Tom,
Have you tried the monkey blades on spruce?
I am having a harder time milling spruce even with a new blade. I get a bit of wave when the blades hit the knotts. The blades was sharp enough because after the spruce I did a couple of hemlocks with good results.
Someone told me that the WM blades work pretty well on spruce. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Mike
:D :D After sawing for several part-days, I have nothing bad to say about them Monkey saver blades.
As the guys at Moultrie found out, this SYP is "different" to say the least. We have 6 Oak :o logs to saw around Dec. 1, and we will see how the Monkey savers work on the Oak.
In 3 days of sawing, about 2-3 hours a day, we sawed 2700 bd/ft of 1X, 1¼ X, and 2X stuff, all 16' long, and ranging from 4" to 12" wide. The Pine had LOTS of SAP, even though the logs had been cut 6 months ago. Some had Pitch pockets that were so hard, there was blue smoke mixed with the sawdust :D. I kept checking the blade for being hot and found, if anything, it was hardly warm :o
The strange ::) thing about these blades is, there "feeling" of being oily ??? There is NO coating, and the blades are VERY smooth.
We placed a Brass toothbrush right after the fixed guide roller, to wipe sawdust off the blade, before it goes around the drive wheel, and gets mashed tight against the blade. That is the ONLY mod since changing to the Monkey saver blades, and I can say that I will only use Monkey savers for SYP from now on.
We are sawing with a 24HP Honda and 1 single drive belt, and if I lose track of what I am doing, ::) ::), and start feeding too fast, the blade cuts like he**, as fast as I can shove it. I always let up though. These blades have turned our mill into a real cuttin machine. Here's a pile of SYP.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/3days.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/3days1.jpg)
Hey deadheader,
Nice pile of lumber!
Can we get the specs on the blades? Pitch, cost, where to buy 'em etc, etc. Certainly could use something that could help mine saw better ;D
Neil
Hi Neil. I got the blades from Kenne-Saw in Ga. Their phone # is 877-420-9235. The blades are 1.25" X 0.041 X 7/8" Pitch. Cost was $18.00 + S&H
I'm ready for a change also, these blades I use for pine cost double for sharping. Hope your blades work out for the oak. Let us know soon.
EZ
FL_D
yous now a kars saley man :D :D
Where and how much dem blade (https://forestryforum.com/smile/blank.gif)
termite
ps
looks like the jungle sawwin site be nice ;D
my questions have already been answered
tanks
;D ;D ;D
MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO :D :D :D ;D
Y.U.P. :D
Thanks deadheader,
Will give 'em a call to see if they ship up north here ???
There must be someone in the North Country that handles them blades ???
More than likely, but having a hard time finding someone that doesn't set the teeth over 25 thou. Lenox, Viking, Simonds and a knock off of Simonds blades so far all sent blades between 25 and 32 thou set on them. Simonds being the lowest. This is even after specifying I want an 18 thou set ??? Maybe a Canadian thing ::).
Tried ordering TimberWolf from Suffolk but they wouldn't ship up here.
I have Cook's newsletter and may try them but their shipping info doesn't mention Canada either.
Almost at the realization that I have to backset every order of blades I get. >:(
BTW - does Kente-Saw have a web site?
8) 8)I think that I told everyone earlier that the monkey saver blades cut well in locust, hickory, white oak and hard maple. Fla Deadheader, you will be impressed in rhe oak. I have used the suffolk blades also and they seem to be expensive clones of the munksford-sager blades
Last time that I checked Kenne-saw did not have a web presence. They do ship the blades and later send an invoice. I don't think that they accept credit cards. ::)
David
8)I almost forgot, Will Johnson over at timberking sent me a new blade to try and it looked and cut like the munksford sager blades, just different writing on the blade. Same specs. too.
David.
http://www.kenne-saw.com/Content/ContentCT.asp?P=18
if this is the place the webpage isn't finished yet.
but I book marked it for later when I have a sawmill.
I'm gonna call 'em tomorrow, Monday, and order a few. I will ask all pertinent questions for y'all. ;D :D :D
Cut2size has good info. The first order was shipped COD. the next will be on account.
http://www.kenne-saw.com/Content/ContentCT.asp?P=20
This is their website.
Rick
do thay do resharping also ,that would be a big plus
Kenne-Saw does NOT have a re-sharp program, YET.
I e-mailed them and asked if and when. I'll post when I get the inffo unless someone else gets it first.
Rick
Deadheader when ya talk to them ya might mention that left side bar on the forum where they could tell people about thier blades. I could use a good blade sponsor.
