Sawing pine

[tom@dullstreefa]

New to the forum and not sure how to search for topic threads. My question: is there a trick to sawing pine? I am running my water drip at nearly full flow and getting pitch build up on the blade which I think is causing it to take a dive. Changed blades and within ten minutes it happened again. Any advice for this new sawmill owner from any of the experienced owners? Thanks for your help!

[JoshNZ]

Change the dripper to diesel, problem will be solved by the 3rd drip!

[Southside]

What Josh said, your problems will be history. 

[KenMac]

And cut the drip way down. Maybe a drip every second. Never run a stream of diesel. Good luck. Search for "blade lube" or similar and read for a week or so. Good luck.

[trimguy]

Welcome to the forum. I haven't changed my drip system over to diesel yet, I need to get another valve to fine tune it. So for now I'm using a spray bottle, a squirt or two at the end of the cut works fine. Not as good as a drip system in place though.

[Patrick NC]

I recently became a believer in the diesel drip while cutting some nasty white pine. The pitch just laughed at the water/dawn drip I was using.  Switched to diesel and problem solved. Just 1 drip every few seconds and the blade stayed clean as new.

[TimW]

My Lubemizer kit made it night and day difference in how the water/dawn works cutting SYP.  Even if the day before the log was a living tree.   After each cut, I hit continuous until the sound of the blade changes, then I put it back on 2 second drips.  I love the Lubemizer.
hugs,  Brandi

[cutterboy]

Another way of doing it is to stack the pine logs up off the ground for 6-8 weeks before sawing. The sap will dry out and will not cause much of a problem. 

[GAB]

New to the forum and not sure how to search for topic threads. My question: is there a trick to sawing pine? I am running my water drip at nearly full flow and getting pitch build up on the blade which I think is causing it to take a dive. Changed blades and within ten minutes it happened again. Any advice for this new sawmill owner from any of the experienced owners? Thanks for your help!

Dear Tom:
Welcome to thr FF, and Hi.
Not knowing where you are located and what you are using for equipment some or all of the following may not apply to you, so please pick and choose as to what applies to you if any.
Make sure your drive belt is properly tightened.
Make sure your blade is parallel to the bed rails.
Make sure your blade speed is correct.
Your blade should be tightened to 25,000 psi. +/- 1 Kpsi.  Most gauges give you a number which is not blade tension.
Using water only for sawing eastern white pine is a waste of water unless you are trying to just cool the blade.
Saturday, 6/18, I sawed 25 e w pine logs using a mix of cotton spindle cleaner and water.  Used less than 3 gallons.
The higher the concentration of cleaner there is in the mix the less you need to use.  Note: I also have the lubemizer system on my mill.
I have used dawn before, it requires a lot of it per gallon to be effective like I want it to be.
Some swear by using diesel to cut the pitch, I never have used diesel so I can not speak to it.
Hope this helps you, and if you could add some info like Southside does it would be helpful to some of us trying to assist you in the future.
GAB

[MattM]

I saw mostly EW pine and up until last year I've used half a cup of Dawn to 5 gallons of water. In the winter I would have to use straight -40 windshield wash in order to be sure it would freeze during a cold spurt. At the time I thought they both did good keeping sap off of the blade.... That is until I tried diesel.

Now I've switched over to using diesel in summer and winter. It keeps the blade shiny clean while sawing and my blades don't get covered with surface rust anymore when they're just hanging in the barn and I don't have to worry about it freezing in winter.

I use so little diesel, 1 drip every 1 to 2 seconds, that it is way cheaper than windshield wash and I would hazard a guess that it is probably as cheap or cheaper per amount of wood sawn than buying Dawn or any other type of product that you mix with water.

It's also very cheap to set up a mill for diesel. Mine is only a bit of automotive brake line that I had lying around and two small brass needle valves with compression fittings. I have two valves so that I can set one to the drip rate I use and use the other to turn the diesel off when offloading lumber off the deck.

[Bruno of NH]

Diesel all the way

[esteadle]

Diesel will make you change all your belts and anything rubber on your mill next year.

Pine sap runs in the spring. Get the logs in the fall. That's the real trick.

