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Sharpening on a budget- opinions of woodland mills sharpener

Started by kkcomp, April 08, 2022, 04:40:18 PM

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kkcomp

In need of a sharpener but the budget is tight. At $740 the Woodland mills sharpener seems to be the best bang for the buck. I know everyone has an opinion but is it worth it or should I wait for more funding?
Why is there never time to do it right but always time to do it over?
Rework is the bane of my existence
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Crusarius

I am very interested to hear others opinions as well. I know the #1 answer will be use woodmizer resharp.

kkcomp

Hudson also has a lower price unit but I don't get a warm fuzzy for something that claims to do chain saws and band saws. Especially when the grinding wheel is almost as much as the unit.
Why is there never time to do it right but always time to do it over?
Rework is the bane of my existence
Norwood HD38 Kubota B3300HSU Honda Rancher many Stihl and Echo saws, JCB 1400b Backhoe

Patrick NC

I've also looked at the woodland mills sharpener. Biggest drawback that I can see is you can only do 1.25" blades. If you want to switch to 1.5" you won't be able to use it. I think I'm going with a Cooks.
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MattM

I've had a woodland mills sharpener for about 5 years now and here's my thoughts for what they're worth.

If your a hobby guy that only cut a handful of logs a year and maybe sharpens say 5-10 bands a year then the woodland sharpener might be good for you. If your doing alot more than that I'd go with something that actually does a good profile when sharpening. The small woodmizer 12v sharpener while similar in looks to the woodland one is not only a ton faster but looks like it does the entire gullet not just the first part of the gullet at the base of the tooth face. It used to be only a few hundred dollars more (not sure what it is now).

I've done hundreds and hundreds of sharpenings on this sharpener. The woodland sharpener takes about 20 minutes to sharpen a 12ft band and while it is "automatic" Everytime I have left it to do a blade on its own it has somehow jammed and ruined half a dozen teeth.... Something that has never happened if I sit and watch it. So you need to invest alot of time into sharpening....

I've also had to do some modifications to mine to make it grind more of the gullet... Still can't do the right profile for any brand of blades I've tried but at least now it skims the top of the next tooth.

As far as I'm concerned it was a good sharpener for what it cost 5 years ago, now its a couple hundred dollars more expensive and the woodmizer 12v sharpener is close enough in price that that is the one I would go with if I was hobby sawing. If your going to be doing alot of bands pretty regularly you might want to invest in something bigger, better and faster.

Edit: if money is really tight and with the higher price of the woodland sharpener ATM I personally would use a Dremel to sharpen my bands while I save for a better sharpener. It would probably be faster and it would be a hell of alot cheaper.
LT35HDG25

kkcomp

Any thoughts on the Timberking unit? $2600 for a Cooks or Woodmizer is a big difference.
Why is there never time to do it right but always time to do it over?
Rework is the bane of my existence
Norwood HD38 Kubota B3300HSU Honda Rancher many Stihl and Echo saws, JCB 1400b Backhoe

barbender

I don't know if the Hudson is the same as the model they made 15 years ago, but someone wanted me to show them how to do bands with the Hudson they had. Total pile of garbage👎👎 It could not be made to work. It wasn't broken, just crude and poorly designed.
Too many irons in the fire

MattM

Quote from: kkcomp on April 08, 2022, 05:38:49 PM
Any thoughts on the Timberking unit? $2600 for a Cooks or Woodmizer is a big difference.
Have a look at the wm bms25, in Canada it's only $1378 vs 900 for the woodland mills.
LT35HDG25

chet

I don't understand why more budget minded folks don't try to find an old used Woodmizer drag style sharpener. Bought mine used 19 years ago for $800 and it is still going strong, only replacing motor brushes and grind rocks. I'm sure with lots of guys upgrading you could find one very reasonable.

Edit: forgot to mention the price also included the setter.
I am a true TREE HUGGER, if I didnt I would fall out!  chet the RETIRED arborist

Ljohnsaw

I tried to buy the WM 12v sharpener but it was at least a 6 month wait.  So for a little more money, I bought a Viel CBN sharpener out of Canada and had it in a couple weeks, just before Christmas.  It is hand cranked but could easily have a variable speed motor added to drive it.  I de-set, set and sharpened all of my bands (~40) and averaged 15 minutes per band.  Some of the bands I had sharpened 3 or 4 times with my Jerry-rigged radial arm saw sharpener so the profiles were a bit messed up.  Those took a couple passes.  Still waiting for the snow to melt to try them out.

