1.25" vs. 1.5" bands.

[Southside]

Found a video of Howard riding his wheeler back in his younger days.  :D

The makings of a four wheeler fighter jet pilot.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Okay you have pushed me beyond my limits!

"May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your tent."

"May all your children be born naked."

"May your child bring home a cross-eyed monkey with diarrhea and it escapes and runs amok across your new white, shag carpet."

   That should teach you!

[boonesyard]

I ordered my first box of 1.5" x 045 Silvertips on 10/12, they showed up yesterday. I think that's a great turn-a-round, particularly in the current conditions. 

[TimW]

They got a lot of them in and made.  I changed my order a few days ago and will suppose to be here Friday.
                   hugs, Brandi

[barbender]

I hate to let the secret out, but I think the 1.5" blades are more available. I've never waited more than a week for my WM blades in the last year.

[Dave Shepard]

I was wondering if that might be the case. Yesterday I got an email saying Re-Sharp received my bands on 10/18. No mention of when they might actually get sharpened. 

[TimW]

ReSharp is taking about 4 weeks to turn my blades around.
hugs, Brandi

[Stephen1]

I hate to let the secret out, but I think the 1.5" blades are more available. I've never waited more than a week for my WM blades in the last year.

I really need to live south of the border. I ordered 1.5" Silver tip 7/39T in September along with 4 FAOR and nothing yet. I call every 2 weeks . They have 1 FAOR in the warehouse and am still waiting. Blades in the 171 length in the 1.5" are not to be found. 
I have started looking at other suppliers in Canada now to see what is Available, as I am down to 4 1.5" left out of 30 from my June order.

[Southside]

Come on down. The water is fine.  :D

[Stephen1]

Come on down. The water is fine.  :D

And some of your leaders drink the same kool aid!.... :D

[Southside]

Here we threw out the punch bowl Tuesday, and those who were always in it. 

[OlJarhead]

I've had one 1.5" band in my rotation for years (lol) no idea how it got there, it just was and I used it without much thought....But lately I've seen more talk of using them so bought a box of 747s in 1.5" -- then was reading here folks seemed to be saying lower hp mills might not do well with them?  My 26hp got enough power?

Hate to toss on a box of 747's and find they won't do me any good 'cause my under powered mill can't handle them lol

[barbender]

It should do just fine, I don't think the 1.25" to 1.5" makes much difference horsepower-wise.

[OlJarhead]

It should do just fine, I don't think the 1.25" to 1.5" makes much difference horsepower-wise.

Thanks!  I didn't think so either since I never noticed a difference power wise.  Honestly I wasn't paying that close attention to how it cut in big knots as it was just in the rotation...never thought about the guide wheels either but WM said my mill was set up for either so I never thought much about it.
Truth is, my band wheels appear to be slightly off so I should probably adjust them.  The idle side is perfect with 1/8" of gullet showing as always but I noticed the drive side was more like 3/16th? so probably time to do that and go over the full alignment before the season gets really silly!  Oh wait, it has.
I plan to try the 1.5's out soon.....real soon a whole box of them!  8)

[barbender]

If you are tracking the 1.5" blades on your bandwheels correctly, you will need to readjust your blade guides. Imo, you need to run the 1.5" guides as well to get the full benefit of the 1.5's.
 To make the switch with your current guides, just loosen the adjustment bolts on two sides slightly so the guide can be moved back away from the blade (both guides). Snug them just so they don't move, then install a 1.5 and get it tracking correctly. Once that is on, then you can reset your blade guides. I just eyeball mine, shooting for 3/16-1/4". 

[Stephen1]

I want to switch full time to the 1.5" and then I can put on 1.5" band wheels, but last fall they ran out of 1.5" and I had to go back to the Bi-metal which are 1.3/8" and I run them on the 1.25-1.5" band wheels. I now have a mixture of blades again. I find with 1.5" is that you can keep sawing even as the blade is probably to dull. I finnally picked up on that yesterday as the blade was squeeling as it was hitting the back of the band wheel. I took it off ran it thru the sharpener and put it back on. It Took away the squeel, so now I know when to change, or try to change the blade before that happens.

