Anyone running the new Wood-Mizer 7 degree bands?

[moonhill]

Bibbyman, you have a point there with the belts slipping, I have had that issue before.  I have always used the same blades for 15 years, I should try the WM 7° band.  How does one get them, contact WM?  What is the source?  Maybe I am missing something in band technology.

Tim

[LeeB]

Look on the left side of the page where the sponser list is and click on the Wood-Mizer Blades logo.

[ladylake]

 Moonhill  Have you tried anything but 10*? I don't understand it get ugly real fast, are you running out of power, cutting crooked or what.  I'm running 4* hook with a 28hp Isuzu sawing white oak and ash and can cut straight at way higher rate of feed than with a 10* blade. In white oak I've put on a brand new 10* blade cutting kind of slow and it cut crooked on the 1st cut, took that same blade off and sharpened at 4* and cut straight at a good feed rate 1/2" below the first cut. I'm a believer in less hook thanks to someone on here a while back.   Steve

[moonhill]

The saw grunts and I get a rise in the cut, it has a bow across the board/cant, it's not flat, this was with a 7° hook.  I have to use 10° to get a good cut. This is in wide pine, 15"-20".   Band speed could be part of the issue?  I have been told to increase the size of the drive pulley on the engine, this will make the blade faster.  I will have to try a new band from WM as a control. 

Tim 

[Bibbyman]

Another thing to check is the RPMs of the motor.  They tend to slow down with age.  A couple of hundred RPMs off the top will make a lot of difference in the peak horse power.

[moonhill]

Every once in a while my throttle set will slip down and I hear the RPM's dropping and set it back up to speed.  I think I saw a calculator here on the forum for ideal band speed, all things considered, wheel size, pulley size, engine speed, maybe it was on another site?  I would have to dig to find my engine speed. 

I visited WM's site and listened to the fellow in blue explaining the bands available, he sounded very knowledgeable, I couldn't help wondering if he had a teleprompter.

Tim

[ladylake]

 Tim   I'm wondering if maybe your running your band speed is too fast if your running out of power with a 28 hp Kubota. I'm running the same pulley with my 28 hp Isuzu (around 3100 rpm) as I did with my 27 hp Kohler (3600 rpm).  I have too cut pretty fast with a 4* blade to make the Isuzu slow down and it cuts nice and straight unlees I slow it down quite a bit, with the Kohler it was always lugging and didn't cut near as straight.   Steve

[moonhill]

Steve what size is your drive pulley?  Mine is around 4", from memory.

Tim

[ladylake]

  Tim  I'll measure the drive and driven on Thur , mill is out on a job right now.   Steve

[Dave Shepard]

There is more than the degree of hook that separates the different bands. The gullets are also much different. The 4s have a much deeper gullet than the 10s for instance.

[pineywoods]

There is more than the degree of hook that separates the different bands. The gullets are also much different. The 4s have a much deeper gullet than the 10s for instance.

My experience says the gullet is just as important, maybe even more important than the hook angle. I made up some 15 degree blades from a 12 degree with the same gullet as the 12. They cut well, but on any log over 12 inches the gullets couldn't handle the extra sawdust, too much left in the kerf.

[Bibbyman]

I'm really liking these 7° blades.    8)

Late last week we got an order for 200 3x4 by 8' blocking from one company and 40 6x6 by 4' from another.  We had accumulated a small mountain of cull cants, 6x6s, 6x8s,  8x8s and 7x9 ties.  I started dumping these on the deck and we went through them making all the 3x4s and 6x6s we could out of this otherwise junk.  Some of the cants and beams had been around for a year and were plenty dry. 

It took us a good part of the weekend to go through and make all of these pieces parts.  But it was worth it as it was a "Win, Win, Win" situation.  One,  we didn't saw up any logs.  Two, we used up what was otherwise junk, and three,  we reduced out junk cant pile by 3/4s. 

Anyway,  I don't think the 9° blade would have sawn these hard cants nearly as fast or held up as long as the 7° blade.

[Larry]

I've sharpened bands to 7 degrees for maybe 5 years or so...where they really shine is in half froze logs.

WM has done something different with there 7 degree bands...bigger gullet or something and they out perform the bands I sharpen.  I think they really have a winner...at least so far...I'll know for sure when it gets cold.

[ladylake]

When I sharpen my 10* blades to 4* the gullet is the same(I had to modify my sharpener a little to make the sharpener follow the 10* gullet when sharpening at 4*) yet as I mentioned before the 4* blades cut way better the a new 10* blade in tough wood.  Steve

[John_Haylow]

I had a chance to try the 7 degree blades I purchased at Wood-Mizer the last time I was down. I had to resaw 12 6x8 Pine timbers that I cut two years ago, two knotty pine logs 24" x 8' and two cherry logs 13'' x 8'. the pine was all cut into 1" and the cherry was cut into 1 1/2". The blade still seemed to cut well at the end.

