The Forestry Forum

We have a few bldes and don't know what degs they are. Is it possable to sharping and
grind them to a new deg? I would like to see if 7 deg will make our Norwood push not as
hard. Or would it just be better in the long run money wise to just buy new 7deg blades?

  I have looked at some sharping service and its about $7.00 a blade but what extra should
i see to do the extry sharping to 7 degs?

Lester

The old style WM grinder that uses a stone (and I assume most every other grinder), it would be easy enough to change the face angle to 7°.

But there is more to the Wood-Mizer 7° blade than just the face angle.  They have a deeper gullet and a different gullet shape.  That would take a lot of grinding to get that gullet shape and depth in many blades I've seen. For example, the WM 9° blade has a gullet depth of .220.  The 7° has a gullet depth of .270.  That would be a lot of grinding.



(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10034/ws7vs9degblade20100411.JPG)

7° top,  9° below.

Also,  the 7° blade loves power.   We have 25hp 3ph and notice that the blade pulls harder on the motor.  But it moves a lot of sawdust and we push it hard.  I don't know if you can get all the use out of a 7° blade unless you have more than 25hp.  Maybe some of the guys with mills of less power can tell how well they work.

I can say the 7 deg does not use any less power than a 10, possibly more. I like it though, because it cuts better in hard woods like locust, and cuts straighter in all woods, even pine. The deeper gullet makes no difference for my mill, it can't cut fast enough to utilize it all.

I'm running a 10hp LT10.