[moodnacreek]

Another way of doing it is to stack the pine logs up off the ground for 6-8 weeks before sawing. The sap will dry out and will not cause much of a problem.

But not in spring or summer unless you like blue stain.

[MattM]

Diesel will make you change all your belts and anything rubber on your mill next year.

Pine sap runs in the spring. Get the logs in the fall. That's the real trick.

I haven't noticed any deterioration of my belts since switching to diesel over a year ago. I could see it possibly being a problem if you were dousing the blade with diesel all the time. I have lost plenty of belts from the sap build up popping off my blade and cutting the belt though.
And I will do know I haven't gone through as many guide wheel bearing (actually zero) since I've stopped using soapy water.
To each their own, but the bulk of the diesel being dropped onto the blade is soaked into the saw dust and not soaking into the belts.

[tom@dullstreefa]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I was using Dawn in the water, but apparently not enough. As a Christmas tree farmer, I clean my shearing knives with a 1 to 3 mix of ammonia and water. So I dumped some ammonia in the tank and richened up the Dawn. It helped, but didn't solve the issue. Sprayed some WD 40 on the blade and cleaned it right up. Sounds like I'll be using diesel fuel on the next few logs. They were given to me by a tree removal service. I have a little over a hundred hours on a Woodmizer LT35HD. Located in central Indiana. Kept the blade clean and creeped through the knots and ended up with some passable 1x16x10' boards. Again, thanks for the help. I've discovered I can lose a lot of time noodling around on this forum . . . . but it's soooooo good!!!

[Southside]

Done right with diesel there is absolutely zero smell, zero residual, and zero mess - you really use that small amount.  With a soapy water or soapy RV mix I used to go through almost a lube tank a day.  With diesel I top off the tank about once a month, and I mostly saw pine.   

[kantuckid]

Welcome to the forum. I haven't changed my drip system over to diesel yet, I need to get another valve to fine tune it. So for now I'm using a spray bottle, a squirt or two at the end of the cut works fine. Not as good as a drip system in place though.

I use DG or Walmart pine sol in my lube jug, never and issue and paid 93 cents for last btl and I don't measure it but pour about 8oz per 7 gallons or so of water, used on a drip basis.
The guy with an LT40 super hydraulic who's sawing my EWP for me, uses half and half of off brand dawn/pinesol same as me and if the blade shows pitch build he speeds it up and douses it with a gatorade bottle spray of diesel fuel for a few seconds. Bottle has a pocketknife crosscut in the cap to spray the juice. 
Real high-tech solutions huh? :D 

[YellowHammer]

Pine Sol is short for Pine Solvent.  Pine Solvent will cut Pine Sap.  I've used it for years.  It's OK, and it's the basis for the Woodmizer Lube they sell.  However, they do add water soluble oil to it as well.  Or rather the company who makes it does, I've talked to their chemists years ago.  

Any water soluble oil and detergent will work better.  Cotton Picker Spindle Oil worked very well.  Petrochemicals dissolve organic compounds well.

Diesel is pretty much a very simple cure all for pitch buildup.   If your blades do not look mirror clean after sawing then your sawing, band life, and roller bearing life is being detrimentally affected. With diesel, less you use, within reason, the better it works.  Metal surfaces like oil, not water.

Here is a short video of me using diesel fuel for oil.  Less is more.  If you can smell it, you are using too much.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clUJXtLlEnI

[cutterboy]

Another way of doing it is to stack the pine logs up off the ground for 6-8 weeks before sawing. The sap will dry out and will not cause much of a problem.

But not in spring or summer unless you like blue stain.

I have not had a problem with blue stain from summer storage pine.

[Bruno of NH]

I find the blue stain lessons with the bark off the logs

[Joe Hillmann]

As others have said, diesel will solve your problem.  But it is possible to use so much diesel that the blade will float off the drive wheels.  On my mill I put on enough diesel to keep the blade clean but allow a tiny bit to stay on the wheels.  When my wheels and band are perfectly clean it become very easy to put on too much diesel and cause the blade to come off.

When cutting all day in sticky pine I may go through 2 quarts of diesel, so the cost of diesel is so small it isnt a concern.