The 28HP FI Kohler seemed to handle the new blades well. I am looking forward to testing them again.

John

[WoodButcher]

Awesome!

We ordered a box of 7° blades when we were at the show at the Cape a couple of weeks back.  Today was the first day we got one out and sunk it's teeth into wood.  When I first started cutting,  I pushed the blade quite hard just to see what it would take.  It took it.  I did slow down a bit just because it was pulling down the motor a bit more than I'm use to.  But after sawing out 12 6x8 x 14' beams and about 400 bf of 4/4 oak lumber,  it's still cutting fast and straight. 

The white oak  top logs were fresh cut but did have some awful large knots.

The 7° blade may become our blade of choice.  8)

Hey Bibbyman, I  have made the 7°. blade my choice from now untill I'm shown something better. I run a manual mill and I'm making more lumber than ever. Nice straight, hard and soft lumber and lot's of it, I love'm

[ladylake]

Awesome!

We ordered a box of 7° blades when we were at the show at the Cape a couple of weeks back.  Today was the first day we got one out and sunk it's teeth into wood.  When I first started cutting,  I pushed the blade quite hard just to see what it would take.  It took it.  I did slow down a bit just because it was pulling down the motor a bit more than I'm use to.  But after sawing out 12 6x8 x 14' beams and about 400 bf of 4/4 oak lumber,  it's still cutting fast and straight. 

The white oak  top logs were fresh cut but did have some awful large knots.

The 7° blade may become our blade of choice.  8)

Hey Bibbyman, I  have made the 7°. blade my choice from now untill I'm shown something better. I run a manual mill and I'm making more lumber than ever. Nice straight, hard and soft lumber and lot's of it, I love'm

Good to hear that they work good, it never hurts to try something new.  Is this a push along mill, does it push hardrer with the 7* blade?

[Bibbyman]

The only thing negative I can say about the 7° blades may come from Mary.  When I'm sawing with the 7° blades,  I can "pour it on her" and she just can't keep up.  I try to help by pulling flitches and putting them on the edger infeed table and pulling boards that don't need to be edged.   But I notice after a bit,  her little face is awful red so I slow down or find a reason to stop for awhile.  She's even taken over the mill a time or two. 

The only other bad thing to say about them is;  we've ran through the box we have and have them bundled up for Re-Sharp.  It'll be a while before we can start cutting with them again.

[ladylake]

The only thing negative I can say about the 7° blades may come from Mary.  When I'm sawing with the 7° blades,  I can "pour it on her" and she just can't keep up.  I try to help by pulling flitches and putting them on the edger infeed table and pulling boards that don't need to be edged.   But I notice after a bit,  her little face is awful red so I slow down or find a reason to stop for awhile.  She's even taken over the mill a time or two. 

The only other bad thing to say about them is;  we've ran through the box we have and have them bundled up for Re-Sharp.  It'll be a while before we can start cutting with them again.

  Bibby    Time for another box I think.     Steve

[Bibbyman]

The only thing negative I can say about the 7° blades may come from Mary.  When I'm sawing with the 7° blades,  I can "pour it on her" and she just can't keep up.  I try to help by pulling flitches and putting them on the edger infeed table and pulling boards that don't need to be edged.   But I notice after a bit,  her little face is awful red so I slow down or find a reason to stop for awhile.  She's even taken over the mill a time or two. 

The only other bad thing to say about them is;  we've ran through the box we have and have them bundled up for Re-Sharp.  It'll be a while before we can start cutting with them again.

  Bibby    Time for another box I think.     Steve

We got a hundred or so 9° blades to use up first.  It'll probably be next year before we will start phasing in the 7°s.

[ladylake]

Will Resharp change your 9's to 7, I sharpen mine from 10 to 4* on the first sharpening.    Steve

[Bibbyman]

Will Resharp change your 9's to 7, I sharpen mine from 10 to 4* on the first sharpening.    Steve

Good question. 

[arj]

They changed some 10s to 9 for me no problem
                 arj

[WoodButcher]

Will Resharp change your 9's to 7, I sharpen mine from 10 to 4* on the first sharpening.    Steve

Hi All, my resharrp guy made all of my bands 7 deg. They can do it and it works well so far. These bands are it. I use Joel Weston in Tenn. When my bands come back, they look like brand new blades. He rolls, sets and sharpens my bands for $6.00ea. Here's a link to his site. He does a fine job. ;D  Hi Ladylake, the mill doesn't push any harder, as a matter of fact, the blade almost helps pull the sawhead thru the log. I really don't think I have to push as hard as before. ;D

http://www.logs2lumber.com/Blade%20Sharpening.htm

[tyb525]

I just got a box of 7s. I've only been able to try them on Beech, but they seem to work lots better than the 10's I was using. Nice clean straight cut, I don't have to push any harder.