Blades vs Hp

[Mt406]

Hears my question.
I am running a 10 degree wm blade works good. ( I am so green with a band saw I may not know what good is.)
I have a job cutting spruce lots of knots. I was told that a 4 degree would work better.
I asked the WM dealer he said yes that would work so I asked about running a 7 degree he said I didn't have the Hp.
I asked Kasco thay said if I can run  a 4 I should be able to run a 7 and thay recommended going with a 7.
I understand how the blade works on my circle mill Hp vs tooth and gullet design
Is there any info I could read up on bands and how thay work.
I know theres a lot of personal preference on blade type.
My mill is a WM Lt 35 Hyd  25 hp

Thanks ??? 

[Magicman]

There is a difference between a WM 7° and a WM 7°X39 Turbo.  The Turbos have a deeper gullet and need more HP to efficiently use.  Kasko blades will have their own profile which will probably be much different from either of the WM blades.

Different sawmill and blade manufacturers spend the $$$ on R&D for their products.  I tend to accept their judgement.

[Andries]

I've standardized my bands to 'nuthin' but 7 degree (non-turbo) bands.
Cedar mostly, elm, spruce, ash and oak as well.
In winter, if I need to mill frozen oak, my four degree bands will have to come out of the box.
... and my old Onan puts out less HP than your LT35 has.

[Bruno of NH]

I run 7's on my 13 hp honda mill .
I have Kasco and WM standard not turbos .

[Dave989]

I run 10 degree woodmizer blades in my 42 hp turbo diesel lt40s super hydraulic. Works ok but have been thinking about changes to increase proficiency. Mostly cut assorted pine from 3+ foot diameter logs all the way to 8 inch diameters. The 10 degree blades cut smaller and medium sized stuff good, but struggle with the big logs.

[fishfighter]

I'm running a 9hp with 7 degree Kasco blades and lovin it. Pine or oak, don't matter. ;D

[AnthonyW]

Hears my question.
I am running a 10 degree wm blade works good. ( I am so green with a band saw I may not know what good is.)
I have a job cutting spruce lots of knots. I was told that a 4 degree would work better.
I asked the WM dealer he said yes that would work so I asked about running a 7 degree he said I didn't have the Hp.
I asked Kasco thay said if I can run  a 4 I should be able to run a 7 and thay recommended going with a 7.
I understand how the blade works on my circle mill Hp vs tooth and gullet design
Is there any info I could read up on bands and how thay work.
I know theres a lot of personal preference on blade type.
My mill is a WM Lt 35 Hyd  25 hp

Thanks ???

I am still quite confused by WM blade vs HP explanation. The rule of thumb for a vertical bandsaw is to maintain 3-5 teeth in the piece at all times. The other teeth in the cut acts as the rakes on a chainsaw blade. The same should apply to the sawmill. Additionally based on non-sawmill related blade specifications, you should use a more aggressive blade for hardwoods than for softwoods. Where the softwoods require less bite to cut and more bite and if a more aggressive blade is used it may have to much grab. More grab is fine, if you have the power to pull the blade though the cut. If may produce a faster feed rate at the cost of a courser cut face.

Unfortunately, this is opposite to the information the Woodmizer website and representatives provide. With the recent acquisition of a variety of WM blades, I plan to use one (or a few of each) and see how each one performs and report back.

[Ox]

13hp here and I've run 10, 9, 7 and 4 in all woods.  I prefer the 7 and 4.

[Kbeitz]

Your not the only ones confused. I'm running 13 hp and I thought #4 would be best for my mill.
Kasco said on the phone that they thought that a #7 would be my best blade.

[Magicman]

Remember that 4° is virtually straight out with very little angle.  They are almost scraping more than cutting.  That is why they handle frozen and hard wood such as Pine knots, Hickory and White Oak better.

[sandsawmill14]

i tried the turbo 7s and  the cooks supersharp something or others ( i think they were 8 degree) both fine blades but they were to hard of a load on the 25 kohler compared to the 10 degree band. the turbo 7s worked good on the 30hp electric mill but i couldnt tell alot of difference in the lumber or production so i went back to the cheaper blade   12 bucks blade is a lot of difference if you cant see any gains

[Dave Shepard]

I've run 4s on a LT40 with the 24hp Onan. Great combo for frozen or hard wood.

[sandsawmill14]

i have thought about trying the 4s on hickory and dried w/o but i havent yet

[Percy]

I have been using wm's 13 degree blades almost exclusively since I got my LT70. They are much like the turbo 7's cept for the tooth angle of course. I tried turbo 7's once and they cut good but feed rates suffered. The 13's are kinda like self feeding and can be finicky if you slack off on mill alignment and sharpening. Need power for these blades. But Ive done birch with them on occasion and the results were awesome.

[dgdrls]

Hears my question.
I am running a 10 degree wm blade works good. ( I am so green with a band saw I may not know what good is.)
I have a job cutting spruce lots of knots. I was told that a 4 degree would work better.
I asked the WM dealer he said yes that would work so I asked about running a 7 degree he said I didn't have the Hp.
I asked Kasco thay said if I can run  a 4 I should be able to run a 7 and thay recommended going with a 7.
I understand how the blade works on my circle mill Hp vs tooth and gullet design
Is there any info I could read up on bands and how thay work.
I know theres a lot of personal preference on blade type.
My mill is a WM Lt 35 Hyd  25 hp

Thanks ???

I am still quite confused by WM blade vs HP explanation. The rule of thumb for a vertical bandsaw is to maintain 3-5 teeth in the piece at all times. The other teeth in the cut acts as the rakes on a chainsaw blade. The same should apply to the sawmill. Additionally based on non-sawmill related blade specifications, you should use a more aggressive blade for hardwoods than for softwoods. Where the softwoods require less bite to cut and more bite and if a more aggressive blade is used it may have to much grab. More grab is fine, if you have the power to pull the blade though the cut. If may produce a faster feed rate at the cost of a courser cut face.

Unfortunately, this is opposite to the information the Woodmizer website and representatives provide. With the recent acquisition of a variety of WM blades, I plan to use one (or a few of each) and see how each one performs and report back.

Hard part with Spruce and many knotty soft wood's is are you sawing just the fibers or the knots??  No luck,.. often you have to saw both.

found some reference materials here
http://woodmizer.com/us/About-Us/Newsroom/postid/30/wood-mizer-releases-new-high-performance-turbo-7-blade
Turbo 7's are a specialized band.

Look here to Cooks for some sanity
http://www.cookssaw.com/index.php/sawmill-blade-insight/bandsaw-blade-hook-angle

Don't overlook your tooth set,

Dan

[Mt406]

Thanks Dan

That's a good link to Cooks on blades.
I had to mark it in my favorites read for 45 mins this morning lots more good info there.
I am seeing theres a lot more to band blades than though.
I know that I should keep it simple but I allways like to know why it works the way it dose.

As allways this forum great place for information.

Thanks Scott