1.25" vs. 1.5" bands.

[ladylake]

White spruce is worse when it starts to dry, the grain really gets fuzzy and seems to deflect blades more. I haven't seen much difference with different hook angles, spruce can make them all look equally bad😂 @ladylake runs 4° 3/4 pitch blades with a lot of set iirc and says those saw straight for him.

Vautour, if you are new at this, do yourself a favor and find something other than field grown white spruce to saw. It's a real morale killer😁 Seriously, open grown spruce is often not worth the effort. Most folks think spruce is difficult to saw because the knots are hard, while the wood is soft. I don't think the hardness if the knots has anything to do with it. With white spruce, the grain of the wood changes very dramatically around the knots, more so than any other wood species. I've had boards I've pulled off, and the grain is running almost 90° to the board. That doesn't do a lot for the structural integrity of the lumber👎When (not if😁) you saw some waves in spruce, take a


 close look at them. The blade will have dipped well before it ever gets to the knot, because the direction otlf the grain changes dramatically. Anyhow, that's my .02, find something easier to saw to start out with, which is basically anything else😊

 
  Yes I use 4°  3/4 pitch with heavy set. If I had to use 10° regular set deep gullet blades I wouldn't saw spruce 
  4° cuts sraighter in tough wood
  heavy set makes room for those fibers that pop up
  3/4 pitch have a shallow gullet, more blade body. less tooth twisting on the blade
  A  7/8 pitch 10° shallow gullet will work also  but not as good as a 4 °
  I'ts still not perfect in cuts over 20" but not bad, 12" and under cut real straight.  
     Steve

[KWood255]

Kwood,

Have you tried .045"?  I have the same engine as you but never .042". I would try the 45 before going to 55.

sorry John, typo. Yea my blades are all .045. Not .042

[KWood255]

White spruce is worse when it starts to dry, the grain really gets fuzzy and seems to deflect blades more. I haven't seen much difference with different hook angles, spruce can make them all look equally bad😂 @ladylake runs 4° 3/4 pitch blades with a lot of set iirc and says those saw straight for him.

Vautour, if you are new at this, do yourself a favor and find something other than field grown white spruce to saw. It's a real morale killer😁 Seriously, open grown spruce is often not worth the effort. Most folks think spruce is difficult to saw because the knots are hard, while the wood is soft. I don't think the hardness if the knots has anything to do with it. With white spruce, the grain of the wood changes very dramatically around the knots, more so than any other wood species. I've had boards I've pulled off, and the grain is running almost 90° to the board. That doesn't do a lot for the structural integrity of the lumber👎When (not if😁) you saw some waves in spruce, take a


 close look at them. The blade will have dipped well before it ever gets to the knot, because the direction otlf the grain changes dramatically. Anyhow, that's my .02, find something easier to saw to start out with, which is basically anything else😊

  Yes I use 4°  3/4 pitch with heavy set. If I had to use 10° regular set deep gullet blades I wouldn't saw spruce
  4° cuts sraighter in tough wood
  heavy set makes room for those fibers that pop up
  3/4 pitch have a shallow gullet, more blade body. less tooth twisting on the blade
  A  7/8 pitch 10° shallow gullet will work also  but not as good as a 4 °
  I'ts still not perfect in cuts over 20" but not bad, 12" and under cut real straight.  
     Steve

Great info ladylake. Thanks for this. Hopefully I get some better results in the future. I have some new 4* but I think they are 7/8 pitch, with factory set. I do not yet have a sharpener/setter. 
I am really tempted to try some .055 1.5” blades yet. If I do, I will post my results. 

[Vautour]

WHAT.. i took on the school bully on the first day and clobbered him ... now i know i why the engine was slowing down...white spruce cut down 3 yeas ago,.. but i did get really nice 2x6 with no waves at all,.. i was more concentrating on my mill's functions working ok,.. it  was a double blessing day,    tks   barbender and ladylake,. great info for sure 

[Stephen1]

Kwood,

Have you tried .045"?  I have the same engine as you but never .042". I would try the 45 before going to 55.

