WM's New 1 1/8th Spaced Blades

ARKANSAWYER · November 13, 2008, 07:10:41 PM

Back in the Oct. Farm Show in Springfield MO. I talked WM out of some of the new 1 1/8 spaced tooth blades. I got two for my LT70 in 1 1/2 wide, 0.055, 10 degree style. I will have to say that I have been busy and they were just sitting in the blade shed.
But today I was sawing some old red oak logs about 18 to 24 DIB cutting 3x12's and 2x12's and having a little trouble getting flat cuts. The logs were pretty clean and clear but some dry from being a year old. I did some repairs on the mill and checked my alignment. Same cutting. Changed blade and still the same in the wide cuts. THE light came on and I remembered them blades in the shed. Then I put on one of the new 1 1/8th blades and went back to cutting. Really made a differance so I upped the feed rate and cutting was still very good. Nice flat boards and one 4x24 with natural edges as flat and smoot as a East Arkansas rice field.
What I noticed the most was the sawdust was not packed between boards but loose and fluffy. The wider cuts were just as fast as the narrow ones. When I got to smaller logs I noticed that the feed rate knob was in the same place as always for oak.
Tomorrow I will try to get some large knotty pine on the deck and a large walnut to see how the blades does in them. I could tell today when I was in the center of the log (like qsawing) that the cut was good.

So I am to report as for cutting large oak logs I REALLY LIKE THESE BLADES! 8) 8) 8)

Now this was with a LT70 25hp 3ph electric mill sawing on a day of 65 degrees and fairly high humidity with a full moon comming on.

Has any one else got to try them?

Kansas · November 14, 2008, 06:10:58 AM

We switched to the 1 1/8 spacing .055 10 degree for both our mills-both the 1 1/2 wide and 2 inch wide. We used them for about 2 months, then switched back. For some reason, we had premature blade breakage. We were only getting 1-3 sharpenings out of them. We use a cooks sharpener, and it seems like the cam we got from them for those blades made it difficult to get the gullet ground out clean. I dont know if that was the problem or not. We didnt see any improvement to speak of over the 7/8 spacing in performance. Then again, it might have been tree species-we cut a lot of cottonwood.

MartyParsons · November 14, 2008, 06:48:03 AM

We have had some good response from sawiers using the 1 1/8 tooth spacing. I have heard they work well in Spruce, Eastern Hemlock. The spacing will help carry sawdust out of the cut. I have used them at Ag Progress days this summer and they worked well.
We have the 7 degree blade on order and are looking forward to testing it also. The 7 degree blade has a 7/8 tooth spacing and a deeper gullet than the 4 degree or the 9 degree.
M

smwwoody · November 14, 2008, 06:56:54 PM

Marty,

do they make them in a 4 degree? If so I would like to try a few

Woody

just_sawing · November 15, 2008, 05:59:08 PM

I tried the new blades on Poplar and Sassafrass. faster clener and first blade I cut 1000 foot of poplar before changing.
I will use these from now on.

MartyParsons · November 15, 2008, 07:42:30 PM

I not sure there are any other hook angles except 10 degree for now. In the 1 1/8 spacing. The new 7 degree will be 7/8 spacing.
Marty

Mo · November 17, 2008, 10:42:04 AM

At this time in .055x1 1/2 it is only in a 10 degree, in the .055x1 3/4 it is 10 or 13 degree and in .055x2" it is 10 or 13 degree hook angles.

backwoods sawyer · November 18, 2008, 02:29:08 AM

So tell us what is it about the 13 degree hook and the 1 ½ bands that do not get along. Are they to aggressive for the narrower band? On the other hand, have you just not got around to testing them? Are there plans to produce them? Just looking for more info.
Hold still now I got the dentist pliers here it will JUST hurt a little.

Mo · November 18, 2008, 11:22:24 AM

We have done testing and I was just informed this morning that it became avalible last week.

ARKANSAWYER · November 18, 2008, 09:03:20 PM

Well I ran the blade through and through some pine and walnut. The logs were about 20 inches wide and the cuts were smooth and clean. The blades seem to do alot better in wide cuts. Notice no real loss of cutting speed in small logs and get about the same bdftage cut before they dull.
I run the 10 degree blades because I saw lots of SYP, cedar and hardwoods. The blades perform well in all. The 13 degree blades really fly through SYP so long as the knots are small. When we hit large knots the 13 degree blades wandered a bit. They were not so good in hardwoods. When I tried 4 degree blades they did well in really hard woods like hickory, osage and knotty white oak. Felt like my cute rate was a bit slower. I could see where they would do well in frozen wood but we get very little of that in Arkansas. Did not see much difference or improvement in the 9 degree blades.
Going to get a full box of the 1 1/8 10 degree blades and give them a good checking to see how they last. If they hold up well and keep preforming well I can see changing all of the blades for the LT70.