Hey Jeff,
I emailed them looking for prices and mentioned that I got info on them from here on the forum.
As my wife says and I dont know why, "Cool Beans" :)
You want me to do WHAT :o :o ??? ???
After the responses on the conversion thread :o :o :o ??? ??? ;D
Jeez, you asked for help. No problem.
I already took care of it myself.
Please don't anyone be offended but:
I'm not sure there are any miracle blades being made. There just aren't very many differences in blades of the same $/quality range to have major performance impact. Comparing low cost blades to high cost blades, there may be enough of a performance change to see.
It takes quiet allot of cutting and data collection to tell the small differences.
If it's cutting like a bat out of hell, use em.
Blue smoke FL. Dh? Was that no water cutting?
Blue smoke is right on the edge of something aint right.
But you would have seen the blade performance fall off, and quick. And it doesn't. ???
Were going to sharpen/set these, it will be interesting to see how they run for the long haul.
I get about 10-15 sharpenings from most blade brands.
If you'd like, I'll send back a good used Simonds Blue Streak with Solidwoods profile (right between WM & TW). Feed it some SYP and let's see how it does (for an experiment).
ALSO. Thick blades won't spin around the wheels as many times as a thinner blade, so factor (in theory) "shorter blade life".
Do you have a blade brake on your machine? They extend blade life, but don't set it to break too fast, that can shorten blade life
New Sawyer.
There shouldn't be a prob setting you blades to .018. I can understand sharpeners reluctance, since that is well below a common use set range for these blades. But, if you want, you get!
Have you run .018 and had good results?
I don't know your machine (yes I know we can go page to page to find out but "WEB TO SLOW". That's why I wish your mill specs were on your post. If you have a 25hp Woodmiser,,,one opinion,,,10hp push feed,,another answer.).
I'm not saying you are doing anything wrong, I'm saying I'd like to figure this out.
But usually if someone is trying something on the edge of normal use, they went past a good solution but it's results were skewed by something, so the solution got missed.
Love to have a good idea, but not enough clues.
If you post link where you talked about the cut/blade prob I'll look, or give me a call (very complex issue).
JIM
solidwoods,
These blades are straight from the manufacturers or distributors. I sharpen my own. I figured if I order them with 18 thou then I should get it but I don't. Companies like Suffolk go by set but I can't get them up here. Woodmizer is the only one in Canada that you can order by set but I don't have small enough guides to handle them as I use 2" blades. Can get new guides for the mill but don't have the money to do so at this point. This limits me a bunch :(.
To answer your question on 18 set. Yeah they work good for me. Backset a couple of blades the other day to run cedar and they worked great. Put on the other blade, and sawed a big red oak and it worked great as well so it seems to be a good set for both.
Will update my signature soon :)
Well, after hearing an readin so much stuff about these monkeysaver blades thought I'd giv em a try. Ordered a couple today.
The info Solidwoods gives is good info. The only reason I posted the improvement we saw was, well, because of the improvement. I SWEAR we doubled production ;D
I almost didn't post the info.
Ennyhoo, I have one going to EZ and we will see what his results are.
The blades are very smooth, compared to Suffolk and WM. They feel "slick", like oily. Maybe that helps??? No oil.
They are VERY sharp.
When I posted about the blue smoke, the blade WAS dull. I was doing a final cut and wanted to NOT have to back out of the cut for 16 feet. The blade cut straight and flat. The Butt cut of SYP was hard as steel. (I know y'all don't believe how bad this stuff is) ::)
There WAS ample water going into the cut with the blade, still blue smoke??? Blade was NOT very warm??? (I felt it right after the cut)???
The blades we got were .041 thick. NOT a lot of difference.
I agree about no miracle blade, just passing along info.
I DID contact the Dealer today and asked about shipping to Canada. He said they did it 1 time. Too much hassle. He would love to service Canada, IF, y'all can figger a way to drive over the border and get yerselves a Delivery Address.
I tried to talk him into contacting the boss to be a sponsor??? We'll see???
I called them today told them that I heard about the blades here and I have one comeing to try out.
Woody
Quote I DID contact the Dealer today and asked about shipping to Canada. He said they did it 1 time. Too much hassle. He would love to service Canada, IF, y'all can figger a way to drive over the border and get yerselves a Delivery Address.
Probably why I haven't got a response back :'(
Why do you guys get to keep all the good blades down there ???
Find a way to handle the shipping, and I will ship them to you???
New Sawyer. Sorry about the mixup, somehow I read that you were having hard time finding sharpening shop to set .018.
