Bandsaw sharpening: To cool or not to cool that is the question!

[New Inn Wood Man]

Hi Guys,

I've had my head down for a while beavering away and have decided to invest in the equipment to sharpen my own bands for the LT40. As with all of these things there seems so many options and my knowledge/experience in this field is woefully inadequate considering the money I am about to spend so I thought I would drop you guys a note and ask for some help please. From where I am in UK it seems like a two horse race between Dinasaw and the good old Wood Mizer Kit. From what I can see I think the Dinasaw setter is a leader here but I am concerned about the lack of cooling fluid on the Dinasaw sharpener. Any thoughts or experiences around cooling or no cooling guys? I do not seem to be able to find any discussions on this in previous threads. Also do you have to invert the blade to use the setter? and is it really fully automatic, just turn the handle!??

Thanks

Richard

[ladylake]

I've been using a Wright sharpener from Timberking for over 5 years that doesn't have cooling. Have sharpened thousands of blades that come out sharper than new, no blueing of the teeth at all.  I also have the dina setter which is real fast but might not be the most accurate one out there.  If you have a little pitch on the blade one tooth might get set a little more.  Steve

[Cedarman]

I've use both setters.  One collests dust.  The other collects dust now too since I send blades to resharp.  I feel better about using the WM setter because I have complete control over every tooth.  Takes about 10 minutes to set a blade.  Important to clean blade and check the setter for accuracy.  I use a perfectly flat electrical cover as a flat to check the guage.

The other is fast, but can be a little contrary to set up at times.  I could never set a damaged blade with it either.

I started out with the old WM setter and sharpener 20 some years ago, so that may predudice my opinion.

[Handy Andy]

  There have been several threads about sharpening on this forum.  Of the ones I have read, the dino sharpeners and setters haven't had the best reviews.  There are several available, don't buy till you check out as many as possible.  Have the cook sales paper in front of me, the cat claw sharpener, setter, and bandrail on sale for 3420.$  Maybe the cheap dollar makes that reasonable, but price has kept me from buying that set.  @ 10$ per blade, only have to sharpen 342 blades to pay for that.
If you are interested check out cookssaw.com.  They are not sponsors of this forum.

[Tom_Averwater]

Since you are from the U.K. you might try Scott & Sergent in England . They had a couple of used Vollmer grinders on their web site . Good heavy machines .http://www.machines4wood.com      Tom

[New Inn Wood Man]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for taking the time to offer your advice. Much appreciated. I am still deciding  between dry or wet sharpening but it seems with a reasonable bit of kit and care I will get good results from either. On the setting side, I have the offer of a used WM setter which I understand will be best for damaged blades. For blades that have had an easier life I think I will buy one of the semi auto setters.

Thanks again,

Richard