Well yesterday I called cooks and layed down the down payment on a cat claw sharpener and single tooth setter. I have a cooks mp32 with electric up and down. Talking to the women on rhe phone and asked if the sharpener had an adjustment for 4* blades. She said that there are holes for 8,10,12,13 degree. No 4. Has any one modified their cat claw sharpener to do 4*? She also said that she didn't know why anyone would want a 4* angle and I explained that it suppose to be better for very hard wood like some pecan of Osage orange. She didn't agree with that and said the reason I was getting waves in wide hard cuts was because the beam strength of 1.25 bands was not enough. And told me that I should move up to a 1.5" band. So I'm asking this is it worth moving up to new guides and blades for 1.5 or should I just resharpen a few bands to 4* or possibly buy some 4*. I have a bunch of 1.25 bands ( like 60+) that I don't want to not use. So what do y'all Think?
I have limited experience with 4° bands, but it seems a lot of guys are going to that. The thing with a 4°, is it's not just the tooth angle, but also the gullet profile that makes the difference in performance. I have sharpened a few blades to 4° on my Cook's sharpener, no, there isn't a hole tapped for it. I don't remember if there is enough room to drill and tap one, I just tightened the head down and maybe clamped it with something, as I was just doing a few.
I'd have asked her how much lumber she has sawed and what types.
Before i would go to the extra effort and expense I'd buy a couple of 4 degree bands and try them on your hard woods and see what you think of them. I swear by my 4 degree blades. Good luck.
Also, I have been using both 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" bands. I ordered the wider rollers from WM so I would be getting the full benefit of the wider band. They didn't change my opinion that a thicker band gives better performance than a wider one, i.e. if you are running a 1 1/4" x .045, going to a 1 1/4"x .050 or .055" will give faster flatter cuts than going to a 1 1/2"x.045. My .02😊
If I had 60+ bands, and had a desire to have a few 4° bands, I'd just sharpen a few of what I had on hand to 4°!
Forum member cutting edge sells a head angle gauge for a cat claw sharpner that will put the head right directly at 4 degrees and he also sells one for 7 degree. He also sells a cam that works pretty slick. Don't pay attention to what she said about the 4 degree blades, she's dead wrong...and beam strength is gained from a thickness not width far as I know..Its funny a wm rep told me that 1-1/2 blades will wave more because there is more surface area to leverage it around knots...he told me I'd never get them to cut frozen wood. Well I did get 1-1/2 blades to cut frozen wood just fine..after buying a blade roller lol.
Just increasing your blade tension might go a long way in resolving your concern.
Gerald
I had a Cooks, it doesn't have a 4° hole, but I drilled and tapped one, as well as a 9°.
I'd buy some 4° bands and try them, and if you like them, use them as a template for reconfiguring the Cats Claw by matching the face angle, measure and match the set, and match the gullet profile by hand grinding a cam, or get the kit from Richard. I did both and could closely match 4°, 7° and 9° WM bands.
Don't get rid of your other bands, all I use are 1.25" bands and occasionally saw some Osage with them, as well as about a dozen and a half other various species. Green Osage was easier than hickory....
If you want more stability in the cut but less band life, go with .055 inch thick 4°, it's my go to band for mean stuff.
I had pretty good luck just grinding most of my bands to the Cooks default 8° setting. Nice thing about the Cats Claw, it's very flexible.
Thanks so much for all the replies! I guess I'll be sending cutting edge a pm once I get the sharpener. Does anyone have a good workflow set up( maybe with pics😎 ) for using the grinder / setter? I don't know why but she seemed like if it wasn't cooks research and info it wasn't accurate, I tried to explain it was from a reliable source; didn't make difference to her. Another reason I love the forum unbiased info from all types of users!
For a long time I thought I was grinding at 8* on my catclaw. I ordered a cam and set of angle gauges from Richard and low and behold, I've been grinding at 7* all along. I also switched to 3/8 inch grinding rocks and now am able to match the WM profile almost to a t. I've ordered and received some KAsco 7* blades but have not tried them yet. I haven't tried 4* yet but will convert some of my older blades next round of sharpening.
That gal sounds like she may be the same one I spoke to a few years ago, she told me I was commiting patent infringement grinding WM bands with the Cook's Super Sharp cam that was on my machine. Really irratated me, I called with a question about my sharpener and ended up being scolded.
Quote from: barbender on November 04, 2017, 12:56:10 AM
That gal sounds like she may be the same one I spoke to a few years ago, she told me I was commiting patent infringement grinding WM bands with the Cook's Super Sharp cam that was on my machine. Really irratated me, I called with a question about my sharpener and ended up being scolded.
Yea when I've had problems and called for advice they've just told me that I'm doing it wrong and that none of their other customers had the same trouble I was having..nice..
How well did that came work for turbo 7's?
florida boy how much room do you have to set it up? If you can, build either one big ole table like 10' by 4' should prolly do it. Whats nice about a table is you can lay the blades flat on it to see if they need rolled and also it give you a place to keep the tools you'll need to run the equipment. @AleyskaPete has a pretty neat condensed table that holds his setter and grinder cant remember if he has a roller. Maybe he can post a pic. My setup is really crammed and dont work so great when I switch from 158" blades to 195" it made me do alot of recnfiguring.
4x4, I was sharpening WM standard 7°, I had to get out a file and "reconfigure" the cam to get it to match the profile. I have taken off too much, built it back up with a welder a couple of times😊
Thats funny cause the dtss 8 degree cam I have I tried to fix up also by welding and grinding and all that too. Didn't help lol
A guy can get carried away at it- I may as well go on and admit it, I did use the side grinder on it a time or two😂😂 I tried to tell the gal at Cook's (after she accused me of patent infringement) that my cam might have started out as a Cook's SS profile, but it wasn't anymore.
here is a pole of blade angles and Hard or soft wood.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,95785.msg1477473.html#msg1477473
Keep in mind many voting for the 10° have not run a 4°. Over here It's strictly 4° on the first sharpening as they cut straighter in tough wood. Steve
I was cutting red oak today. I use 4 deg. blades. I touch up with a dremel.
My saw was jumping in the cut on Red oak. I resharpened with a 3/8 bit and fixed
my problem. Before I was using a 5/16" bit. Changing to a 3/8 bit reduced my
rake to around 2 deg. No more jumping. I was surprised how much it helped.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39553/Red_oak_6.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1509834615)