I'd just go with the best blade that I like no matter the factory set, use it sharpen but don't set, bingo-bango less set. I'd do that before I would remove set then re-set to .018 (less stressful on the teeth).
ALSO..Fed X just spent $,$$$,$$$. on adds about shipping to other countries (country? were on the same dirt)
FL. DH.
I got to thinking yesterday after I read your post (sometimes I think), I noticed you were impressed by the slickness of the blade. When you have trouble with a blade check the body for rust. A rust patch or patches will screw-up a blade faster than sawdust. Same true with a blade that had rust but now feels slick, look close it could be pitted. And this is not big pitted. Any blade body defects could do strange cuts.
You can angle grind it with cup brush but sometimes it's just polished pitted blade (*run it and watch it)
JIM
AND I should'nt write WWW is slow, it's fast. Highspeed access is'nt affordable yet.
deadheader,
Thanks for the offer, I'll see if I can come up with a easy way to do it.
Jim,
I've been using the blades as is and the sets are coming down gradually but I'm ruining a lot of lumber while trying to deal with the extra set. Even tried just cutting cedar with them but it still cuts bad on the bigger ones. Some are so heavily set that there is a space between the inside of the set teeth and the raker tooth so there is some wood not getting cut out but torn out, so I figure! :o
The how much-in of what teeth are over-set to miss which path of who?
It's early, but that sounds like a mess.
How much set would it take to do that as a min.?
I come up with 1.5 times the blade thickness. That would put the inside of the set tooth right in line with the outside edge of the rakers.
So .063 set on a blade with .042 body ?
That would be interesting to watch.
JIM
I may be overexagerating a bit but there still would be a slight gap. On a 32 thou thick blade with 35 thou set you would have 3 thou of space. Doesn't sound like a lot but I'm sure it would make a huge difference in the cut. 1.5 times the thickness would be too much. I would think anything over the actual thickness of the blade, 1.1 times even, would cause this. I've heard that the general rule for max set would is half the thickness so a 32 thick blade should have no more than 16 thou set, 36 thick would be 18 and a 45 would max out at 22.
It makes sense to me but I am new at this so it's a learning process. ;)
I thought I'd bring this topic back.
I used a monkey saver blade on Friday to mill spruce. It worked great! Much better than the other blades I was using.
With the other blades I used I used to get a bit of a wave when I got to a knot in the spruce but not with the monkey blade. I was very happy with the results. 8) Perrrrfectlee straight cut.
Folks at Kenne-Saw are good to deal with too.
ALRIGHT MOO 8) 8) Glad they work for ya. Makes MY input MUCH more credible 8) 8) Thanks for postin yer results. Have ya tried 'em on Oak yet??? ;D
Yup Harold you was tellin the truth.
Haven't tried em on oak though. Maybe in the spring. With the snow over the weekend I'm shutdown for the winter. Seems I need room to put the snow.
Sawed some red oak up with the monkeysaver today. seemed to work great. what we sawed today was kinda dried out, been layin for a little over a year. Sawed a little over 500 bd ft again, seems to be averagin about 120 bd/ft/hr
checked blade when we quit still fairly sharp and still cuttin like it did when we started.
YEP. Them things are sumpin else ;D ;D We keep going until the blade starts singin or the dust gets fuzzy and don't fly outta the chute as far as it should.
We sawed that Live Oak. First Oak we have sawed. Was a little slower, but, we have 1 drive V-belt, so, I take it kinda easy. The Oak cut smooth as glass. It had been on the ground for 3 months.
we got about two dozen logs to saw yet, gonna see how far we can go with it. yesterday was one of our better days sawing adventures . at least we didn't saw into any dogs ;D or anything like that. everything ran pretty good. guess we'll be back at it saturday barring any problems with anything else.
Who's gonna sharpen yer blades??? I got a box ready to ship to Jim (Solidwoods). He thinks he has a cam that is close to Monk's, and we will see how they cut when he sends 'em back. If they are off very much, I will buy the right cam and have it shipped to Jim, so, he will be able to sharpen ANY Monkey Blades for anybody.
I'm almost afraid to sharpen them, they work so well ::) ::) ;D
Had a fellerv drive cross town today, to say thanks for puttin him onto them Monkey Savers. ;D
He runs an Lt-15 and said he cut the time per board by 15 seconds. He was checking his time to cut a 12" cant into 1X's. He cut WAY back on water lube and said after 400 bd/ft, the blade was still sharp.