I run 7Turbo  1.5" 45 silvertips, and 1.25 bimetals. They both cut nice thru everything. Th bimetals will saw longer on a shapening. I get 5-7 sharpenings per blade.  The big difference is the price. The silvertips are half the price of the bimatals. I tried to get away from the bimetals last year but they ran out of silvertips in Canada, so I had to buy Bimetals. I am hoping to make the switch this year and then I will change the roller guides to 1.5".
I tried .55 years ago and fouud they broke sooner. 
How long are the .55 lsting now?

[barbender]

They still break sooner😁 I still keep some on hand when I need to saw bigger pine good and straight. I saw a lot of pallet lumber, I use the .045's for that as a little wave here and there doesn't matter much (like the spruce in my pictures).

[OlJarhead]

I very often discourage folks from "chasing blades".  I sawed all day today and had time to think plus use the other 1.50 blade.  I spoke yesterday about the 1.50 tracking only 1/8th of an inch ahead of the blade guide flanges which is not satisfactory.  If I start a transition from 1.25 to 1.5 I will be constantly adjusting my blade guides which also is not satisfactory.  1.50 blades need 1.50 blade guides and I ain't going there either.  Sooo, I have decided to listen to my own advice and I ain't chasing blades.  I am using 1.25 X 7° Turbos and will continue to do so.

This had me thinking about the box of them I bought so I called WM in Oregon yesterday and discussed it with them.  What I was told is that you do not need to change out the guides to run the 1.5" bands on an LT40 though you may see a performance improvement if you do -- MAY.
However, you can not run the 1.25" bands if you have 1.5" guides so converting means not being able to run the 65+ bands I have in 1.25" -- again, I was told I don't need to change the guide wheels.
I think I mentioned earlier that somehow I got a 1.5" 10* band mixed in my bands in the past.  I've always used it and not thought much of it.  Tossed it on, cranked it up, checked the gullet distance from the band wheels and started making sawdust.  Maybe I'm just an old jarhead  but I'm going to try the 747s out and perhaps, if I like them, I'll start the transition and worry about the guide wheels when all of the bands are 1.5's

[Southside]

I ran 1.25" and 1.5" bands with the same guides for years. Didn't even adjust them, just found a happy medium and ran with it without issue. 

[Larry]

I converted from 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" over a couple of years.  I ran both without adjustment of the guides.  Now that I'm 100% 1-1/2" bands I adjust the space between the back of the blade and the flange to be perfect.  I think this helped my 1-1/2" bands to last a little longer before breaking.

[KWood255]

After a frustrating day with waves again in spruce yesterday, I’ve ordered the WM 1.5” .055’s to try. They may be overkill for my 40, but here’s to hoping it solves some problems. I ordered the 1.5” rollers as well, however it sounds like they are not required to be changed. 

I also have some 1.25” .055’s, and a WM carbide blade coming to try. I understand spruce can be aggravating but there’s got to be improvement here somehow. 

I checked belt tension, blade alignment and all was within spec. Blade was a brand new double hard 9*. I was switching between 4* and 9* with out noticeable gains. I may of been going too slow, as I was really crawling with a big spruce. I’m told that going to slow causes problems as well…so who knows. 

[barbender]

I was having similar problems with spruce yesterday🤷‍♂️ Thankfully the lumber was just going for pallets where they won't mind a little squiggly action😁

[KWood255]

I was having similar problems with spruce yesterday🤷‍♂️ Thankfully the lumber was just going for pallets where they won't mind a little squiggly action😁

What’s blades were you running Barbender?

[barbender]

Let's see, WM 7° Turbo 1.5x.045 Silvertips. Possibly the problem is I don't know how many sharpenings they had on them, and they'd never been re-set.  I put on a fresh out of the box 1.5"x .055" Turbo 7 and it sawed them alright. 

[KWood255]

Let's see, WM 7° Turbo 1.5x.045 Silvertips. Possibly the problem is I don't know how many sharpenings they had on them, and they'd never been re-set.  I put on a fresh out of the box 1.5"x .055" Turbo 7 and it sawed them alright.

Thanks. I’m supposed to have my 1.5” .055s today. If the rain ever stops, I will try one and report back. Fingers crossed. 
I did successfully cut about 50  2x6’s from big spruce logs yesterday with a new 1.25” .045 747. I also checked my blade alignment again, and discovered the drive side roller to be tilted downward about  1/8” or less. I adjusted so it was perfect, then sawed again. I cannot say which made the improvements, likely a combination of both. The slight adjustment of the roller may of been the largest factor.