherry tree that went from vertical tree to boards in less than 30 minutes. I used the 4-degreee blades on all of it. They give a rougher cut than maybe most people would like, but a pass through the planer takes care of that anyway. The rough cut also seems to diminish sticker stain - maybe less contact area on the boards?

I have some older 9 degree bands and I am going to have all of them re-sharpened to 4.

Bibbyman · July 09, 2009, 09:57:47 PM

Awesome!

We ordered a box of 7° blades when we were at the show at the Cape a couple of weeks back. Today was the first day we got one out and sunk it's teeth into wood. When I first started cutting, I pushed the blade quite hard just to see what it would take. It took it. I did slow down a bit just because it was pulling down the motor a bit more than I'm use to. But after sawing out 12 6x8 x 14' beams and about 400 bf of 4/4 oak lumber, it's still cutting fast and straight.

The white oak top logs were fresh cut but did have some awful large knots.

The 7° blade may become our blade of choice. 8)

Dave Shepard · July 10, 2009, 06:13:16 PM

That's good to hear. What thickness? I've been running .055 bands, but they told me to try some .045 7s. I know your electric has more power than our 51 diesel.

Bibbyman · July 11, 2009, 03:23:28 AM

Quote from: Dave Shepard on July 10, 2009, 06:13:16 PM
That's good to hear. What thickness? I've been running .055 bands, but they told me to try some .045 7s. I know your electric has more power than our 51 diesel.

We're running .045. I feel we get longer blade life out of .045. But the .055s really cut through them hard knots!

More power? Maybe about the same.

moonhill · July 11, 2009, 06:45:20 AM

What impact does HP have on the degree of the tooth? I have a 28hp Kubota on my mill and if I try anything but 10° it gets ugly. This leads me to believe the lower powered saws don't handle 4° or 7° well. Any thoughts?

Tim

bandmiller2 · July 11, 2009, 07:10:41 AM

Dave,have you checked the set on those 9's you have I find it hard to believe 2 degrees would make that much differance,their could be outher factors.With the LT-70 electric we use 10 degree .055 woodmizers on everything no problems.Frank C.

Bibbyman · July 11, 2009, 08:11:43 AM

Quote from: moonhill on July 11, 2009, 06:45:20 AM
What impact does HP have on the degree of the tooth? I have a 28hp Kubota on my mill and if I try anything but 10° it gets ugly. This leads me to believe the lower powered saws don't handle 4° or 7° well. Any thoughts?

Tim

Double check your main belt tension. If your engine does not pull down and you're not getting good cuts, it well could be your belt is slipping and you're not keeping up the blade speed.

I think the 7° blade may have a deeper gullet and maybe a bit more set.

P.A. RESHARP · July 11, 2009, 09:37:07 AM

Here at Resharp, there has been a lot of people that have tried the 7* blade. Out of all of them people, all but 1 has switched to the 7*. It does take some horsepower to pull it. But Dave with the 51 horse, you are in good shape, with a 055 or 045. You do tend to get a little more life out of the 045, because of the flexability.

Larry · July 11, 2009, 10:23:47 AM

Granted it takes more horsepower to maintain your feed speed with the 7 degree bands...you will have to see if the trade off is worth it.

I was sawing 29" wide walnut crotch slabs with the WM 7 degree couple of weeks ago...with only 16 horsepower on that mill over to your left.