Trial a Blade?

[Magicman]

I am still playing "phone tag" with Chris.  I have left him messages and he has left me messages, but so far no talk.

I thought more about that blade when I was sawing today and the sawdust shower on the driven side is still a mystery.  The logs are dry and so is the sawdust but I have sawn plenty of dry logs in the past.  Absolutely no clog in the sawdust chute but that would cause a sawdust shower or spillage around the drive side anyway.  Been there plenty of times, especially with Cypress with it's clingy sawdust.

[OlJarhead]

Sorta like my experience with 747s which I like but with wind in my face I got showed in sawdust!  Worse than standard 7s by far for me re: sawdust in face, but cut great!

[Stephen1]

I just had 8 blades from a Norwood sawmill, dropped at my shop to S&S. 4 are 1.5" 7? and 4 are the new Norwood 10? 1 carbide every 3rd tooth.
I tried sharpening the Norwood carbide and I'm not exactly thrilled about using my CBN wheel on it. I have tried my Diamond blade but with every 3rd tooth its not going to work.
I have called Norwood just down the road from me and am waiting and answer. 
What has everyone heard?

[Magicman]

I never was able to actually talk to/with Chris but his email to me stated that he had read my review that I emailed him. 

My trial blade was 10° with the third (raker) being carbide (?).  [EDIT: Stellite]  The blade sawed OK but it did not dump all of it's sawdust load at the sawdust chute but rather carried some of it over to the driven side and dumped it there.  The lesser amount of sawdust exiting the chute was quite noticeable. 

Now to be fair, I do not remember whether my old 10° blades completely dumped their sawdust load.  That was 2MMbf ago and now I only use Turbo 7 blades that have deep gullets which carry the load of sawdust and dumps it at the sawdust chute.

I hate that I hit metal which trashed the trial blade and was not able to record the sawing longevity.

It will be interesting to watch your reviews on your trial blades.

[Old Greenhorn]

I am confused, are these things carbide or stellite as first stated. Those two materials are very different. Stellite is a tool steel and very tough. Carbide is a sintered material. Or did I miss the part where carbide got involved?

[Magicman]

No need to be confused Tom.  I did put a (?) behind "carbide" in my reply above rather than looking it back up. 


I suppose that I deserve 2 1/2 slaps with a wet noodle because my trial blade was indeed a Stellite tipped blade.

[Old Greenhorn]

Not at all Lynn! I saw your (?) but then Stephen also said 'carbide', so I wanted to understand and be sure. Besides, someday, somebody as dense as me may come along and read this thread and be confused like me.
 If these blades do find a following and some of our guys begin running them I would really be curious to see the differences between carbide and stellite for longevity, quality and operating cost.
 The choice of Stellite is interesting and I would love to hear their engineering logic. Certainly they are cheaper than carbide.

[Stephen1]

I had misread also or just did the ultimate...assume, 
I did run one blade around with the stelite 3rd tooth. I guess that's why I was able to clean the gullet. I am still a little confused but I am going to call that # MM posted as it's a local number to me. 
I also sent the blade to the Sawyer with a request to let me know how it sawed. I have 3 more to sharpen. He also dropped off more blades for me to sharpen. 
This Sawyer is having problems with his mill sawing flat, he's getting lots of waves. Judging by the condition of the blades, he is running the blades way to long, but that usually goes along with someone that is not charging enough. 
I told him the same I tell other sawyers  that come to have blades sharpened that are having troubles, New Blade, drive belt tension and blade guide alignment tool. 

[Hilltop366]

The choice of Stellite is interesting and I would love to hear their engineering logic. Certainly they are cheaper than carbide.

I suspect the ability to sharpen with the same equipment/wheel would be a top priority, also carbide would stay sharp longer but what would be the point if the rest of the blade is dull.

[Stephen1]

The salesman never returned my call. I called Norwood service line and got a good guy to chat with. The one tooth is a stiletto, so a hardened steel? he told me I can sharpen them with the CBN. He also told me they are R&R a CBN grinding wheel to match that blade and the other blades they sell. 
I sharpened the customers blades, the stiletto blade I did with the WM 10degree, it did reasonably well, twice around and cleaned up most of the gullets. I think you can set them the same , but really do not see the need as the stiletto chip is wider. 
I sharpened his other blades with my 7/39 wheel and same thing, twice around and turned that saw blade into a WM 7/39. I believe the Norwood are a Lennox brand.
I'm still waiting for him to pick up and pay for the blades. He sure was in a rush to have them sharpened. I always find customers like him are my lessons in Buisness. All new customers from now on are on a pay 1st when you drop off the blades. 

[DocGP]

Stephen,

Not sawmill related, but in response to your last thought.  We kept track for 2 years, and if we happen to let a first time customer charge (it happens), we were 80% uncollectable.  

Hopefully your luck will be better than ours.

Doc

[barbender]

That sounds like a losing proposition!

[doc henderson]

did they not come and get the blades, or did they take them and not pay.  either way is not good.

[Stephen1]

It took a few phone calls, and an email, from my bill Collector, Cathy, 
We finally got paid and they came for the blades. They dropped of 7 blades to be sharpened and I sent them a bill before I put them on the sharpener. He called after he paid and asked when he could pick them up, I said in 4 days I'd have them ready. Quiet on his end of the phone.