buying sharpening equipment vs resharp service

[bruce29]

I am just putting the finishing touches on my sawmill and about to start cutting . I am trying to decide on either buying sharpener & setter vs having a resharp service sharpen my blades. I am not real familiar with many blade companies. I was leaning towards cooks or either woodmizer as far as buying blades & having them resharpened. I would like to hear pros & cons  and opinions on having someone else sharpen  or sharpening my own blades. The financial part is a concern , but I dont know how time consuming it is to sharpen & set blades vs paying someone else, and just sawing.My sawing will be mainly for my on use & a small amount of resale. Are there different  blade manufactures  worth looking at?  thanks!!!!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

There are different blade manufactures and there are different opinions....TONS of opinions.

I use WOODMIZER blades and use their re-sharp service. They can inspect each blade I send back and replace it if need be. They know more about blades than me....So I let them earn my money. And in return, I get a box back full of sharp blades. I just keep on sawing.  8)

I would rather be sawing than sharping.

I am HAPPY.  smiley_blue_bounce

[bandmiller2]

Bruce,if your just dubbing around doing your own and a little extra for cash,probibly resharp makes more sence.If your going to do alot of milling and your the type that likes to fiddle with things and an independent cuss get yourself the sharpening equipment.Myself I built my bandmill and like to do everything in house so I chose to sharpen and set.Its all volume if you cut alot you will payoff the equipment and be ahead. Frank C.

[zopi]

yeah..this it the ford/chevy, stihl/husky, discussion all over....  alot of guys do not want to waste their time sharpening...me I don't like running sawmill in the rain, much, and I got a great deal on my little sharpener...sooo...
WM resharp is a really good deal for what you get...if you do not want to be bothered with managing blades, go resharp, and just give them standing instructions on what to do as far a replacements, etc....very convenient.  I would imagine if I were sawing alot more, I would do it that way..run through a box or two a week and send em off...with another box or two in rotation.

[Magicman]

That is simply a personal decision that each of us make.  The answer is as different as the reasons for each of our decisions.  Balance the cost of the machine plus your time against about $10 per blade sharpening.  Determine how many that you estimate that you will use to determine the payback time.

WM for example will not sharpen other manufacturer's blades so take that into consideration when buying blades.

There is a very long thread where longtime member Bibbyman converted over to sharpening his own last year.

[hackberry jake]

I was lucky to get into a sharpener for pretty cheap and built my own setter. I sent off one batch of 10 bands before I found my sharpener and I wouldn't have it any other way. Now I sharpen and set more often which yields a higher quality cut. I'd go broke if I had to pay to have my bands sharpened as often as I sharpen them now. It really doesn't take long to put a band on the sharpener, after I put it on the sharpener and get it going I load another log on the mill and by the time I have to roll the log the band is sharp. $100 saved is $100 earned in my book.

[MHineman]

Now I sharpen and set more often which yields a higher quality cut. I'd go broke if I had to pay to have my bands sharpened as often as I sharpen them now.  $100 saved is $100 earned in my book.

You will be more productive (more bd-ft / hr) with a sharper blade and the blades will end up cutting more lumber before you have to trash them.  Change the blades when it starts to feel a little dull instead of getting "all the sharp out of it" like we all do when paying someone else to sharpen them.
  You'll also be less likely to have wavy boards by changing the blade more often as a dull blade is more likely to be deflected.

[ladylake]

 
I bought a sharpener-setter when I bought my mill and glad that I did. Lots of good reasons above to own one. The only resaon not to is if you don't saw much or are so busy your don't have time to sharpen and then I think it would pay to own a sharpener and hire a older guy to run it. Steve

[Migal]

I bought a sharpener-setter when I bought my mill and glad that I did. Lots of good reasons above to own one. The only resaon not to is if you don't saw much or are so busy your don't have time to sharpen and then I think it would pay to own a sharpener and hire a older guy to run it. Steve

:D Hay Hay what's this talk about have a Old man run it  8) I'm busy enough! sawing log's  ;)

[Kansas]

A lot of good posts. I tend to lean to the camp that if your just doing it part time, use a resharp service. Once you get sawing, you can see what you are spending a month, and decide whether to make the leap. If you can find a place within driving distance, that would help more. There are a number of sharpening services out there. Some affiliated with their own blades, some not.

[customsawyer]

When you are first starting out you might be better off to spend that money on some other equipment that can help your mill. I sharpen my own blades and for a few others as well. I milled for more than 4 years before I bought my own sharpening equipment and I am glad that I did. I was able to concentrate on milling and not worry about what I might have been doing wrong to the blades. Remember when most of us start having problems with the mill the first thing we do is swap the blade. This keeps us from making unnecessary adjustments to our mill. There is a learning curve to milling and to sharpening both. I don't think I would like to be trying to learn both at the same time. 

[FeltzE]

IMO, sharpen your own blades! Although if your starting out it is nice to know you are dealing with good properly set and sharpened blades (such as the WM resharp program) But don't kid yourself it isn't cheaper to send them out.

If your cutting yard timber with higher occurance of tramp metal, DEFINITELY sharpen your own. Yes you can charge the cusomer (I do) but still your ahead doing it yourself.

