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When do you change blades?

Started by FactorySeconds, January 24, 2023, 11:34:43 AM

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YellowHammer

Quote from: Bindian on January 25, 2023, 10:18:42 PM
Thanks for the video Yellowhammer.  I learned a couple of things.
hugs,  Brandi
Glad it was useful.  Folks here read some of the stuff I try to describe as I'm sawing, but most times I don't think it makes much sense.  So as they say, a picture is worth thousand words, and I think a video helps even more.

In all honesty, there is little difference between sawing bad wood and sawing good wood.  It takes the little things, and a good dose of just "give a poop" which many sawyers just don't have.  They just saw and sell wood and the wood "is gonna do what the wood is gonna do....".  They are just happy to make boards and sell them.  At that point, the vast majority of sawyers, at least around here, stop caring and just keep producing the same garbage they did the first day they bought their mill.  We get their customers, once the customers pays them once or twice and gets ripped off.

I once visited an LT28 sawmill guy before I even owned a sawmill, who used to take his old dull blades off the mill and throw them on the ground in big piles. Rusty piles of "new" dull, "reused" dull, and "dull" dull. They would rust up badly, but when he got customers logs in (mine, once) he would go to the newly dull pile and put one of those only lightly rusted bands on and cut the wood.  Crossties got the extra dull and rusty bands, and so on.  He would brag that he bartered with other sawyers and got their bands and "recycled" and use them because they were still kind of sharp.  I thought he was a fluke, but when I visited the Resharp in Ga when I bought my first LT15, they had pegs on the wall filled with bands as rusty and nasty as those were.

Over the years, I've visited more than a few band mill operations and the first thing I look for is the condition of the band on the mill, as it will tell a lot about the operation and the kind of wood they produce.

Anyway, I try to put tips and trick in my videos, some pretty obvious, some more subtle so that the folks who are looking for them will find them.  I figure the folks on this Forum are the sawyers I respect and are trying to get better, as I do, every time I put a log in the mill.

Incidentally, in my opinion, a manufacturer putting a two hour time limit on a band is "nonsense" and I think it is targeted at the sawyers I described above.  I've dulled bands in the first few cuts, so should I just keep sawing with it for another hour and 50 minutes because the "manufacturer who sells bands tells me to"?  Of course not.  If I get to two hours and one minute, should I take the band off?  Of course not.  I can typically get 3 or 4 hours on a band, i.e. change it out at lunchtime, sometimes I can go all day.  Sometimes, not more than an hour.  

It's not rocket science - but it's the truth: "The time to take a band off is when it's time to take the band off."  Maybe a new Yellowhammerism?        
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Magicman

I agree Robert.  Here is a quote from my Reply #30.

Quote from: Magicman on January 25, 2023, 11:13:31 AMI do regularly feel the blade and look at the teeth with my pocket magnifier to determine whether to keep sawing or replace it. Depending upon the logs and cut list, I may extend or decrease the run time, so I do not abide by any set rules.

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

doc henderson

MM do you use a "loop" or just a magnifying glass?  any link or pics.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Magicman

 

 
Just a simple plastic folding magnifier that is certainly over 10 years old.  It's probably 5X but all of the markings are worn off.  

I have bought several replacements, some metal cased, but this one always finds it's way back into my pocket.  ;D

If the corner of the tooth is slightly rounded/reflective, the blade comes off.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

barbender

I always shy away from the "run time" advice for a blade. It could be 1 cut, it could be a thousand. It's sharp until it's not🤷‍♂️ (plus just 1 more cut, in my case😁)
Too many irons in the fire

FactorySeconds

Thank you for all the input. I'm a guy that likes to know the right answer, one for myself and so that I'm correct when passing things on. Things that are in some kind of grey zone frustrate me. I like the idea of a loupe to check the teeth for the 96" mill. Having the feed fully hydraulic and going through 5'+ size logs makes judging machine feedback difficult. Much less so on the LT40 thankfully. 

I never thought asking about sharpening frequency would make me so hungry.

Southside

Last year I had to resaw 6,000 BF of 6" green, Poplar cants. Just for kicks I put a new 1.75" Turbo 7 silver tip on my 70 and got to sawing. That band was still cutting flat when the order was done and went into the pile to be sharpened. 

It's all about the non wood fiber that really dulls bands.
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

kelLOGg

Quote from: barbender on January 26, 2023, 09:29:00 AM
I always shy away from the "run time" advice for a blade. It could be 1 cut, it could be a thousand. It's sharp until it's not🤷‍♂️ (plus just 1 more cut, in my case😁)
Those specifying a run time probably have a debarker. Without one, one cut could be the case.
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

Magicman

I have a Debarker but I still wire brush and clean a relative path on both the entry and exit sides of the log.  Many times I have uncovered a rock etc. embedded in the bark that the Debarker would not have removed. 

Take care of the blade and the blade will take care of you.  ;D
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Larry

I usually change blades after one breaks.  Other times I take it as a sign that I need to go take a nap. :)


Quote
In all honesty, there is little difference between sawing bad wood and sawing good wood.  It takes the little things, and a good dose of just "give a poop" which many sawyers just don't have.  They just saw and sell wood and the wood "is gonna do what the wood is gonna do....".  They are just happy to make boards and sell them.  At that point, the vast majority of sawyers, at least around here, stop caring and just keep producing the same garbage they did the first day they bought their mill.  We get their customers, once the customers pays them once or twice and gets ripped off.

I think YH nailed the difference between a boardmaker and a true sawyer.  Lots of boardmakers out there and customers don't have enough knowledge to hold there feet to the fire.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

OlJarhead

YH WMs 2hr reference isn't just run it two hrs.  It what they say is the run time of a sharp band treated well with debarker etc.

It is reference to the time in the wood.  Basically they say many Sawyers push their bands too far resulting in less life of the band due to the need to grind more material off to get the profile right on an overused band.

For me, I watch the cut, listen, pay attention to the sound and more.  If I think a band isn't cutting right it comes off regardless of how long I've used it.  It then gets placed somewhere safe out of the weather until I'm done sawing a d then it goes into the resharp box and into the truck until I'm back at the shop.

One of my goals thus year (re: learning) is to change my mindset from producing to producing better.  

I am always learning and I try to share that with others in large part because what you all share with me 😉

2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

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