Lots of blade questions

woodman58 · October 11, 2016, 08:52:57 AM

1) About how many BF are you getting per blade cutting red and white oak.
a) I am getting about 400 to 500 ft. per blade with a debarker.

2) How many of you have blade sharpeners, and what kind? How do you like it?

3) How many use a blade sharpening service and which one do you use? Is it cost effective?

4) How important is the set on the blades and which set is best for which type of wood? (oak, pine, cedar, etc.)

Thanks for the help, Paul

WV Sawmiller · October 11, 2016, 09:07:35 AM

Quote from: woodman58 on October 11, 2016, 08:52:57 AM
1) About how many BF are you getting per blade cutting red and white oak.
a) I am getting about 400 to 500 ft. per blade with a debarker.

2) How many of you have blade sharpeners, and what kind? How do you like it?

3) How many use a blade sharpening service and which one do you use? Is it cost effective?

4) How important is the set on the blades and which set is best for which type of wood? (oak, pine, cedar, etc.)

Thanks for the help, Paul

1. Varies widely. May get 100 bf, may get 1200. Lots depends on the wood and how clean and such.
2. Don't own/use sharpener
3. I use WM re-sharp and an well pleased with them. I use the auto refill/auto-replace to retain the same number of blades in my operating pool.
4. I find set very important and use 10 degree blades for soft hardwoods like poplar but use 4 degree for hardwoods like oak and ash and also where I have soft wood with hard knots. I have 7 degree and 7 turbos but if I had to pick one blade for all applications I'd use just the 4 degree.

Sassafras73 · October 11, 2016, 09:57:18 AM

I have an LT15GO25hp w/power feed. I just sawed my first log last night, a very small walnut (brought the new sawmill home sun evening!). I got a box of 7degree and a box of 10s. I got the 7's because I have a few hickory and hedge logs stockpiled and I also plan to do some black locust, honey locust, perhaps even persimmon in the future. Woodmizer suggested the 7's but it sounds like you prefer the 4's. I guess I assumed those were for the bigger horsepower engines.

uler3161 · October 11, 2016, 11:12:40 AM

1. I think around 400 or 500, but no debarker except for a log wizard if I'm in really dirty logs. Normally I just try to roll the log to have a clean entry for the blade.
2. Dinasaw Automatic MSA. We're not using the bevel grind. Dad thinks it's too hard to get aligned well, though I think we should re-visit that since Dinasaw says it should require less set. Wish it was built heavier, but it seems to do ok.
3. I know people who do use WM Re-sharp. For them it's decent since they don't have to worry about spending the time sharpening and setting. But, I don't think they get the same life out of a blade as we do.
4. I'm not sure if you're talking about hook degree or set, but I'll address both. We set blades every sharpening. We usually use the same blades and same set for everything, though 98% of what we saw is fir and pine. We're on 10 degree blades with about 20 thou set. That might not be as good for hardwood, but we still cut hardwood with it. We use the old style single tooth dial indicator setter from WM. Slow, but accurate.

WV Sawmiller · October 11, 2016, 03:47:48 PM

Quote from: Sassafras73 on October 11, 2016, 09:57:18 AM
I have an LT15GO25hp w/power feed. I just sawed my first log last night, a very small walnut (brought the new sawmill home sun evening!). I got a box of 7degree and a box of 10s. I got the 7's because I have a few hickory and hedge logs stockpiled and I also plan to do some black locust, honey locust, perhaps even persimmon in the future. Woodmizer suggested the 7's but it sounds like you prefer the 4's. I guess I assumed those were for the bigger horsepower engines.

WM site has a section under blades where you answer some prompts about horsepower and wood type and such and they make suggestions about the blades they recommend. I think you will do well following their recommendations.

Bruno of NH · October 11, 2016, 05:17:47 PM

I have a 13 hp mill and I use 4 degree WM bands with no problem also use 7 and 9's
I don't have good luck with 10 's for some reason

WV Sawmiller · October 11, 2016, 05:35:51 PM

Bruno,

What kind of wood are you cutting?

I hear great things about the turbo 7's but I don't see a great difference from the other blades I was using. I suspect I have not found the perfect wood for them yet.

Bruno of NH · October 11, 2016, 06:38:51 PM

WV
I cut ash,maple,hickory,spruce, cotton wood,hemlock and pine.
I use the regular 7's
I find the Spruce the toughest wood to mill and make good lumber I use the 4's and get the best cuts
I like building with spruce over hemlock

kelLOGg · October 11, 2016, 07:26:24 PM

1. My board footage varies greatly depending on dirt, species, tramp metal. Honestly, I have never measured it because I don't make a living sawing.
2. I set and sharpen with a Cooks setter and Cat claw - I always set before I sharpen. I really like the sharpener but at times I wish I had their dual tooth setter. Currently, I use a hook angle of 8° for everything.
3. I saw primarily oak, cedar (set at 0.020) and pine (set at 0.025). As I have gotten more confident in my setting/ sawing, at times I have sawn pine set at 0.020 w/o noticing a difference. But in general, I think it is safest to use more set on pine due to the fibrous nature of the wood.

