Band blade sharpening

[Thefarmer76]

I was wondering how many people try and sharpen their own bands, and how much success they have ?.. The cost having them sharpened is more than half the cost of new....thanks.

[DMcCoy]

I built my own sharpener.  I guess one would call it fully automatic, but no automatic turn off feature.  I like the ability to do my own.  I hobby saw as time allows- so more intense at some times than others.  Hitting metal, abnormal or hidden grit, can sure put a damper on my enthusiasm.  I can saw during the daylight sharpen during dark.  The automatic part is nice as I can do other shop chores while I wait.  Because I can sharpen I probably tend to do it more as a sharp band cuts so much faster and it's easier to push my carriage.

[Den-Den]

I built my sharpener also, I really like building things and saw for myself; time (and most of the materials) was available.  If mine was a commercial operation, a commercial sharpener would pay for itself over some period of time.  In addition to saving cost of having it done, don't have to keep as large of stock of new/sharp blades on hand. 
That will not apply to everyone, some can make more money spending their time sawing than they could save by sharpening blades.

[homesteader1972]

I sharpen my own. My mill came with a sharpener and setter, its a very old WM drag sharpener. There is definitely a learning curve. Learn to use the sharpener effectively, and learn what an actually sharp band is. There is a lot of  excellent info on this forum to help one learn, it has helped me tremendously. I am still learning. When I grow up, I'm getting a CBN sharpener!

[Chuck White]

I have the Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter and have had very good luck with this setup.

[terrifictimbersllc]

If you search on "sharp band" or "sharp blade" you will presently get 17 and 34 pages, respectively, to read on this topic.

"Sharpening" includes both sharpening and setting.
Many sharpen their own blades.
Many use a sharpening service such as Wood-Mizer's ReSharp.
I don't know the ratio.
A few who have bought equipment to sharpen, give it up.
A few who sharpen do so with very minimal equipment.
Most who sharpen have made a considerable investment and have learned how to get results as good as from a professional resharp program.

When I started sawing as a hobby I bought several boxes of blades and sent them back to ReSharp once in a while and that worked well.

When I went into business I started having a lot more blades to sharpen and saw I could "save" or "earn" some money (penny saved = penny earned, Ben Franklin I think) including paying for sharpening equipment by doing it myself.  That worked well.  Then I got a lot busier and had to learn to sharpen and set much faster to keep up or to keep from being eaten alive by dull bands.   Sharpening/setting is a chore anyway you look at it.

My advice would be to start out learning to saw with professionally sharpened blades, give it some time then revisit this decision.  While the cost of sharpening is half or so the cost of a new blade, the true cost of sawing with improperly sharpened blades could easily be more than having them properly sharpened.

[Chuck White]

Nice description of the things involved in sharpening, DJ.

You pretty well covered it all.

[pineywoods]

 

  Recently acquired a bunch of used blades, a few of which the previous owner had attempted to sharpen. I think he got his plus and minus confused on the hook angle  : Definitely NOT the proper profile...Probably take 5 or 6 passes around the old wm drag sharpener to straighten this one out.. ;D

[Peter Drouin]

Wow pineywoods, You have some work to do there. :D

[redprospector]

There comes a time when a man should just cut his losses.  ;) (old saying)

[Chuck White]

Yup, I'd say there will be at least 5 or 6 passes in order to get it back so it has a good hook angle and a gullet!  ;)

[kelLOGg]

Piney, That would be a challenge for the push finger, too. Maybe it will just slide up and over the tooth.

Farmer76, I sharpen my own bands, too. It took me a while to get the hang of it.

[Kbeitz]

Save that blade for cutting nails. It wont catch on them and pull the nail out of the wood. :D

[Thefarmer76]

Thanks gents, I have a industrial dremel that I will give a try with.  No harm no foul !.