Sharpener & seter

[Tagerts_crossing]

  I have just recently bought a band mill and have been looking to get a setter and sharpener.  Can I use blades and sharpener from different co.?   What are some of your experiences with your equipment and blades?  Is there a good place to get blades?  (161"x 1 1/4 =3/4 or7/8 tooth).  I have already found woodmizer and baker.  I will be cutting mostly hardwoods (Indiana) and mostly for my own use so don't need fast or high end equipment.  Thanks John

[Tom]

I don't know which mill that you got that has a 161" blade but Woodmizer is pretty close to you.  One of the expenses to be concerned about with blades is the shipping.  

Most of the manufacturers of sawmills sell blades whether they are welding them themselves or not.  Woodmizer actually makes the whole blade, tooth configuration and all.

Most of the portable sawmill industry has gone to 7/8 pitch.  It cuts faster with less horses than 3/4 did, although there are some hold-outs.

You may want to consider a sharpening service until you get on your feet.  Sharpeners and Setters show up for sale on this forum on occasion.  Woodmizer and Cookssaw both make good sharpeners and setters.  Suffolk is a favorite as well.  

Don't jump too quick.  With sharpening services available you will have plenty of time to find what suits you.

[Bro. Noble]

Welcome John,

I tried all kinds of blades The .045 blades work so much better for me on hardwoods that I don't plan to buy anymore .042 blades.  As far as I know,  Woodmizer is the only one making .045 blades.  

They will make up blades any length you want.  We have some made special for a resaw.

Noble

[JeffS]

From my experiance, and I am not saying that I have much...  Okay I'll say from my observations at the mill that I work at and being around numerous band mills, I would say that its worth the 3 bucks a blade to send them to WM to be sharpened.  Run the saw an hour instead of sharpening blades for three hours????  Not even a question in my mind.

Jeff S.   8)

[Tom]

It's more than 3 dollars a blade plus shipping but still worth it to most folks.

My time isn't worth anything  :D so I rather enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of creating my own blade.

[Jeff]

And a challenge it is for a man with his arms bolted on. ;D

[Rick-Wi]

I have the Cooks Setter and Sharpener. I also was sharpening wood cutting blades, Drills, planner knifes, including Carbide for the last 5 years as a side line.. The sharpener is all you could ask for if set up right.. The setter takes time as it only sets one side at a time, and when you do a 16' blade it takes some time.. But if you do it right you can have one in the sharpener, and another beeing set.. And the sharpener will usually beat you..

Rick-Wi
AKA Lumbersawyer

[Noble_Ma]

I have the Baker Quick Sharp.  It's been all they said it was and more.  It's not a profile sharpener and I know I'll hear some groans but it works great.  I'm looking for a setter right now.  The sharpener works right on the mill!  It works it's way down the blade and you only have to turn the wheel every now and than to give it more blade to sharpen.  It takes about 4 minutes to do the blade.  I think that's about the time it takes to take one off and put another back on.

[OneWithWood]

John,
Welcome to the forum!  I live just a stones throw from you outside of Unionville.  Our trees on the member map are DanG near crowdin' each other out - so our trees are bound to be the tallest and straightest around  8)

I too recently purchased a band mill.  I bought mine from WM in Indianapolis.  I have not begun to saw yet becasue of the weather and other winter chores.  As for the sharpening, I am going to drop my blades by WM.  I have occasion to travel to Indy so it is convenient.  They will send them to KY for me so I only pay the return shipping.  I spend enough time sharpening the chains on my chain saws so spending more time to sharpen the band mill blades was an easy decision not to make.

[MrMoo]

Welcome to the forum, I think you'll like it here. I know I do.

I ended up buying sharpening & setting equipment and I am glad that I did. For me, having the equipment means I do not try to get that extra cut or two from a blade that is starting to lose its edge. If it isn't cutting just right I pull it off. Tuning up a blade once it has already been on the sharpener is not a big deal. The first time on the sharpener is more work however because the blade needs to be shaped to what the cam is dictating.
I basically mill on weekends so by having the equpiment I end up only needing a couple of blades that I can use over & over until they have been sharpened beyond use.

I have a profile sharpener from Wright Machine & Tool on the west coast. Once its setup correctly it works great & its easy to use.
I have the a setter from Cook's and I really like. It takes a bit of time but as someone else pointed out you can have a blade on the sharpener while your are setting another. I can usually pretty much keep up with the sharpener.

Given I mill mostly on weekends I end up doing the sharpeneing at night during the week. Heck it keeps me off the streets and out of my wife's hair. ;D

[Noble_Ma]

MrMoo,

I've been looking at the Cook's setter and was wondering how it worked.  Is it consistent?  Easy to set up?  Price seems to be fair from other's I've priced.

[MrMoo]

Noble_Ma
I feel the Cooks setter works very well.
I think they give the tolerance as plus or minus 0.002". I'd say it will hold that. Perhaps even better than that. Some of the repeatability depends on the quality of the blade too. Some seem to set better than others but even the problem ones are not that big an issue.
Probably one of the best features is that there is dial indicator right on the tooth. If you bend the tooth and it doesn't set quite right you make an adjustment & do it again.
Setup is easy I just tacked it to a piece of plywood. They provide round pieces of metal with a hole in the center. You simply nail these to a piece of 1"x4"x2'. There are 4 of these they serve to hold the blade "stretched out" to its largest circumference.
Height adjustment is with a hex wrench, its piece of cake.
They say it takes about 20-25 minutes to set a blade and I'd say that is accurate. I have actually beat that time on 7/8" pitch blades but not 3/4".

If anything I'd say its overbuilt in terms of strength, but I don't consider that a bad thing. I felt it was worth the price they ask.

[Tagerts_crossing]

  Thanks guys,  for now It looks like I will go with wm resharp as only 30-40 min away.  Only prob is my blade(161") is not one of their standerd lenth so higher cost.  They do have a 160" blade but not sure if I can run it.  My mill is a baker 18m and I have not run it yet. Have any of you had this problem yet.  Tom, I agree with you saying my time isn't worth anything That goes for me too as I work full time and still try to farm full time.  I will take your advice and not rush into buying the equipt. to quick.  That will give me time to check out the brands that all of you have listed and mabe some used stuff will come along as well.   Noble, glad to hear about the baker quick sharp they showed it to me when I picked up my mill and talked it up well but hearing it from some one who is using it means more.  Have any of you used the baker 18m would like to hear the good and bad.  I was looking at wm and timber king (1600), was about to buy the timber king and baker put that new mill on ebay.  The 18m is smaller but I got a good price break and can get started with less money and trade up later if I choose.  Thanks again.  John

[Rick Schmalzried]

Take this with a grain of salt, as I don't even own my own mill, but the difference between a 161" and a 160" band is pretty small.  As long as you have 1/2" extra 'slack' in your tensioner you should be able to install it.  Once it is on, I don't see why it wouldn't run.