Band lub below 32 degrees

[mapletree]

What is the best lub for a band blade below freezing?

[redprospector]

That's kind of like asking everyone what their favorite beverage is. You're going to get a lot of different answers.

Personally, I like diesel year around.

[Andries]

Windshield washer fluid.
Rated for -40 degrees.
. . . . 'cause thats what works here.
(We're North of Normal)

[bkaimwood]

Wondering what ratio you use redprospector, if any?

[Joe Hillmann]

I use a winter blend diesel.  And when that gels up I take that as a sign it is too cold to run the mill

[drobertson]

Windshield washer fluid.
Rated for -40 degrees.
. . . . 'cause thats what works here.
(We're North of Normal)

same here, and I still add a shot of pin-sol with it as well,

[ladylake]

Diesel, a drop every 2 or 3 seconds.   Steve

[Magicman]

Check out the chart in Spark's download attachment..

[mapletree]

Thank you for the replies.  I had not thought about windshield washer.

[Dave Shepard]

I've been running straight windshield washer. I don't usually run much lube on fresh wood. Resawing usually gums things up, however.

[justallan1]

I find windshield washer fluid when it's on sale at Walmart for $2 and add a couple glugs of Pinesol for good measure.
When I'm sawing pine and find a pitchy log I take it off the mill and call it firewood. It's just not worth the hassle and time to mess some of them for me.

[Ox]

75% diesel and 25% bar oil here, year round.  Works great.  And, like ladylake, 1 drop every 2-3 seconds.  Quiet and clean and uses much less that you'd ever think with no staining of the wood.

[ladylake]

 Running diesel in the winter is a lot cheaper than washer fluid , takes at the most 1/2 gal per day and it keeps the blade real clean.  Steve

[samandothers]

I fall in the windshield washer group.

[Banjo picker]

mapletree, what kind of mill do you have?  If you run one with solid steel wheels the diesel won't hurt a thing.  I have a cooks with metal band wheels, and I use diesel.  If I run one that had belts on the wheels, I would probably reconsider and use something else.  Banjo

[Nomad]

     It only gets below freezing here enough most winters to be a pita.  But if I don't pay attention I can crack a lubemizer pump, and that's a REAL pita!  WW fluid in the wintertime.

[Magicman]

In the Winter, I purge my Lubemizer pump with pure WW fluid.  Our available WW fluid is usually 0° which is OK straight but not so much diluted.  RV-Marine fluid is -50° so it is my choice for diluting.

Of course, our cold is not as cold as the frigid glaciated regions. 

[redprospector]

Wondering what ratio you use redprospector, if any?

I just run straight diesel. I used to run some bar oil mixed with it, but really haven't noticed any difference since I quit doing it. If it gets cold enough to gell the diesel, add a little heet, or power service to keep it flowing.

To the guy's using windshield washer fluid, look into buying it by the drum. I use it in my skidder tires. The last I bought was under a buck a gallon (can't remember exactly, but like 80 cents a gallon). I bought winter blend concentrate. You'd have to water it down some to keep from turning everything blue, but at 50/50 it didn't freeze when we hit 27 below a couple of years ago. Just food for thought.

[Napoleon1]

if you use windshield washer fluid you need to find a auto detailer and buy the concentrate by the gallon it will make quite a few gallons cheaper.

[Grizzly]

Running diesel in the winter is a lot cheaper than washer fluid , takes at the most 1/2 gal per day and it keeps the blade real clean.  Steve

Yep. I can't seem to find WW fluid or RV anti-freeze for less than $2.50/liter and I can buy diesel for $1.14/liter

Of course, our cold is not as cold as the frigid glaciated regions. 

:D :D  Only for 8 months of the years! After that we have fairly poor sledding for the summer........... ;D

[bkaimwood]

Seems WW fluid gets the most votes for us fellas with belted band wheels...I'd like to run diesel but seems it may be too risky on a WM...

[Magicman]

I have never seen the need for Diesel.  Watch the blade and if any buildup is evident, run the blade with a full lube flow until the buildup disappears.  Usually a few seconds is all that is needed. 

My lube mix is one glug, (about 2 oz) of liquid Cascade per gallon of water.  LINK

[LittleJohn]

...I hardly ever run lube, but when I do its WW fliud with a couple of glugs of pinesol (like someone else stated)

But I also hardly every run fresh logs thru my mill (WM), that is mostly because milling a hobby of mine, and log will typically sit on the landing for at least a solid month before milling.  All a good chunk of the logs are either dead or dying by the time I get to them.

[Remle]

Seems WW fluid gets the most votes for us fellas with belted band wheels...I'd like to run diesel but seems it may be too risky on a WM...

We each have our own take on this subject,so here's mine.
I cut mainly white pine, with lots of pitch.
In the 12 yrs I have owned it, I have never had a belt failure due to diesel as lubricant on my WM.
I think every one will agree, that water is necessary to create rust, so much that we all would like to have our mill under cover to protect it from the elements ! So why do they then continue to pour water on it ? My mill sits idle for long periods of time, rather than have it soaked with water rusting away at the bearings/ ect. I prefer the diesel as lubricant, preventing rust, your bands will not rust nearly as bad either. So my advice is to try it, what do you have to loose ?

[Dave Shepard]

I ran diesel on the mill I learned on. No belt problems. I also have not had any rusting problems using water or WW.

