what type of blades do you use when cutting hickory?

[milling man]

I have tried 3 different types of blades timber king 7/8, and 3/4  pitch. I have also tried timber wolf 7/8. i have found that timber wolf so far to cut it the best but still there has to be somthing better?

[Tom]

It's the rake and set of the tooth that means as much, or more, than the pitch.  I have cut a lot of hickory with 7/8 pitch.  As a matter of fact, I cut everything with 7/8 pitch because it fits the cam on my sharpener. 

You will benefit when cutting some of those harder woods by diminishing the set and the rake.  Experimentation is what will show what will work on your mill with your technique.  I set most teeth at twenty-one thousandths, give or take, but I might increase or decrease the rake depending on the hardness of the wood.  Sometimes you don't know until you start sawing.

Some good rule-of-thumb information I heard once was "the softer the wood, the more aggressive the tooth."

I cut cypress, cedar and most pine with a 13 degree rake.  I cut  Liveoak, Hickory and cherry with a rake that is more in the 10-11 degree range.

[arj]

When I cut Hickory I use woodmizer .055  9 degree mostly, if they are real hard
I have a couple of  .045 4 degree.  Thats what works for me.
                                        arj

[Mo]

Milling man, if you would like more info feel free to give me a call.

[woodhick]

I use woodmizer bands.  I have always had problems with cutting a hickory or dry white oak and getting straight cuts.  Recently tried a 4 degree band from woodmizer and they cut great.   I would recommend you try a couple of them.

[P.A. RESHARP]

The 4 degree blade from woodmizer is what most of the people i sharpen blades for use. Depending on your horsepower, if you would be able to go with the 055. If you dont have the horepower you can go with an 045.

[ARKANSAWYER]

   I use WM 10 degree 0.055 most of the time and it cuts it.  The 4 degree will do a better job it there are lots of knots or it is a large log.  Take your time and use so lube as it will gum it up.

[Toolman]

I cut alot of hickory. I use Lennox  Woodmaster "C" .042 7/8 pitch 10 degree rake. I use little lube if any. I have good success, however, I cut a bitternut last week that was dropped 3 days earlier. I had to increase lube due to excessive pitch. I set tooth at 22 thousandths . That's what works for me.

[milling man]

i will have to try them out and see how they do thanks

[Bibbyman]

We've kind of standardized on the Wood-Mizer 9 degree .045x1.25 DoubleHards.  We saw a lot of oak that's gone a little longer than we'd like and they do fine and give good blade life.  .055 saw faster and last longer between sharpening but they don't live very long when you do that.

I sawed out about 1,000 bf of hickory yesterday using the 9 degree .045 blades.  They worked pretty well.  The logs were all over a year old so they were plenty hard. 

One thing to watch out for when sawing hickory and ash is sap buildup on the blade.  That's where a lot of good lube helps.  Since we added the LubeMizer system,  our blades have cut better and longer.  I wouldn't have guessed it would have helped as much as it has.