Soon to be new LT15 Wide owner

[Smithkp]

Hello everyone. My name is Kris and I retired from the military after 25 years and currently work for the Navy. I have been reading the board for the past month absorbing all the great information here. (and there is A LOT of valuable information) My saw will be ready to be picked up on the 8th of August and I am trying to get everything prepped so I can take a few days off and get it up and running. I have a stash of white oak, hickory, walnut and maple all stacked and ready to be cut. I started out last year cutting slabs with an Alaskan Mill and a 661 Stihl. The addiction has pretty much taken over from there and led to the band saw mill.

I want to go ahead and order about 30 blades but to the novice, there is just too many choices. I plan on sticking to hardwoods for now and cedar when I can get it. Would love to have some recommendations on blades.
How well does WoodMizers blade resharpening and replacement program work?
Is there anything else I need to have on hand to set up and run the mill?

Thanks for any help and all the information here. This site has just about everything I like to read and talk about including the hunting.

[Sixacresand]

Thank you for your Military Service and congratulations on the new mill.  I like the 4 degree blades for hardwood.  The Woodmizer Resharp provides a very dependable Service.  

[SawyerTed]

Welcome to the forum!  Thank you for your service to our country!

The 4 degree blades are all I use on hardwood but I have 25 hp.  I suggest a call or visit to a Resharp location and have a conversation with them about the best blades for your mill and horsepower.  When I went for the training session on my mill, I spent about 45 minutes talking with the Resharp guys about blades and sharpening.  It was time well spent.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Congrats on the new mill and welcome to the FF. Visit the WM site for info there and talk to them about the blades to use. They have good info on what blade is best based on the type wood, engine power, frozen or thawed, etc. I use 4 degree double hards for hard woods like you describe and if only could take one band on a job to use that would be it. 

    I use the WM resharp. They send me a prepaid shipping label and when I have a box of blades ready I send them to WM. I use the auto-replace and auto-refill option. If I break or destroy a band I send 14 bands back and they top it up to 15. If one of the bands I send back cannot be resharpened they replace it. New replacement bands are billed at a discount rate under that program. Depending on how busy they are they still seem to get my bands back in under 2 weeks. I keep the same number of bands in rotation that way. 

   Check your area for other members and feel free to ask them if you can go help stack and observe. Many, if not most, are very open to talking and showing how to use the mill and saw logs. Every time I visit a different sawmiller I learn some new trick which makes the process easier and faster. Simple things often make a huge difference in your overall efficiency. 

[delvis]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your service.  I have an LT40, but have been thinking about getting an LT15 wide for the sole purpose of cutting slabs.  I have the same question about blade choice as you with the exception of I will be sawing wide pine.

As far as the ReSharp service goes, I have been very happy with that since day one and highly recommend it.  If you happen to be close enough to a dealer that offers the service, you won't have to pay the shipping either.

[thecfarm]

Smithkp,first thanks for your service!!!
Next welcome to the forum.
You will need a cant dog or peavey. Logrite,sponsor on the left,nice people,will have a few different sizes. And they will tell you which one is which too.
You will like the mill.

[Bruno of NH]

Thank you for your service.
I run 4° and 7° in hardwood and soft wood.

[SawyerTed]

I got a great start when I asked about support tools here....

Saw Dust Addiction in Sawmills and Milling

[Smithkp]

I drove to Albemarle Wednesday night and picked up my saw Friday morning. Started setting up Friday afternoon and was cutting logs by 3PM today. Dang, WoodMizer makes a solid piece of equipment. Will be sawing all day tomorrow and probably Sunday. Joe in Albemarle is an awesome guy and has a great sense of humor to newbyies and their questions.

[DDW_OR]

here is a link to a poll i made for blades
looks like 4, 7 and 10 degree

what degree bandsaw blade in Sawmills and Milling

[WV Sawmiller]

   Congrats on the new mill. Yes, Joe and Tyler and the entire Albermarle team are fine folks. When you meet and talk with the rest of the WM team you will likely feel the same about them pretty quick.

[firefighter ontheside]

I have nothing but 10° and they seem to work just as well on everything I've cut.  I've sent blades in for resharp a few times and that has been a great deal.  It couldn't be any easier and half the price of buying new blades.

