The Forestry Forum

I have a shank that I think needs a little attention.  I have an M.D. and on the main blade there is one circle that sometimes gets plugged with chips.  I think this is due to a little rounding over of the edges of the shank.  I remember reading somewhere about dressing up the shanks to keep the edges crisp.

How much can you remove from a shank before it becomes worn out?  Or is there something else that contributes to a circle getting pluged?

Randy

If you're plugging the gullet, then you're feeding too fast.  Your chips are too big, and aren't clearing your gullet.

The shank can be sharpened with a flat file.  Eventually, your shank will be too thin to sharpen.  When the shank is not as wide as the tooth, then its time to change.

In addition to holding the tooth, the shank is supposed to prevent sawdust spillage out of the gullet area.  When that happens, dust will fall down past your saw, and heat your blade.  Then you want to sharpen or replace your shanks.   If  you're plugging it, then sawdust spillage isn't your problem.

Thanks for the reply.  There is only one place on the blade that this has happened to twice once in a curly maple log and once in a white pine log that had been around for a while.

The bit seemed to be sharpened the same as the rest, but I will check again.  I can tell right off when this happened by the difference in sound.  I don't want to put any heat into the blade so I stop cutting right away.

Thanks again
Randy