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Saw bit pricesI

Started by moodnacreek, January 07, 2021, 07:33:12 PM

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moodnacreek

I have not bought saw bits retail since the last recession. When I started using E bay I looked at bits and shanks every day for 3 or 4 years. Bought alot of saw bits, way too many and cheap. Anyhow I lost track of what they cost now and I am shocked at the prices. The plain steel bits are up to the cost of chrome almost. I have been mainly using chrome for about 10 years. Now would be the time to start if you are not. They last longer and they can be swedged. If you are a hand filer, get a diamond file.  Did I tell you I love chrome?

glendaler

I had a shed fire a year ago and lost all my bits, bought new bits and shanks and it was twice what I paid for my whole mill!
Belsaw A10 circle mill,

moodnacreek

Shanks can really be expensive.  Last I knew Bartlet and or Piper's had the cheapest of their own makes. Payne would make a deal on a full box. I had at one time wanted chrome shanks and they where around $10.00 ea.  

handhewn

I need some bits and shanks for my 60" circular saw and edger saw blades.  Any suggestions as to who/where I can order these? How do I know what I have, where do I look for markings?

Jeff

What are they now? I think the last time I was in charge of buying any, about 2005, we paid $100 a box and if you bought 10 you got one more free.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

dgdrls

Quote from: handhewn on February 03, 2021, 11:38:11 AM
I need some bits and shanks for my 60" circular saw and edger saw blades.  Any suggestions as to who/where I can order these? How do I know what I have, where do I look for markings?
Right to FF sponsor Menonimee Saw,
Saw Teeth
Look on your shanks  
and around the eye of the saw for its build stamp.
D


 

 


handhewn

Thanks much Dgdrls, that's exactly what I needed.

moodnacreek

A few prices [menominee saw] : 9/32 black reg. $163, long $172, stand-all $215. Shanks around $9.00.  Chrome reg. 9/32 are $188.    It makes no sense at this time to buy black [plain steel] bits.  Chrome is so much better.

Jeff

Quote from: moodnacreek on February 04, 2021, 10:41:40 AMIt makes no sense at this time to buy black [plain steel] bits. Chrome is so much better.


That is a huge matter of opinion. I hated chromes. Hated em.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

handhewn

Jeff, why did you hate chrome. I've never run them.

moodnacreek

I can't imagine any sawyer not liking chrome. They swage fine and hold there edge longer.  But when I first started using them I had nothing but trouble. Turns out for quite some time they where 'coined' on worn out machinery. Then I got some ISK brand.  I also have used tungs weld and high speed steel. Stand-alls I don't like and that's the one thing about carbide, they are all stand-all.  Tungs weld or carbide are a Godsend in the edger.

Jeff

Well, not having an imagination can be a costly thing. Because time is money in a large commercial mill. 

They are harder to sharpen, they do not swage cleanly and totally unnessesary if sawing clean debarked logs. They are more mony and if you are sawing 150,000 ft a week that all makes a difference. They may be just fine for the sawyer not under production demands.  I used them in the vertical edger on occasion when someone would do something stupid and get a box.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

moodnacreek

It is more the production mills that use chrome that the little guy like me. With a hand file you need diamond but with a jockey or similar the sharpen fast and beautiful with a white stone. For a long time I was afraid of them because I was told they would not swage. Never had the corners chip off but if the hardness is wrong i have been told this can happen. They work especially good in spruce. Chrome is considered a lubricant on cutting tools and it runs cooler than plane steel or carbide. This is not a consideration with me as I can't feed that fast. I have seen chrome body carbide bits but don't know who made them.  P. S.  I had no luck with long chrome bits.

Jeff

Head sawyer, oneal and co. 1979-1984.  Approximately 12 million bf sawn

Head sawyer billsby lumber. 1984 to 2005.

Approximately 100 million bf sawn.

I can't speak for every sawyer, only myself and my meager experience. 
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

moodnacreek

Well regardless of what you or I think, Simonds still makes them and they have discontinued many circle saw items. I wonder what Ron thinks. I know he also went through times of miss manufactured saw bits. 

Jeff

Ask him. I'm sure he has his own opinion as well. @Ron Wenrich ?

Spruce? What's spruce?
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

moodnacreek

Quote from: Jeff on February 08, 2021, 08:43:46 AM
Ask him. I'm sure he has his own opinion as well. @Ron Wenrich ?

Spruce? What's spruce?
It's not aspen.

Jeff

Or redoak hard maple white oak yellow birch or any of the other northern hardwoods either. If you are suggesting that I only sawed aspen you would once again, be wrong about your interpretation of what other sawyers may have in experience beyond yours. I hated the blasted things (chromes) and don't consider it accurate to be lumped into your assumptions. "I can't imagine any sawyer not liking chrome". I believe I am still a sawyer.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Walnut Beast

Quote from: Jeff on February 07, 2021, 05:12:15 PM
Head sawyer, oneal and co. 1979-1984.  Approximately 12 million bf sawn

Head sawyer billsby lumber. 1984 to 2005.

Approximately 100 million bf sawn.

I can't speak for every sawyer, only myself and my meager experience.
Wow! That's some serious time in the saddle 

moodnacreek

Jeff, You spent alot of years in the booth and i don't even have one or a vertical edger. I only know you sawed aspen because you said so. If you want me gone just say so.  I never ment to argue or try to win some sawmill knowledge contest. 

Jeff

Why would I want you gone? I'm just making my personal observation about something in a very unbending fashion. I know what I know about in regards to me.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

longtime lurker

Quote from: Jeff on February 07, 2021, 05:12:15 PM
Head sawyer, oneal and co. 1979-1984.  Approximately 12 million bf sawn

Head sawyer billsby lumber. 1984 to 2005.

Approximately 100 million bf sawn.
Cold up there in the snow boss?
Dreaming of a place that's warm, where you can wander around in shorts and flip flops?
Or palm trees clattering in the breeze in front of a backdrop of islands strewn like emeralds across an azure sea?
Ever thought about a working holiday, getting paid to fly around the world and hack logs to pieces? :D

(Only half joking too... whole industry here is screaming out for guys with the skill set and I am getting serious offers for subcontract work from the big guys because they can't get enough staff to meet their orders themselves)
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

Jeff

Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Ron Wenrich

I used chrome for the most part.  For what I was sawing, and the saw speed, they seemed to hold up a bit better.  I could go a bit longer before I needed to sharpen, which translates into better production numbers.  But, I rarely swaged the teeth.  The chrome are a bit more stout due to the extra layer of chrome.  But, my corners stayed sharp longer.  I used a Jockey once a day to maintain the angle and used a flat file to keep it sharp.  No need for a diamond file after you have the chrome taken off the face.  It is harder on the flat file than standard steel.  I also used chrome on the edgers, horizontal and vertical.  

I never ran standalls.  It seemed to me to be effective, you had to file back the standall part as well as the tooth.  If not, you ended up with the standall hitting the log before the tooth entered the log.  More work when filing.  

I did have problems with Simonds standards.  I had some very soft teeth, and some very brittle teeth.  I only bought Simonds when there was no other place to go.  They got sloppy when they were the only ones in the market.  Also, I had teeth that were longer on one side than the other.  

Preference in teeth is different from sawyer to sawyer.  That's why they make different styles and types.  What worked for me was dependent on my skill as a filer, the type of logs I was cutting and the type of equipment I run.  I always learned how to solve my problems my way.  The problems were always different as the seasons changed, where the timber was harvested, and the condition of my equipment.  I sawed on a lot of different mills for many different clients.  
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

moodnacreek

R.W. Thanks for that post. It would certainly be a pleasure to meet you, Doug

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