My review of the Viel Sharpener
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Gere Flewelling

I was fortunate to be able to purchase the Cook's Cat Claw sharpener several years back along with the Dual Tooth Setter.  I am just aa hobby miller, but have had excellent success with these machines.  I read a lot about the CBN grinding wheels being the only way to go, but have found the blue grind rocks as Cook's calls them, work just fine for me.  I have purchased 4 or 5 of the replacement rocks over the years, but have only worn out a couple.  They aren't that expensive and are quite forgiving of a novice operator.  As for the sharpener, it works flawlessly and consistent every time.  The only issue I have with successful sharpening is me not paying attention to the details of getting things adjusted properly to the individual band I am sharpening. The dual tooth setter requires practice to achieve consistent results with.  Once I figured it out, I have good success with that as well.  Looking back at my experience I think that if I had not purchased the quality of equipment I did back then, I likely would become very frustrated with the hobby and likely have moved on to something else.  You get what you pay for in this instance.
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CCCLLC

I've got a 30 year old woodmizer  drag  style sharpener  that needs brushes  in the cam driver motor. Woodmizer new web page won't  offer any info on motor or brushes.  Any info appreciated. 

rusticretreater

I also have the Woodland Mills Sharpener and I think it works just fine.  What it lacks in ability is more than made up in convenience.  You may notice that I haven't said cost savings as I don't know what my cost savings are.

I did immediately upgrade it to use the CBN wheel(I use them for sharpening my turning tools and they are outstanding in performance).  I have tweaked it a bit too.  The biggest thing is to modify the arm on the back that holds the grinding head.  I set the arm at each of the three angle settings, 7, 10, 14 degrees and drill a hole through the arm and the box to put in a metal screw to stiffen it up.  They have changed the mounting system, so that might be taken care of.

You do have to futz with it a bit to get it making a decent consistent grind. I found that most issues with feeding are making sure the supporting arms that hold the blade(arms that extend back from the unit and have adjustable ends) are level and square with the rest of the unit. Otherwise, twist tension put on the blade as it enters the sharpening area messes with the feed mechanism and also the grind.

It doesn't do the gullet as well as one might like, but that's a problem for most automatic grinders. Sawmill, bandsaw or chainsaw.  I also set the blade teeth and fix munged ones prior to sharpening. With most tools we can afford, it does "good enough" which is where I am as a home hobbyist saw miller.

I have been telling myself to make some vertical supports for the two arms, but I still am doing a manual check with the level.  My concerns are more in the "does the blade cut level and not dive?" camp than the "does it make a nice smooth surface?" camp.  For me it does just that.

As a previous poster noted, it will only do 1"-1.25" blades.

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fluidpowerpro

I've got a woodland mills sharpener. I wouldn't brag about it but it does an ok job for me. I run about 50 blades a year through mine. My only complaint is that mine is really slow. I understand that their new ones are faster.
Change is hard....
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Local wind direction is determined by how I park my mill.

kkcomp

This is an older post but since it was revived I feel I should update it. I ended up waiting on the sharpener and just recently bought a seter and sharpener set from Norwood. I also got 7 and 10 degree CBN wheels from Wood Mizer that fit quite well. It was a bit more than what was available when the post was made. I have been happy with the units and the CBN wheels are great. I can just get the gullets after much adjusting. I had a few blades that were trashed so I used them to get tuned in and after that it has been mostly good. 
Why is there never time to do it right but always time to do it over?
Rework is the bane of my existence
Norwood HD38 Kubota B3300HSU Honda Rancher many Stihl and Echo saws, JCB 1400b Backhoe

jpassardi

I have the newer pro model with cbn and 2 speeds. It along with their setter make quality cutting bands. It doesn't get all of the gullet on mt 7/39's but after a half dozen sharpenings when that matters it's time to replace them anyway.
It's not perfect but gets the job done, surprisingly they're made in Sweden.
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