Blade suggestions

[thecfarm]

Bruno,you also have a wide cut mill.
I use the 10's on hemlock and have a 20hp motor. But don't saw much knots. The knots go into the OWB.  ;D

[Bruno of NH]

Thecfarm
I think it might be the lower hp on my mill that makes the 10's not cut well for me .

[larrydown60]

Thanks guys My saw is a 16hp my blade length is a 186"  and Cooks had them for 20.00 each plus shipping and they don't make a 4 degree so I talked to WM and they have  4 degree blades for 30.00 each if I don't order 15 or 20 at a time so I will try a couple of them too. I will let everyone know how they work when I get them. thanks again

[Bluejay27]

I guess this only applies if you sharpen with cbn, but I like 10s and 7s because if you hit metal, it's easy to bump them to a 9 or 4, at least using Wood-Mizer's profiles. Just fyi, the respective profiles are identical except rotated a few degrees, and the 4/9 profile is much shallower. Found that out the hard way accidentally turning all my 4s into 9s.

And I have no comment on the T7s for normal sawing performance, but I can say that when the eat it in metal, it's very easy to drop them down to normal 7s. And grinding the gullet isn't critical in my opinion, most cracks propagate from the back and there's no grinding those away.

[gmmills]

    Well after following this thread since it's first post, I feel there are a few issues that need to be clarified. If I were a new member looking for much needed advice this thread would have me more confused than before I first read it.

      Larry, glad you found the proper blade length you needed. You might want to see if you can adjust your overall length to be in the 184" range. This is the standard length for a WM LT70. No added charge from blade supplier for a custom cut length. You really should have asked the person that you talked to at Cook's just how many thousand Bd Ft of lumber they have personally sawed with their 10 deg blades on a low HP mill. Justifying the sale of a profile they have by telling you that the advice for a lower hook angle blade you have received here is all wrong. That is total bull.

      You all should go back and review the post that Cutting Edge wrote. He is spot on with his advice. His opinion is not based on speculation. It has been proven in real world, hands on sawing conditions.

      I have been sawing full time and maintaining my own blades for over 16 yrs. I get paid on a full production basis.  You could not give me a 10 deg blade. I use 7 deg blades as my general purpose blade and 4 deg blades as my fall back blade. I have sawn and owned mills in hp ranges from 18 to 62. I have seen the total evolution of most all of WM blade profiles. When I first started out, with an 18 hp mill, there were only two blade profiles 10 deg and 9 deg profiles. Made some really crappy lumber. With those profiles you could forget about cutting woods run w. oak and hickory accurately. When the 4 deg blade was released the cutting accuracy issues were resolved. If I were sawing with a low hp mill today, the 4 deg blade would be my general purpose blade.  My advice for using a 4 deg blade on a low hp mill is founded on real world experience not conjecture. The manufacturer long time recommendation of a 10 deg blade being a general purpose blade is totally archaic.

      I truly wish you guys would stop posting the link to Suffolk's Six Rules of Sawing. All they do is add more confusion to new mill owner looking for advice.  Disproved those theories as long as 15 yrs ago.  They are totally wrong when applied to a production sawing situation. If I were to try to follow these instructions I would be broke and out of business today.

      Another issue that needs to be clarified is, a 4 deg blade being more aggressive than a 10  deg blade. It is exactly the opposite. The higher the deg of hook angle the more aggressive the blade is. 

             

     

[Kbeitz]

And I thought I was going crazy.... Now I can go and get some sleep.
Thanks for clearing all that up. This thread really had me confused.

[fishfighter]

And I thought I was going crazy.... Now I can go and get some sleep.
Thanks for clearing all that up. This thread really had me confused.

And I was thinking I was going crazy. :D Larry, I found that 7drg blades on my 9.5hp woodland mill does great on oak. I have yet to try 4 drg and I will try to get a couple in the future just to see if there is any improvement.

[dgdrls]

gmmills   thank-you for your clarification of the 4 deg band v 10

larrydown60  I wish you the very best success with your mill.

D

[larrydown60]

... I have built my own mill.

Larry,

Have you purchased your sheave for your driven side yet??

The reason for asking is...  Proper blade speed (sfpm or surface feet per/min) is critical.  This needs to be matched as closely as possible to your hp/torque output of your motor.  To fast and it will lug the motor down and decrease the chance of having a good working and manageable torque curve while the blade is cutting.  In turn, this will make milling a less than pleasurable experience.

If you plan on cutting this winter, you are going to be working with frozen logs.  With that said...  A 4 deg. blade is the only way to go.  IMO and experience, it would be your best choice regardless. 
e
Hope this helps ya out

I did buy a b57 belts For both drive and Ide side band  wheels Thanks

[dgdrls]

LD60

where did u land with your band choice?

best
D

[larrydown60]

I have not sawed anything yet. As you know the weather put an end to my build back in December tried to get going again a couple of days ago but the ground is to wet to the mill out of the yard, truck is sinking in the ground 6" I lack about 1/2 hour of welding to finish and then I have to figure out how to align it all up. I ended up just ordering a couple of blades from Cooks  they were 15'6" - 1 1/4 - 042- 7/8 . I will try some 4 degree from wood mizer I have some 36" x 10' locust that is sitting on the ground since last fall it will give the blades a test to see what works better 10 degree 0r 4 degree. I also bought a 20 hp kohler but I want to cut some wood before I put the new engine on. I have no place but the back yard to work on the sawmill that is why it is taking so long to finish it up next time the ground is frozen hard enough I will get the mill over to the basement door so I can finish welding it up I am ready to see this make some sawdust. I also have about 30 logs waiting to be sawed