Chuck White · October 11, 2016, 08:37:39 PM

The "unsetter" that I had made really saves me a lot of time when setting the blade!

Once the blade is run through these rollers, it has about .018" set left in it, then when I start the blade through the setter, it only takes about 5-8 minutes to set the entire blade. Really a time saver!

EDIT: The big reason I had this "unsetter" made is so that I could start out setting with all of the teeth really close to the same set!

bandmiller2 · October 11, 2016, 08:46:54 PM

Paul, I think your doing OK with your 400-500 bf, a lot depends how dull you let your band get before you pull it. I have a Cats Claw sharpener and a dual tooth setter. I do everything "in house" and have paid for the sharpening equipment many times over. If the set on my bands is between 20-25 thou. per side I just sharpen. My hook angle is somewhere around 4-5 degrees. I sharpen often as it saves money I can just kiss the teeth taking a very light cut. I get very long band life and usually get around a dozen sharpening's. I use the same hook and set on everything. Frank C.

sandsawmill14 · October 11, 2016, 10:55:07 PM

i averaged about 600-650 bdft per band last year. we have 2 cooks catclaw sharpeners and a cooks setter but i have never set a band

i only get 3-4 sharpening's before the the bands break and i have never had a problem indicating set was off

i did try woodmizer resharp one time and was very pleased with their work but was to expensive for me mostly because of shipping and me getting new blades so cheap so i run new blades 90% of the time and was on a blanket order for 10 a week until a couple of months ago i have FINALLY got to where i can sharpen and them be reliable so i cut back on the order as i have 300+ never sharpened blades laying around

now the real kicker i said we have 2 catclaw sharpeners i can sharpen with one and 99% of them cut as good as or better than new and the other one i cant make a blade saw flat for nothing >:( :

i sharpen 8

on it last thursday and not 1 of them would saw

i came home to the other sharpener and did 3 and all cut perfect ??? i have been through it from one end to the other and cant find any slack nothing worn out nothing i can see to cause any problems compared to the other sharpener :-\ i know its something about the setup but i cant for the life of me figure out what it is :-\

Ox · October 12, 2016, 06:28:00 AM

I wonder if it isn't square. Meaning the wheel isn't square to the tooth when it comes down. I would suggest a call to Cooks and get one of the big guys on the phone. I've heard they're very helpful when you have problems.

sandsawmill14 · October 12, 2016, 07:07:59 AM

ox i have talked to them in the past ( but not about this sharpener) and they were very nice and helpful

i dont know why i havent called because they were more than willing to help when we got the first one smiley_dunce ???

Ox · October 12, 2016, 07:16:57 AM

It's that darn self sufficiency thing we all have. That's all. You want to do it on your own without any outside help. It's OK, we all understand. :D

But seriously, I do this all the time. It just never occurs to m'brain to ask for help or suggestions!

sandsawmill14 · October 12, 2016, 07:22:22 AM

i know it :D :D :D after all i got 1 that i can use so i will take it apart and see how it made so i can fix the other one :D :D :D :D :

we got the one thats giving trouble with the s&w mill so havent been fooling with it very long only a year this month

:D :D :D
sometimes i wish my leg would bend so i could give myself a good kick in the rear

bandmiller2 · October 12, 2016, 07:30:33 AM

Sandy 14, have you tried switching the wheel and cam from the good machine.?? Its strange because they are a simple machine with everything out in plain sight. Is the motor turning the right direction.?? Frank C.

sandsawmill14 · October 12, 2016, 07:48:43 AM

no i havent but that would be a good place to start

the rotation is right at least same as the other one

paul case · October 12, 2016, 09:28:35 AM

I get my bands from a company that doesnt sponsor here so I wont mention their name.

I have used this brand for a long time and I am very happy with them.

They are very reasonably priced, in fact I get them delivered in boxes of 30 for $13.40 each. Since they are so cheap I only sharpen them 2 times. I would say new they probably run 400 to 500 ft and after I sharpen them they run a little less than that. I have a setter but never use it.

The sharpener I have I got with a previous mill and it is a WM drag style sharpener. It does a good job, but I have to dress the stone a lot. I never could get over how it costs $7 to get a band sharpened. In a couple boxes of bands you could buy a sharpener with the savings not to mention shipping.

PC

pineywoods · October 12, 2016, 10:11:02 AM

I converted my drag type sharpener to use a cbn wheel. Works good IF the blade is the same profile as the cbn wheel. If they are different so you have to take off a lot of metal to re-profile the blade, the cbn wheel don't last very long. To get around that, I mount a coarse rock off a hand held grinder with the standard cam, then touch up with the cbn...