[Vautour]

We have a new Woodmizer dealer here in New Brunswick (about 30 minutes away) (Shediac).. so i dropped in to chat because i know the guy working there, and started talking about blades and such, so after thinking about it for a week i bought the 184'' he had on stock,.. was looking for the 1.25'' but he only had the 1.5'',.. with my 32 hp engine i think i'm ok with them which put me in the the big boy club :D.

[KWood255]

The 1.5" may be the ticket for the white spruce I'm struggling with...I've only ever used .042 1.25's, in various pitches but still getting waves near the knots. With my LT40 (38hp) the .055 might be a bit much. If they cut flat, I would gladly slow down the feed rate. It would save time in the end. 

[barbender]

I bet your 38hp would pull the .055's just fine. Spruce is just a bugger. If your blade isn't brand new sharp, there will be at least minor waves in my experience. You know how a new blade doesn't have any resistance on that first cut? That little "honeymoon edge" that only lasts for about 3 cuts? That's what you need to cut spruce straight😁

[Vautour]

Just started sawing a few days ago starting with white spruce (field trees with many huge knots) is spruce a difficult tree to cut?? new at this...  

[KWood255]

I bet your 38hp would pull the .055's just fine. Spruce is just a bugger. If your blade isn't brand new sharp, there will be at least minor waves in my experience. You know how a new blade doesn't have any resistance on that first cut? That little "honeymoon edge" that only lasts for about 3 cuts? That's what you need to cut spruce straight😁

Thanks Barbender. I'm going to give them a try. What is your preferred blade for spruce? I know what you mean about spruce....being in NW Ontario, white spruce is one of the most common larger trees we have. I have 50+ cords of 16' and 21' white spruce in the yard, with the smallest tops being about 10-12". Some of the stumps are 28". Lots of headaches and experimenting in my future. Oddly enough, I don't remember having this much difficulty cutting them straight with my 35. 

[barbender]

White spruce is worse when it starts to dry, the grain really gets fuzzy and seems to deflect blades more. I haven't seen much difference with different hook angles, spruce can make them all look equally bad😂 @ladylake runs 4° 3/4 pitch blades with a lot of set iirc and says those saw straight for him.

Vautour, if you are new at this, do yourself a favor and find something other than field grown white spruce to saw. It's a real morale killer😁 Seriously, open grown spruce is often not worth the effort. Most folks think spruce is difficult to saw because the knots are hard, while the wood is soft. I don't think the hardness if the knots has anything to do with it. With white spruce, the grain of the wood changes very dramatically around the knots, more so than any other wood species. I've had boards I've pulled off, and the grain is running almost 90° to the board. That doesn't do a lot for the structural integrity of the lumber👎When (not if😁) you saw some waves in spruce, take a close look at them. The blade will have dipped well before it ever gets to the knot, because the direction otlf the grain changes dramatically. Anyhow, that's my .02, find something easier to saw to start out with, which is basically anything else😊

[barbender]

Here's some white spruce I sawed the other day, you can see the wild grain around the knots. This stuff was going into pallets- a great place for it!

[John S]

Kwood,

Have you tried .045"?  I have the same engine as you but never .042". I would try the 45 before going to 55.

[boonesyard]

White spruce is worse when it starts to dry, the grain really gets fuzzy and seems to deflect blades more. I haven't seen much difference with different hook angles, spruce can make them all look equally bad😂 @ladylake runs 4° 3/4 pitch blades with a lot of set iirc and says those saw straight for him.

Vautour, if you are new at this, do yourself a favor and find something other than field grown white spruce to saw. It's a real morale killer😁 Seriously, open grown spruce is often not worth the effort. Most folks think spruce is difficult to saw because the knots are hard, while the wood is soft. I don't think the hardness if the knots has anything to do with it. With white spruce, the grain of the wood changes very dramatically around the knots, more so than any other wood species. I've had boards I've pulled off, and the grain is running almost 90° to the board. That doesn't do a lot for the structural integrity of the lumber👎When (not if😁) you saw some waves in spruce, take a close look at them. The blade will have dipped well before it ever gets to the knot, because the direction otlf the grain changes dramatically. Anyhow, that's my .02, find something easier to saw to start out with, which is basically anything else😊

X2!!