[tule peak timber]

I ordered my 15 wide 4 days ago along with the 250 sharpening setting machines. WM said about 6-8 weeks out.  Rob

[SawyerTed]

+1 on the good folks at Wood-mizer Carolinas.  They've been nothing but friendly, helpful, efficient and professional.  My mill had a hydraulic leak that we found before I left their shop.  Tyler had to replace the complete valve assembly.  He delivered the mill to me a day later.  Joe and Tyler were a bit embarrassed by the problem but have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about how they handled it.

[Smithkp]

Finally got everything set up and started cutting walnut with the blade that came with it. After it started dulling later in the afternoon, I swapped out with one of the turbos out of the 15 pack I bought. That blade does not work well with my saw. Very slow cutting and it left black chatter marks all down the wood. I boxed them all up and they are going back tomorrow. The cuts were also very wavy up and down. I put the dull blade back on and it made a nice flat cut with no chatter marks. I don't know what the saw came with but I would like to stick with that. Think I am going to have him send me a box of double hards in 4 or 7 degree. So, I am down until I get more blades in.

[SawyerTed]

What hp is your mill?  25 is the lowest hp WM recommends for Turbo 7.  Some run Turbo 7s with less hp with success.  I have a box of Turbo 7s I am going to start trying tomorrow morning.
New WM mills come with a 10 degree blade.

Also are you sure the new blade was tensioned properly?  Is the drive belt tension correct?  Those are two things that could cause the waves on a new saw.  The fact that the old blade when reinstalled sawed flat might point to blade tension on the new blade.  Might be worth a try to double check.

Just a suggestion from a relatively new sawyer (6 months), put the walnut aside and practice on low dollar stuff - poplar is a very forgiving wood to practice on.  I sawed pine, poplar and dead red oak for a couple of days before I put anything more valuable (white oak) on the mill.

[Bruno of NH]

Unless you got the diesel 
I don't think you have the hp for the turbo 's
I don't think they are good for wide cuts from what I have been told.
The regular 7's 4's and chip sweep 10's
Cut great on my mill with 22hp and 36" wide cut

[Smithkp]

I have a 25 HP gas engine, Maybe the tension is the issue. I will try again tomorrow. Don't laugh but I cut a slab with no tension yesterday with the turbo's. Totally forgot to tension the blade, lol

[SawyerTed]

Brother we've all done something we aren't proud to admit - no tension, hit the up/down at the wrong time, not raised the blade high enough on the return, forgot the toe board was up.  You name it and there's probably some you would never think of, so if we laugh it's because we've been there and done the same things.

25 hp should be enough to handle the turbo 7 from what I'm told.

I've had really good results with 4 degree blades for everything. 

[Busysawyer]

Congrats on the new mill. From my limited experience the turbo 7s are not well suited to lower hp and torque.  I run them on my 70 with a 46hp diesel and I'd consider that borderline enough hp to run them in hardwoods. They are very aggressive and picky with travel speed.  A little too slow and you get chatter and sawdust buildup and just a touch too fast and they bite and dive. On narrower cuts I have no issues but start getting into the 16in  or so and wider cuts and travel speed is crucial. 

[Smithkp]

I noticed the saw was having a hard time pulling that turbo through the white oak I was sawing. The blade it came with was going through the log like butter until it dulled.

[Smithkp]

I went and put another turbo on at Joes request and tensioned the crap out of it and I still got the same crappy cut. Those are going back in the morning to get swapped out with double hards at 4 degree. I ordered a box today and hope Joe will get some more to me before Friday or I am out of luck.

[SawyerTed]

The blades will be there I'm sure.  I get next day deliveries usually.

I have a LT35 with the 25hp Kohler.  I've used 4 degree blades until this morning.  I ordered a box of 5 Turbo 7s and tried one for the first time this morning.  I will likely be switching to the T7s.  They cut all I put on the mill exceptionally well.  Faster cuts, smoother cuts and less sawdust on the boards.

If your 25 hp isn't pulling the Turbo 7s something else might be wrong.  Mine did fine.  

Some of the more experienced sawyers here will say, "I told you so."  And they did!

[Smithkp]

Joe had some thoughts that the teeth might not have been set or maybe some teeth got bent. I just know they don't work with my set up.

 

 In the photos you can see what the turbo is doing to a white oak log. Bottom pic is the comparison between the dull blade that came with the mill versus the turbo.

[SawyerTed]

Sorry you've had that problem.  Every mill is a little different and blades do vary in their performance.

I hope the 4s work!