The Forestry Forum
General Forestry => Drying and Processing => Topic started by: 1938farmall on August 29, 2012, 09:28:11 PM
i'm experiencing alot of pine pitch build-up in front of my straight planer blades & wonder if the problem would be less with the spiral cutter. any ideas? thanks, al
I switched from a straight to a spiral 3 years ago and havent noticed any buildup since. Just my experience. I dont plane any freshly sawed stuff though. Everything has been drying a few months.
logboy, Do you plane pine? A few months of air drying wouldn't dry the pitch. Maybe spiral does the trick. I see from your kiln construction thread that you cut pine.
Definitely go with spiral. I replaced the stock blades with 4 sided carbide. You'll always have to deal with pitch when planning pine, but with these your production time is astoundingly longer. Plus you wont need a replacement if you hit something you don't mean too, like a gnarly knot. Just turn one!
Den, what I mean is that the wood I plane isnt oozing pitch like a freshly cut log. I let my pine logs sit for a while until the ends stop oozing. Then I saw them. Otherwise each board has little beads of pitch all over.
I love my spiral cutterhead. Much quieter (earplugs are now unnecessary), knife changes are a breeze (no more sharpening, just rotate), and it is easier on the motor because it is cutting continuously instead of 4 times per revolution (you can hog off more wood in a pass).