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Blade Wander in Pine

Started by Qweaver, August 18, 2013, 07:33:44 AM

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Qweaver

I sawed a poplar a few days ago and the blade did not wander at all.  Sawed white pine yesterday and the blade wandered at every knot.  Not real bad but 1/8" or so, and even sometimes even when there was no knot.  I've noticed this often in the past.  The pine is pretty soft and I am just not sure what would cause pine to lead the blade off like this. 
I obviously need to change the blade for the pine but it is still cutting OK in the poplar. I'm using plenty of soapy water.
So Many Toys...So Little Time  WM LT28 , 15 trailers, Case 450 Dozer, John Deere 110 TLB, Peterson WPF 10",  AIM Grapple, Kubota 2501 :D

Magicman

A slightly dull blade will often cut straight until it is deflected by a hard knot. 
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slider

I can cut popular or cypress with a questionable or dull blade but knotty pine demands a sharp band.Think of whats happening ,you are going from soft wood into very dense material every time you saw into a knot.The band will wander if it's not sharp.Slowing down at the knots will help.
al glenn

Chuck White

I agree, the culprit is a dulling blade and the knots!

Once in a while you'll run into a swirl in a log, where the grain direction changes all of the sudden and these can cause blade wander too.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
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drobertson

This might sound redundant, but you might check the drive belt tension, and your blade alignment, even the gap between the blade guides, if these are correct then just slow down your feed till it runs straight, if our blade is in fact sharp,   david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

barbender

Good advice here, white pine saws easier than our red pine, but the knots will give you trouble. I was having the same problems as you, I checked everything out and had sharp blades, the concensus was I needed a little more set in my blades. I had the best luck with the WM 7° blades, they have more set than other WM blades, around .025" if I am not mistaken.
Too many irons in the fire

Peter Drouin

The 7s work well  just move the set out to .30. At 25 they swim all over
Not all the time , but I have sharpened new blades out of the box If I know I'm going to cut Tuff logs.
Having the set out to 30 is like night and day :D
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barbender

I need to get a setter so I can take it to .030" ;)
Too many irons in the fire

Bandmill Bandit

Since I took the advice of more than a few experienced pine sawyers (on this site) and moved to the 30 ish tooth offset I only get waves when the blade is too dull. Not to hard to fix that issue either. After few blade sharpening cycles you will know when to change the blade BEFORE you get a wavy board.
Skilled Master Sawyer. "Skilled labour don't come cheap. Cheap labour dont come skilled!
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kelLOGg

Variation in density in sapwood and knots is high in pine and that really shows up thre need to resharpen. Uniform density wood is more forgiving.  I use 0.025 - 0.030" set for pine.
Bob
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
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Brucer

When you're sawing a soft wood with hard knots, the engine will slow down each time you hit a knot. If the blade speed drops below about 5000 FPM, the blade will start to wander. The governor will kick in to get the engine back up to speed but by the time that happens you're through the knot.

I had this problem with very dry, wide spruce. Lots of lube, freshly sharpened blade, slow carriage speed -- nothing helped. Put on a 7° blade and it cut dead straight.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

bandmiller2

The rolling hills cutting white pine are sometimes hard to avoid,especially on opening slab cuts.I can cut a wavy pine log then load an oak and get perfect boards.Set and sharpness are the two biggies also slow down especially near knots.If you see waves starting stop and change the band. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

NMFP

When you cannot saw straight, always go to a lower hook angle.  For example, if your sawing and having defelction with 10 degree, go to 7 degree or 4 degree.  You will be chiseling more with a lower hook angle as opposed to slicing with a higher hook angle.


5quarter

Excellent advice by all. Clean, cool blade, sharp, extra set and keeping up the rpms will cure 99% of pine problems.  Not sure about the lower hook angle...in my limited experience with pine, I've noticed that the opposite is true. In any case, you cannot cut pine on a bandsaw in the same way you cut most hardwoods...different material altogether.
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grweldon

I suppose white pine is a completely different animal that southern yellow pine?  95% of what I cut is SYP and I usually don't have any issues with wavy cuts.  If I do, it is where there are knots, but usually the 10deg. hook blade that I am using slices cleanly through them without wave.  I have no experience with white pine.  Is it that much different?
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NMFP

One disadvantage of white pine is that its primarily not grown as plantation stock so the size of knots is not consistent.  Its nothing to saw white pine knots the size of a dime but also saw some that are 8" all on the same log or even the same face.  Normally with a circular mill, we dont have any problems but portable band mills, the speed feed needs slowed on large knots due to blade deflection from knot hardness/density.

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