Wavy boards

[hazazil]

I just bought my first band sawmill and got it all put together last week. It is a norwood hd36.

The first log  i milled was a white cedar log that i milled into a 4x4. Everything went fine

2nd was a maple log that has been sitting around for a year or so. Cuts seemed level but toward the end i watched the blade curve down and then back up.

I read the troubleshooting section of my manual and seen there was only a few things could cause wavy boards.

I knew it wasnt a full blade because it was new.

Blade was tight.

Read it could be stress from the log and after closer observation there was some funky knots going on close to where it was cutting wavy and i could see the grains moving around the knot.

I just milled a pine log to make some stickers. The log was straight but ofcourse had some knots in it.

Is it normal to get wavy cuts on most any logs with knots?

Could i be cutting too fast?

Im using a 10 degree blade from norwood.

[Chuck White]

The only question I can think of right now is to ask "are the blade guide rollers set so there is 1/4 inch of downward deflection below the bandwheels?

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, hazazil!

[Bruno of NH]

Try a 4° band in woods with lots of knots 

[Brad_bb]

why is my cut wavy?? in Sawmills and Milling

We recently covered a lot of it in this topic.

[esteadle]

>  Cuts seemed level but toward the end i watched the blade curve down and then back up. 

A fresh blade should saw for hours... and many logs, but you only got thru 1 and a half. 

You may have hit some metal. 

Think back to when that happened. 
Did you hear anything odd? 
Like a ZZZZZiiiiiippp? 

Check the teeth of the blade closely with a magnifying glass. 
Look at the wood and see if there is a shiny metal spot somewhere on the board faces. 

[Randy88]

Put in a brand new blade and run it on the next cut, if it stops, it was the blade, if it does the exact same thing, you have other things causing it and need to investigate farther.  

[hazazil]

My bandsawmill uses ceramic guides above ,below and behind the blade. The blade is supposed to travel between all 3 without touching them per the manual

[DPatton]

I cut a small whack of 2+ yr old pine cants today for my brother to use in his barn repairs. Was sawing 2x's out of em all. I used a couple of Kasco 4's on the majority of it. This is my first batch of Kasco blades and I'm really liking them for the hardwoods. However I too produced some wavy boards by trying to push my blades to long. It's down right suprising how a blade that was cutting the last cant seemingly just fine all of a sudden will not make a straight pass no matter what you do when there are knots to deal with. I also used a TK Ultra Max 10* blade to finish out the day and had good success with it. There simply is no substitution for sharp when it comes to blades.