-Cost to resharp (my numbers are old) $6each blade + shipping to and from my total was $8 per blade.
- Cost to sharpen myself.... cost of sharpener plus my labor.
- Number of blades sharpened per hour (minimum of 4) (a $32 value/hr based on other services)

So pay yourself $32/hr to drink coffee and sharpen blades?///??

Advantage to sharpening your own
- Less blades to own (none in transit or at the sharpening service)
- Never waiting for blades to arrive
- Never making a blade last past usefull sharpness
- Easily adjusted set for different spicies or cutting width
- easily set hook angle for different hardness woods
- quick turn on sharpening
- sharpener eventually pays for itself in savings

Disadvantage
- initial cost to buy sharpener
- learning curve to what is right for set and hook to make your sawmill sing


AND FOR YOU GUYS who justify sending them out... by time savings...

- REALLY? come on... it's just another facet of sawmill maintenance, like clean up, grease, fuel, sharpening. You just don't want to do it... and [[THATS OK TOO!]]


I did start this with (IMO) didn't I? I can hear the bees buzzing....  8)

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

No buzzing here....I would rather send my blades to the re-sharp at Woodmizer.

Every sawyer is different. I saw all day. I quit sawing at 3pm to get my son off the bus and we do homework.

If I have any spare time, we play golf, hunt, fish or I'm working with the Forest Service.

I'm just glad WM has a re-sharp program. I just don't have time to re-sharp.

But I do drink coffee while I saw. 

[MHineman]

  I agree with customsawyer about learning to run the mill with blades you know are sharp and have the right set and hook angle for the wood you are cutting.
  Even though I got a sharpener with my mill when I bought it used, I did not start sharpening my own blade right away.  The experience you gain with consistent blades can't be understated.
  Now I sharpen my own blades and I feel the same as FeltzE about making reasonable money by not spending it on resharp.
  I know I do change the blade sooner knowing I don't have to send $10 to resharp to get that blade in use again.  I'm sure I also produce more bd-ft / hr this way too.

[bruce29]

On average how long would it take to sharpen & set a 208'' blade? Still trying to decide to pay or sharpen my own.

[Chuck White]

On average it takes me about 15 minutes to set and sharpen a 158" Wood-Mizer blade.

I will typically use 2 blades per day, that is of course unless I hit metal in the log.  But sometimes I will use 3 blades per day, even if I don't hit metal.

I keep 6 blades in rotation in my blade box that goes to the mill with me each day.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Sharpening and setting is a time-consuming nit picking job.  But it pays well maybe $25 an hour or so, but only if you can do it right.  You have to spend about $4000 to be able to do this with the WM shop series CBN grinder/dual setter.   I'd say if you have only a few blades now and then, or if you are sawing so much that you really don't have time to sharpen, then send them out.  You should be able to make more money sawing than sharpening blades.   There are mostly advantages to doing it yourself, except for the time it takes.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Sharpening and setting is a time-consuming nit picking job.  But it pays well maybe $25 an hour or so, but only if you can do it right.  You have to spend about $4000 to be able to do this with the WM shop series CBN grinder/dual setter.   I'd say if you have only a few blades now and then, or if you are sawing so much that you really don't have time to sharpen, then send them out.  You should be able to make more money sawing than sharpening blades.   There are mostly advantages to doing it yourself, except for the time it takes.

Very GOOD reply!  I agree.

[ladylake]

 
I sharpened 6  150" blades in 45 minutes this morning before i went on a saw job, comes out to $72 a hour at $9 per blade.  I'll take that any day.  I really can't see whats nit picky about running a sharpener, put a blade on, adjust the hieght and how much it hits the face and go do something else for 6 minutes.  Steve

[zopi]

my old sharpener is pretty slow, it takes it awhile to get through two passes of a light grind..but while it is doing that I am usually looking over another blade or tinkering with something that needs it...sort of a parallel process to whatever else I can come up with to do while sharpening...really does not eat much time.

[jueston]

$100 saved is $100 earned in my book.

depending on the taxes you pay on your income then 100 saved is about 150 earned....

[Migal]

I got my tax number Dang does that mean I have to save more!

[opticsguy]

If you were thinking to buy a band blade sharpener system what would you buy?   I am a casual cutter still on my first two blades, the second blade did not seem to last very long and plan to change out for my next log.  So are we talking $200 for a sharpener?  or $4000?  or?

[hackberry jake]

Depends on the type of sharpener. Anywhere from $400 to $3,000 depending on just sharpening the face of the tooth or a high speed, liquid cooled, cbn, production sharpener. I lucked into a used one that falls somewhere in the middle for $100. Just keep ur eyes open

[Stephen1]

I was ready to give up on sharpening my own, It was a large learning curve for dressing the stone and setting, I have it figured now and no problems, in fact I would think if I am cutting clean logs I will not need to sharpen very many blades and will not take very much time. Right now I am cutting reclaimed beams and am averaging 10 blades a day, I would need about 200 blades in rotation with a sharpening service. A huge expense. Now all I all do is cut all day and sharpen all night >:( to try and have enought blades to cut the next day. I had 30 blades whern I started and had to buy 30 and am now around 35 blades. it will be nice to be finish this job.