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Bandsaw blades

Started by beerguy, September 01, 2003, 02:13:13 PM

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beerguy

A few Q's regarding bandmill blades.

I am seeing some wobbly cuts. Not too severe, but can I tighten the band a little more until this goes away? How straight will the cuts be? Do I rely on a planer for perfect wood?
I am cutting red cedar now. I am seeing some buildup on the tooth. looks like sap/fiber.  Dull blade? Cut rate  not right? Can I 'dress' the tooth and get a few more cuts, or is it ready for re-sharpen cuz the set goes out?
What type of planer does everyone use? A fancy spiral cutter? Anyone have a Woodmaster planer/moulder?
thks

Tom

If wobbly means wavy and you weren't experiencing it before, it is probably a dulling blade  Tension will help fix the symptom but the stress might shorten the over all life of the blade.  The cuts should be pretty straight.  You might get an occassional waver on a knot if everything is true and the blade is sharp.  It will degrade with use from there.

The build-up on the blade sounds like gumming and that is an indication of a dull tooth that is causing the band to run hot.  

You may dress the blade and get a few more feet out of the sharpening but, you have to ask yourself if it is worth it.  You may lose the blade.

The set going away is another problem altogether.  If it is gone then you probably hit something.  That something may have even been knots.  If the blade got hot enough, you might have decreased the set .  Usually a general loss of set occurs when you sharpen so, in your circumstance the set would be gone on some teeth and not the other.  

I have a woodmaster 18" planer and like it for shop work.  I don't use it much but will when I get off the road.  Age will be that determining factor.  I may be talking about shop work instead of sawmills before long. :D

Percy

Hi Beerguy(cool handle)

I cut alot of Western Red Cedar and Ive noticed a few things particular to that wood. It dulls blades faster than most softwoods,greener cuts straiter/faster than the dry logs, large knotts,secially on the  dry logs are quite hard and can cause waves. To counteract some of these things, I  change blades more often, run a higher set than usual for the big logs, and the 13 degree, tall toothed WM blades seem to cut the stuff faster than the 10 degree ones. I tried a box of the 13 degree, .055 blades from WM and they cut the stuff FAST and STRAIT but the blade life is less than what Id hoped for.
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

Gus

Now this is an interesting thread. Would one be so bold as to think one would get a feel for a dull band just as you do for a dull chain on a saw? I'd suppose it would depend on the size motor you were running or doesn't it matter? Can hear it in the engine maybe. . . after you get used to it? Pure conjecture on my part!!

Gus
"How do I know what I think unless I have seen what I say?"

Tom

You really do develop a feel, SDsaw.

It's hard to explain but you listen to the sing of the blade, the strain of the engine, the distance the sawdust is being thrown, the size of the sawdust particles, the gumming of the blade and the length of time the blade has been on the mill.

D._Frederick

On my mill it is easy to tell when the blade has as problem. My mill is electric powered and I have an ammeter that tells me how much current the motor is drawing. I have a electric feed that has a dial for carriage speed. I run the motor at rated current by adjusting the feed rate, when I have to decrease the feed rate when cutting simular size cuts, I know the blade needs changing.

EZ

Interesting about the feed rate. I push my carrage threw and thought I would keep it like that because I can fell if the push is getting harder then I changr blades. I always thought you guys with auto feed change when the blade would wonder.
EZ

Fla._Deadheader

    On SYP, when the sawdust starts gettin light and fluffy lookin, ya better eyeball yer cant. If there are very many cuts left, ya need to change yer blade. That's when mine starts to wander the worst. Course, we cut mostly 12-16 foot logs.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

woodmills1

Yes you will get used to the feel of a dulling blade.  Two things that I also rely on are: sawdust temperature- I grab a handfull now and then just to see how warm it is, and build up on the teeth.  The second one is a little tricky, I am not talking about pitch on the band itself, but as the teeth begin to dull there will be just a small amount of darker stain just below the tip of the tooth.  This will let the tip appear a little shiny.  When I see this and the sawdust is a little warmer I change the blade after edging the flitches stacked on the loader arms or opening up a fresh log.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

beerguy

I have a 23 HP gas motor, and I can sense a little bit of bogging per a given feed rate when it gets the buildup.
Which brings to mind another facet.  I called the fine folks that sells the Timberwolf band blades, cuz they sent me a free blade. The guy wanted to know what I was sawing, and how big the logs were. Why didn't I get asked that before? My mill came with WM blades. My maple is 36-48" across, and the guy at Suffolk said there is a certain set, hook angle, etc. that is applicable to certain logs. He also said to feel my sawdust, ejection ratio, among other stuff. Why was I not asked that when I got my WM blades? (Through Hudson)
Any thoughts?


Fla._Deadheader

   Sure, Hudson sells SAWMILLS, Suffolk? sells BLADES???
  That is, IF ya ordered from Suffolk Machinery. That's the blades that we use.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

woodchip

When in doubt change the blade and keep a close eye on the tension.I cut 1150bf of large SYP with one .55 W.M. blade .Have had good results with these . I run them at 2000lbs of tension.

ARKANSAWYER

  Some make and sell blades,  Some make and sell sawmills.  Only one makes and sells mills and blades! Guess who? ;D
  When you first got your mill Beerguy there was not much of a chance that you knew what you would be sawing or how many different things you would be sawing.   Some blades will cut any thing well and other blades cut some things great and others not to good.   You would not want to put a 0.035 13 degree into hickory and try to make good time and flat lumber.  A 0.045  10 degree blade will cut just about any thing and do well in oak and other hardwoods day in and day out.  0.055's 8 degrees will cut hickory like nothing else and 13 degrees will make knotty SYP look great at a feed rate that you can afford it is just the blade life is not that long.  Some mills just do better with one blade then another.
  From time to time I get a free blade and give it a run and then fall back to what I have found that works for me.  I keep 2 kinds of blades in stock and my life is simple. ( I have close to 100 blades.)  
  Build up on the blade means heat which most often means dull.  I run water and the duller the blade the more I have to run.  I can hear the differance in cutting between a sharp and dull blade and on Bibbyman's electric mill you can really hear the blade.  A de-barker is worth it's weight in blades any day.
ARKANSAWYER
ARKANSAWYER

woodmills1

Yes, yes, and yes to what ARKANSAWYER said about WM .045" 10 degree blades.  I use them and have cut most all of the native species we have here in NH.  Pine, hemlock, red and white oak, along with smaller amounts of maple, aspen, cherry, walnut, hickory, ash, willow, and butternut.  They work well for me in all of these with hickory being the toughest to get smooth straight cuts from.  I usually run new or reset/sharpened blades when I cut for others.  For my contracts and stock I cut softwood for two sharpenings per blade then hardwood for two more and then reset the teeth to cut softwood again.  
 
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

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