What brand to buy?
Where to get sharpened ?
At first I'm sawing spruce , hemlock , and white pine
Thanks Jim (Bruno )
It might not matter, but might, what mill are you running?
Thomas 8013 manual mill
Thats like saying "who makes the best pick-up". You will get a variety of oppinions. You usually get what you pay for.
I buy the Timber Wolf,10° right from Thomas,but I am ALOT closer than you are.
Now that 8013,is that the wide one? That might make a difference too. I just have the regular size mill.
Sharpen might be a problem. WM has a resharp,but you have to buy thier blades and 10 at a time. Which is a good deal. I don't saw much,so I don't use thier service. But I have a guy that does a real nice job. Or I did have. He's going through a divorce.
I would say find a saw shop near by, see what they sell, sharpen, and others in the area are using if this is possible. Otherwise go with wmz or Cooks, they sell and resharp and are good at it. Or find a sharpener and get samples from the most you can, try them, sharpen them then make your blade decision from there.
A guy near me has Cooks Sharpening Equipment. His machine is set to sharpen Cooks 8 degree 7/8 pitch blades. I am planning on buy a box of Cooks 8 degree Super Sharps and let him keep them sharp. The cost of driving 5 miles to his house will be lots cheaper than shipping to and from WM Resharp.
Quote from: Sixacresand on May 15, 2014, 08:21:51 PM
A guy near me has Cooks Sharpening Equipment. His machine is set to sharpen Cooks 8 degree 7/8 pitch blades. I am planning on buy a box of Cooks 8 degree Super Sharps and let him keep them sharp. The cost of driving 5 miles to his house will be lots cheaper than shipping to and from WM Resharp.
I'm pretty sure you will be happy with these blades, been running them for several years,
I have used mainly WM, some Cooks, some timberwolf (Suffolk machine) all work good and just received 2 wood max to try.
Will report on these after i saw.
I sharpen my own as i have cams for my WM sharpener for all of the above except wood max.
Cams and wheels for woodmaxx bands are almost identical to Wood Mizer so you shouldn't have any problems sharpening them.
I called around to 4 or 5 of the better known sellers of band saw blades and ended up with the conclusion that Cook offers the most bang for the buck.
The blades I was pricing were $16 each through cooks, everywhere else was between $21 and $25 per blade. Cooks sharpening was also very reasonable, $7-something per blade, that price includes sharpening, setting and rolling, the other companies didn't do rolling. Also Cook will sharpen any 10 degree blade, even if it is from another company. At least one of the companies I had talked to would only resharpen their own blades. The person I talked to at Cook also seemed to be very knowledgeable about blades as compared to the others I talked to.
With all that said, I have only dulled one blade yet so I can't say if their blades are any better or worse than others.
If you are looking at the prices of the blades you also need to keep in mind how much shipping to and from will cost you when you need the blades resharpened as well as how long it will take to get them back to you. I found someone locally who charges more per blade to sharpen but since I don't have to pay for shipping and should get my blades back quicker I plan to use him for my sharpening.
Just ordered a box of 20 supper sharp for $350 free shipping the young lady I talked to was a great help. thanks to the Forestry Forum I think I got a good deal 8) 8) 8)
NMFP Thanks
Pete
Goose, that seems like a good price, $17.50 a blade, delivered. I haven't tried Cook's blades yet, I have used quite a few others. I've had the best luck with WM blades. Both Doublehard, and Silvertip. The Doublehards I find to hold an edge longer than anything else I've tried. The Silvertips are as good as anything else I've used, and they are priced pretty cheap. If I were sending them out to Resharp I would always use the Doublehard, I think it would be cheaper in the end. As it is, I sharpen my own, and I seem to wreck a lot of blades so the Silver tips work very well for me.
Truth be known all of the major bands will give you good service. Some mills (spelled most) will do better with a certin brand of band but that can be trumped by price and handy. Shop by service, price and sharpening. Always best to trade local if you have someone close. Frank C.
There is another band worth a try, it is the Wood Max by Kasco, I got two samples a few weeks ago, and these blades are right up there, maybe better than Cooks, I have yet to sharpen these two blades and retry them but all things are pointing to a very good blade at less the cost, several dollars less per blade.
I looked at wood max by Kasco a box of 15 was 3 some thing plus $40 shipping that's why I went with Cooks
Pretty sure you will be happy with these blades,
I've tried quite a few different brands but so far have always come back to Simonds as they cut straight and take lots of sharpening's. Steve
Of those you mention, spruce will test you the most. If you want to saw it make sure your blades work on it.
I missed the spruce part. I only have 10° blades. I had no luck at all with that stuff, BUT I only had one log. It was cut up the road to make the road wider. It was just going to rot there. So instead of that bad fate I tried to saw it and then I put it on the brush pile. ::) That stuff had more waves than an ocean. Members on other posts have said I needed 7°. I don't have much spruce,so I doubt I will get another chance at it.
Blade specs are important, too. Hopefully some members who have had experience with spruce will give their opinion on blade thickness, width, set, pitch and hook angle. I suspect this will be more of a factor than who makes the blades.
I've had good results using 3/4 pitch vs 7/8 pitch blades cutting spruce, still not perfect in the wide cut but a lot better than 7/8 pitch. Steve
Simonds haven't worked that we'll for me, a few years back their teeth were still stamped or "broached" as it was called. They weren't sharp when brand new. I was really struggling with some Red oak, brand new blades wouldn't cut. I was going nuts. The place I was getting my blades had just started stocking WM Silvertip, so I tried those. They are fully ground, they cut great and the price was the same. Since then Simonds started doing a face grind on their teeth, and call them "Pre-sharps" I think. I just tried one with my last blade order. It cut really well, but the finish it left on the white oak I was cutting wasn't as good as the WM blades. BTW, I'm not an eyes rolled back in my head WM guy, (like Poston for instance ;D) when I had my first experience with WM blades I was still running a homemade mill, there was no brand loyalty with that thing :) I just wanted something that would cut straight.
Hi guys
My mill came with 13 ft 6 inch x 1 1/2 blades
Can you run 1 1/4 with blades too ?
Thanks Jim
Ordered 10 cooks super sharps today .
Got 10 percent off .
Going to give them a try .
Jim
Cooks makes a great blade. My experience, however, is that a metal strike is a killer. As long as you can avoid that, it's a great blade. Due to the tooth shape I suppose.
Bruno,before you go to the 1 1/4 band make sure tour guide setup wont interfere with your set.I have to change roller wheels on mine when going from 1 1/2 to 1 1/4. al
Like slider says, you'll have to check your guides. I can get away with 1 1/2" blades on my 1 1/4" guides, but I think if you tried 1 1/4" blades on 1 1/2" guides the teeth would ride on the rollers and take the set out of one side of the blade.
Hi guys
Thanks for the info !!!
I would run with what came on the mill, seems there was a reason for it to start with,
Bruno,
I send my bands to a place in Lempster to get resharpened. They do a good job and don't care what brand. I send them with a local sawyer so I have never dealt with them directly but will inquire if you would like. I have also used Bob's sharp all who run a circuit to my local hardware store but think they are out of Merideth. He is only good for two sharpenings and then his set is off