Pitch build up

[Tim]

Okay... the application is different but the concepts are the same...

Here is the trouble;
-White Cedar is brutally resinous. I find that its worse than white pine. At least the pine pitch will wear off equipment and not build up on the shoulders of the saw like cedar pitch does. Compound this high resin content with the long stringy fiber of cedar wood and bark and it can be a troublesome mix.  
-On the shingle mill that I own, the blade tapers considerably from the rim to the hub. There isn't much set in the teeth and the upturned side takes considerable wear.

With the long fiber of cedar and stickiness of the pitch, there gets to be considerable build up on the shoulders of the blade, reducing the clearance and basically causing problems associated with the lack of clearance.

I don't have a burning desire to shut down the mill every 15 minutes to clean the blade... There is only so much set that you can put in the teeth... A debarker isn't in the budget at this point... If you allow the blocks to dry, there is a degrade in the end product...

Finally... the question... I know that the water that you band mill fellows pour on your blades is primarily for cooling but, does it also prevent pitch build up on your blades as well? Would it be worth the effort to install a drip on the shingle mill to attempt to control the pitch that winds up building up on the blade?

I'm thinking water... Diesel fuel works wonderfully for cleaning a blade with rust or pitch build up but, I don't particularily want to be soaking my building with diesel fuel.

[dail_h]

   Tim,
   Try the desil,you don't need a continous stream,just a squirt now and then when it starts to buildup.A plastic squeese boiile will work good.You might try kerosene too,both will soften the pitch,and the fibers will scrub it clean.Once your saw is shiny it shouldn't be so bad

[Minnesota_boy]

I use water and a bit of dish soap to handle the resinous woods.  I never run anything on my bandsaw blade unless I need to control the resin buildup.

[Tom]

Actually the water on the band isn't just for cooling.  It's primary purpose is lubrication.  

Here is the theory.

If you wet the blade and the pulley nothing should stick to it.  The centrifugal forces should then be able to throw the junk off of the band and the pulley.

It works most of the time, more water helps in really sticky situations and adding soap makes the water wetter.  The wetter water will then stick to the blade before the sap will.

An extra benefit comes from the lubrication of the blade in the kerf.

Heat builds from a dulling blade or because the blade is gumming and rubbing in the kerf.  When the sap is liquefied and solidified onto the blade then the gumming is a self perpetuating problem, causing more heat and more gumming.

Cooling is actually accomplished by diminishing the gumming, not getting rid of heat caused by sawing.

I would think that the same principles would apply to your shingle saw.

[Neil_B]

Tim,
Have you ever tried any of those sprays that you can get for tablesaw or mitersaw blades. There are some that will clean but also lubricate the steel to make it slippery ???. Most woodworking catalogues have them I think.

[Tim]

I use silicone on the blade on the sawmill. There is considerably more clearance between the kerf and the shoulders on that blade. I've tried teflon but, it doesn't stand up as well.
Figuring the same would be true for the blade on the shingle mill, we tried the silicone on it as well. I found though that the orientation of the cut on the shingle mill prevents the silicone from doing the job as well on that blade.
On the shingle mill the collars actually make contact with the shingle as it is being cut. I'll have to take a picture of the set up and post it here.
With those jackbooted SOBs from the MOE poking around the area... I don't what to be spraying hydrocarbons out on the blade. I'll set up a water/dishsoap resevior and pump and see what happens.

[ohsoloco]

What kind of lumber are you cutting on the sawmill?  I mean, what will it be used for?  I don't know if silicone will penetrate very far into wood, but I know that waxes that contain silicone should be avoided for waxing woodworking equipment b/c silicone can mess up the finishing process.  Of course, the lumber is already planed in these operations....

[woodmills1]

wetter water!  did anyone else stop at that one?

actually the detergents in modern dish soap reduce the effect of the hydrogen bonding that occurs between water molecules, causing the water to sort of sheet, or clump into groups of smaller amounts of molecules. so yes it is wetter.

other soaps like ivory are two ended molecules.  one end is soluable in grease and the other in water.

[Neil_B]

Hey Tim
Probably should be careful with the MOE eh! Just looking at the Lee Valley catalogue and they have a spray called DriCote Lubricant. Supposed to bond to the blade with a thin coating. Says one can will do 120 71/4" blades for $14.50 so you would get a few applications out of a can for your blades. Not sure if it adheres differently than the silicone or teflon spray but may be worth a try.

[ARKANSAWYER]

Tim,
  Clean your blade real good with oven cleaner before you start.  Then mix some dish soap and pinesol in a garden sprayer and pump up.  Give it some spray from time to time and see how it goes.  A cool clean blade will gum less and this works great when I saw heart SYP and it does a good job.  If it does the trick then I would mount a system with a small pump and spray nozzle.
ARKANSAWYER

[Tim]

I mill softwoods primarily ohsoloco, white cedar predominately. The silicone doesn't have an effect on the finishes of the wood for a coule reasons; there is so little of the silicone that wears off on the wood, and second, there is generally an 1/8" removed on each surface removed during dressing, as the silicone is dry on the blade when I'm sawing, it doesn't have an opportunity to soak into the wood.

interesting wetter water explanation woodmills, makes perfect sence.

That DriCote stuff is teflon (to the best of my knowledge). It doesn't seem to stick to the blade as well under the conditions in a sawmill. Hence the silicone application at roughly $5.00 a can by the case. A friend of mine tried both DriCoat and silicone on his blades on one of those woodmiesers he has. He found that both products seemed to work reasonably well.

[Will_Johnson]

Lots of good advice.  Hopefully some of the common-sense, inexpensive ideas will fit the bill for your situation.

If not, you might try our PineBuster lube.  It is biodegradable so MOE guys can't get grumpy.

I can't guarantee it will work for this application since I haven't sawed the stuff with it.  But it works well on SYP.

Send your address and I'd be glad to send you a sample bottle at n/c.  Assuming the RCMP will let it across the border...

WoodMizer also makes a lube additive -- I don't know a lot about it but worth a try. I don't think it is specifically tailored to pitchy woods like PineBuster, but to be frank I don't know that for sure.

[Papa Dave]

Along time ago, Tom convinced me to use water and it works.
I mostly cut oak and other hardwoods. Really do not need the soap, at least not yet.

I did try the diesel and oil mix, but did not like it. Have not had any problem using water No problems with guide bearings using water like some say.

Some say that water is not a lubricant. I do not know if it is or not, but the mill cuts just fine using it.

Ok, I will be quiet now.

[Kevin_H.]

I use a gallon of windshield washer fluid with 4 gal of water year round...I got to think that beyond the cleaning properties ( as some of these corn feed bugs can get kinda large ), it has some kind lub in it that lets it glide across the glass.

Now this may be all in my head but 98 cents every couple of days for bandmill lube is piece of mind anyway.