I haven't had time to use the mill much this summer, but now have three millings to do. I'm a little rusty on blade selection and I expect to run out before I finish these jobs and need to order more.
Question for those who saw eastern white pine, what angle tooth are you using?
The WM website lists 4, 7, 9 ,and 10 degree bands. Which is more aggressive the 4 or the 10 degree?
P.S. I just reached the 1k mark. 99k more to go. (to enter the 100kbdft club)
The 4 is more aggressive in IMO...but on all Pine, I run the 10 degree. If the Pine is real knotty...I have used the 7 degree.
I guess that it depends upon your definition of aggressive. Since the 4° is straighter it does more scraping and the 10° does more cutting. The 4° will not dig into the wood as easily as a 10°
Think of it as degrees of angle away from 90°. The teeth on a 4° blade are slanted 4° from 90° which makes them 86°, and on a 10° blade they are at an 80° angle. The 10° blade has the sharpest cutting angle. smiley_dizzy
I saw mostly Eastern White Pine, and I've always had good performance using 10° blades, 1¼x.045.
Recently I use 7 degree mostly occasionally 10 degree and have good performance. Both come set at about 25 thousandths. On resharpening I set at 28-30 thousandths which do better in wider pine boards say 12-24" and better overall for pine. I have used sharp 9's on smaller pine logs before but there's less performance range than with 7's and the blades with more set (have to pull the 9 sooner and don't count on cutting anything wide flat). I have seen a still-sharp 4 degree band which just made remarkable wide cuts in white oak, give a wavy cut on the next pine log so I don't think of using a 4 for pine. Ability to use highly set 7's I suppose is going to depend on how much power one has, my mill is 42HP diesel.
A general purpose band is one that can cut all species. Therefore, as I have said before, stick to either 4 or 7 degree and you will be fine. If you can cut all of your very difficult woods with a 7 degree band, then it will work on easy to saw woods.
Had numerous customers just a few years ago that had 4,7 & 10 degree bands but now either all run 4 degree or 7 degree exclusively, depending on where they are located.
All bands will do the job, however, their efficiency is greatly diminished based upon time, fatigue and abrasion.
If you stick to one hook angle, it makes sharpening and knowing what you have available much simpler.
I don't remember the hp your mill has, but have to agree with the statement made as to keeping one hook angle. I also agree that the
7 degree blades are just a great all around blade which ever make you decide on.
The 7's are the best all around blade I have found. I have used them all and run nothing but 7's now. The 4's will cut good but you will not get anywhere near the speed you can cut with a 7. I really don't know exactly what the minimum HP you need to be able to cut with the 7's as they do have a lot deeper gullet. I have the 62cat on my LT70 so I never have had to worry about it so I can't say from experience. The thing about the 7 is you can cut a pine one minute and a hard hickory the next and not have to change blades and it will do great on both of them.
I have numerous customers running lt15 mills that are running 7 degree bands... no problem at all. This is where I greatly disagree with most bandsaw manufacturers. In all honesty, I have tested different hook angles and different engine sizes and found the exact opposite from what they say. I have found that the lower hp mills are actually doing better with lower hook angles due to the scraping action rather than piercing action of say 10-13 degree.
My thomas 8013 mill with 13hp honda cuts much better in pine and hemlock with 7 degree bands .
Jim Bruno of NH
Jeez I'll sound like a parrot but I've settled on 7 or 8 degrees. 10 degree are fine but I believe they have more of a tendency cut wavy around knots. I also hear the 10's feed a little easier if you have to push the saw through the log. Frank C.
I had been running 10 degree bands but when I went to check out pricing on the blades (one of my jobs is reimbursing me for blades), the WM blade selector showed me 9, 7, and 4 degree options. So I thought I would ask actually users.
I have an LT28 with the 15HP Kohler. As I have gotten better at using the mill I have started to experience some bogging causing me to really watch and control the feed rate. Between the soft white pine, hard pine knots, current blade life, and the engine bogging, I have started to question my initial blade choice. I am still working through my first boxes of blades. In preparation for ordering box number two, I thought I would check with the experts on what I should try next. I'm thinking trying a box of 7 degree next.
I've settled on 7s myself, they work good on everything I cut.
I couldn't ever settle on either 9° or 7° (I always used both) so now I sharpen my WM 9° to 8° ;D and they work as good as anything I've used.
YH
The key is SHARP and correctly set, exact angle is of minor importance. Frank C.
I run 10° for white pine. In the winter I use 4°. I've talked to WM a couple times about switching to 7° but they never convinced me. I like the idea of running just one band, especially if it is aggressive and fast.
I settle on one band and find one band does everything.
For comparison, large mills use one hook angle to cut all species, noit have numerous different hook angles for different species. When you buy a chainsaw chain, you can use it on all species, not have to change for different species.
A lower hook angle works well with just about all hp machines I have found, however there are instances where its not as good but those are very far and few between.
As I have said before and will say again, I think the industry has accepted 10 degree as a universal band but in reality, we have used too high of hook angle for too many years. A universal band is one where we can cut everything with one single band profile.
Any comments on blade thickness? 45, 42, 35?
The thinner the band, the more deflection you will have resulting in thick and thin lumber. The thicker a band, the more true your lumber will be.
On the flip side, the thinner the band, the ductile the steel is and allows for more flexing, typically resulting in long run times and extreme longevity. The thicker the band, the less flexibility you have and will actually work harden faster than a thin saw.
What are you sawing as far as species?
We ran .045" on the LT40 manual mill. They worked well on everything we sawed from pine to locust. Thinner gives better flex life. On my Super with the 51 hp CAT, I run .055". I'm only interested in cut quality and speed. We would go 10 sharpenings or more with the thin bands and maybe 4-5 on the thick ones.
Quote from: NMFP on September 15, 2014, 09:28:58 PM
The thinner the band, the more deflection you will have resulting in thick and thin lumber. The thicker a band, the more true your lumber will be.
On the flip side, the thinner the band, the ductile the steel is and allows for more flexing, typically resulting in long run times and extreme longevity. The thicker the band, the less flexibility you have and will actually work harden faster than a thin saw.
What are you sawing as far as species?
Lots of Eastern White Pine. I wish I had thought to ask this question
before I purchased a new box of blades. I might have tried an 42 to see if I picked up any blade life. Good engineer practice is to change one variable at a time. I have already changed from 10 to 7 degree, so maybe the next box will be 4 :) :)2. I'll decide on 7 or 10 when I see how this box runs.