[isawlogs]

 I have run only windsheild washer or water and some kind of soap or other (depending on time of year). The rust on my mill came from the road salts here not from the lub tank, as the bottom of my batery box and front of my fuse box need replacing du to rust. I got to fabricate both of them this winter.  :-\

[ladylake]

 I'd run diesel all year if it didn't smell, no belt problems..  In the winter I use diesel around 1/2 gallon a day  vs around 4 gallons a day for WW fluid and the diesel keeps the blade cleaner. IF I was down south where it didn't freeze often most likely would be water.  Steve

[slider]

I saw quiet a bit of pine.Some is heart pine,very heavy in pitch.I have used many different types of lube.My choice in pine is diesel .It takes very little and it get"s the job done.
I have belted wheels so i set the lubemizer on the lowest setting which is a squirt about every 7 seconds.If i get buildup i flip to full flow for just a bit to clean the band and keep sawing.
Other than diesel,cotton picker spindle cleaner was my favorite but not cheap.
Cascade worked well but left a white caustic residue on the mill that i did not care fore.

[bkaimwood]

Guess I don't have anything to loose, remle...being I'm on my third set of b57 belts at 120 hours...due to extreme pitch..I've resawed heart pine beams that had the blade not looking like a blade after one pass using the recommended pin Sol and dawn mix..

[Magicman]

I give the B57's a good wire brushing at every blade change.

[bkaimwood]

This thread must have been a course for  me...either that or my own stupidity was!!! Temps were borderline here last night, and I had a loooong day, finished up late, so I took a flyer...and lost. Lube system filter housing split in 3, whole system froze..hairdryer and super glue to the rescue...nothing else hurt, so I'm thankful, but lost a lot of time due to it... But lesson learned, now full of WW fluid...

[ely]

I pour a gallon of the blue stuff in with about 4 gallons of water, if it gets cold enough to freeze that I don't saw. in pitchy pine I have to turn the water off and give the band a squirt of my mixture about every 5 seconds. it is 50/50 bar oil and kerosene....that sometimes get diluted even more with hydraulic oil.

[Magicman]

Cascade worked well but left a white caustic residue on the mill that i did not care fore.

My old sawmill is "peaches & cream" colored.   ;D

[flatrock58]

I have been running water with cascade during the warmer part of the day.  Every night I use a little bottle filled with ww fluid to flush the lines.  If it is well below freezing during the day I do something else!!

[Magicman]

 

 
I have a quick connect on the line and jug, so first I unhook and run the Lubemizer full force to empty the pump and line.  Then I use a short section of hose to pump undiluted WW fluid throughout the system.  This purge procedure works very well for me.

[isawlogs]

 Things here are froze for the next 6 months, I have windshield washer in the tank. It will stay with that in it till then. I got over trying things that work moderatly, WW works. Things don't swell up and break. 

[bkaimwood]

Hey MM...what is that item the prestone is sitting on??!! Haven't seen mine in a loooong time...

[Magicman]

Then your tires sling mud onto the sawmill.   ;D  That old fender has been straightened, hammered out, and repainted a couple of times.  It leads a hard life.   ;D

[bkaimwood]

I believe you, MM...I've seen the pics of the places you've shoe horned that thing!!! Mine is like new, cuz it usually stays in the barn and my mill hasn't been to ugly locations...yet...its not a good thing, means its not being used to its full potential!!! :(

[Magicman]

Actually the shoehorning has never caused any damage.  If it comes off at highway speed, it will be ugly. 

[bkaimwood]

MM....maybe you should have a speed limiter on that rig! :) Atleast put a block under the pedal!!

[Magicman]

I had not taken the time to clean out the fender slot, so it was riding high.  I saw it in my rearview mirror and maybe heard the racket when it went cartwheeling into the air.  Maybe the wheel ran over it?  Anyway it took some serious "blacksmithing" to kinda make it fit again.   :-\

Note to self:  (Always clean the fender slot and connect the bungee.)

[terrifictimbersllc]

Once I got to a job and a fender was missing.  An hour or so later the customer's wife came back with Dunkin Donuts for everyone and also a fender for me.  She said it sort of looked like my mill so she picked it up. It was fairly mangled which so that was a sideways compliment,  but it went back on ok anyway.

[Kbeitz]

Once I got to a job and a fender was missing.  An hour or so later the customer's wife came back with Dunkin Donuts for everyone and also a fender for me.  She said it sort of looked like my mill so she picked it up. It was fairly mangled which so that was a sideways compliment,  but it went back on ok anyway.

Wow.... That was not a blonde...

[Chuck White]

I had not taken the time to clean out the fender slot, so it was riding high.  I saw it in my rearview mirror and maybe heard the racket when it went cartwheeling into the air.  Maybe the wheel ran over it?  Anyway it took some serious "blacksmithing" to kinda make it fit again.   :-\

Note to self:  (Always clean the fender slot and connect the bungee.)

What's this bungee you speak of Lynn?

Guess I've just been lucky, never used a bungee, never lost a fender!

[Nomad]

     My original fenders had one rubber bungee to hold 'em in place.  the new ones have two. (Yeah...  I've had a couple of "incidents.")
     I will say that a blowout at 70 mph will make your fender do bad and wondrous things, and you won't like the results. :(  That bungee cord wasn't no more than spit on a housefire.

[flatrock58]

Had a blowout when I was on the way home from buying my mill.  The fender took a direct hit.  I persuaded it back to it's near original form.

[Magicman]

What's this bungee you speak of Lynn?

Mine originally had ball bearing loaded pins, but moisture and rust was never kind to them, plus they had a sneaky way of hiding.  The black bungee works fine and I have the hook on the fender end bent to prevent it's escape.

[Chuck White]

Maybe I should make provisions for securing my fenders with a little more than gravity!

But you're right, if you don't get the fender pockets cleaned out, that shortens the security of the fender!