He is a newbie, hobby sawyer. He had been having trouble with wavy cuts and the blade following knots up or down. He cut the tension way back, and he is getting a little knot following. I suggested more tension. He was goin home to saw. Said he was VERY happy with the mill now, and sawin is fun. ;) ;D ;D P.S. He's Screwed :D :D :D :D :D
How would these blades do on Hickory that has been down about a year ? Is there any particular set that would work better than another on this ?
Got no Hickry down here. We gots LIVE OAK. I would imagine they would cut about the same. I sawed Hickry with a Circle mill, years ago. Didn't think it sawed all that bad, once ya got rid of the bark. Wouldn't lay flat, though.
Call Kenne-saw and ask for David. Tell him Matthews Sawmill in Fl. said to call and see if he will send ya a freebie. 877-420-9235 Tell him they should get on the Forestry Forum and spread the word through Sponsorship. ;) ;) ;) Ya heard it here ;D ;D ;D
Thanks Deadheader I will call tommorrow and get one sent my way. I ' ll be sure to mention you and the Forum when I talk to him.
If ya can't get David, call back later. The other guy won't send a free one??? I know of at least 6 guys that tried them blades, since I started posting about them. THAT should get a free blade sent, occasionally???
Finaly got to try my free one today. all i have to say is WOW great blade.
I am sawing frozen white oak and hickory. I was running suffolk with an 8 degree hook angle, and the band was still pushing off 3/8 to 1/2" in the first 6" of the log. so i put the monkey band on out of the box woth a 10 degree hook angle and only got about 1/16" push off. i figure the monky band with about 9 degree should do the trick. seems like I will need just a little more set too in the frozen wood. normaly I went to less set in frozen wood but the log had saw dust packed hard to it. now I have to get ahold of Jim and see about him doing my sharpening. (hint hint Jim PM me)
Woody
Ohh yea
THANKS DEADHEADER 8) 8) 8) 8)
smwwoody,
"still pushing off 3/8 to 1/2" in the first 6" of the log" Hope I am not asking a dumb question but are you saying that the blade dives that much when entering the log. If so how does it work furthur into the log? If it is diving maybe your are entering the log to quickly.
Thanks
Ron
Ron
push off is when the band rises up in the cut for the first 6 or so inches and stays there for the rest of the cut.
feed rate does not seem to affect it eather on entry or through the rest of the log.
Woody
Woody,
Thanks for the info. I have not notice that problem with my mill . It appears that the blade is the problem (blade type, way it was sharpen, set).
I get the diving the problem if the blade is dull or sawing to fast.
Thanks
Ron
Woody, since we changed to Monkey blades, we have NOT had packed sawdust. Blade goes straight in, straight out. If it is rising, I would adjust the guides down a hair. Even when I get brain dead and start the cut WAYYY too fast, it goes straight in ???
Well I checked my guides today and the were a little out of line. the old bands still push off in the frozen white oak. so i decided to saw out some of the hemlock orderes I have backing up. I cranked the feed rate WAY up from where i normaly saw and that fixed the packed saw dust problem with the monkey band. I guess they like to saw fast.
Deadheader what SFPM are you running the monkey bands at?
Woody
Everything being equal, The faster you feed, up to a point, the coarser the dust, and that will keep the blade sharper and throw the dust far away from the machine.
I figured that we are running close to 5800 sfpm. I want to add a tach-hourmeter, so, I am guessing a bit.
Being as how we don't get our logs froze too often, I can't comment on the push-off you get. ;D ;D
I mostly saw softwoods, so my answer may be off base, but when I have "push off" it is because one side of the blade has sharper teeth than the other. Sometimes even new blades come this way but it is usually from hitting dirt with only one side of the blade or from running a blade too long, letting it become dull.. A good resharpening should take care of that if the guides are lined up properly, the teeth have the proper set, and the log doesn't have too much stress in it. Occasionally a stressed log will cause a blade to follow the grain, but even then it is usually caused by a blade that isn't sharp enough.
Any of you found out how many sharpens the monkeys will give before breaking?
Nope. We cut one down and welded it together and never got it up to speed before it came apart. It was crystalized, even though we hammered it to soften it. ::) ::)
I would hope 4-6 sharpens with a lite cut, per blade ??? Doesn't pay to push 'em too far between sharpens.
Well duhhh! :P
Here I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get some of these blades. Well I visited Kenne Saws site again and floated over the picture of the bands at the right noticed that the good little hand appeared so I clicked on it.
Took me right to MunforSager's main site in Sweden. 8) 8)
Sent them an email inquiring about Canadian dealers so I can get me some so hopefully they get back to me. :)
They also have all the brochures to download and contacts for tech info and stuff.
Here's the link http://www.munkforssagar.com/