Blade sharpening - the old fashion way.

[Bibbyman]

I'm full of ideas - but the problem is that there is always someone that steals them from me long before I come up with them!   ;D  This may be the case here.

Kevin and his new LT15 got me thinking about a blade maintenance concept I was going to try but haven't gotten around to.   :

The concept is using a file or a stone to sharpen a band blade by hand.  I had attended a Wood-Mizer training seminar where an Amish sawyer brought a blade he had sharpened using a round edged or tear shaped flat fine cut file.  It worked.  ;)

Anyway, here is something that may be worth trying:

You put your new blade on and cut until you notice you're not cutting as fast as in the beginning.  At the next convenient stopping point, turn up the wash and spin the blade to clean it.  Then remove it for re-sharpening.  The difference between a SHARP blade and one that will cut is probably less than 1/1000 of an inch on the very outside tip of the tooth.

Find a flat place like a 4x8 sheet of plywood on sawhorses or a flatbed truck and lay the blade on it.  

Take the file and stoke the top of a tooth that is "set" pointing away.  Then turn the file and stoke the face of the tooth - letting the round corner of the file touch the start of the radii of the gullet.  Check to see if the very outside point of the tooth is sharp.  (I can't see a sharp tooth any more so I check by feel.  If I can LIGHTLY set base of my thumb on the tooth and it acts like a fishhook and grabs the skin,  it's sharp.  If I can stand to pull my hand and the tooth will slide without biting in, then it's not sharp.)

File all (one out of three) the teeth that point to the inside.  Then turn the blade inside out and fill all the teeth on the other side.  (This is so you would be pushing the file towards the point of the tooth.)  The rake (center unset) tooth could be stroked from either side and I wonder if it would be even necessary to sharpen them - unless they've been damaged.

Turn the blade back right side out and put it back on the mill and see if you did any good.  If you did, then you're well ahead of the game.  

Continue to saw until the blade loses the SHARP edge again and re-sharpen it again.  It may work a second time,  maybe even a third,  but eventually you will lose too much set and get uneven tooth height, hook angle off, short gullet depth and so on.  Time to put the blade back into the box and send it in for re-sharp.  This will put everything back in to spec.  

If you can get another couple of sharpening from one that has been re-sharpened,  then I'd guess it would be time to retire the blade - you've got you're money's worth.   8) 8) 8)

What would really help would be to rig up a clamping fixture to hold the blade firmly while being filed. I'd think a clamp about 2' long made from a couple a chunks of bar stock or angle iron.  Maybe weld on a pair of vice grips,  bolts with wing nuts,  toggle clamps, or whatever to clamp the blade between the holder.  Also something to clamp the fixture onto the table would be in order.

Another tip would be to find the right file and keep it in good condition.  Too many people,  me included, end up tossing at file back into the toolbox or in a drawer with and against other files.  Not good.  :'(

[CHARLIE]

I know Tom sharpens his own band blades, though I don't know how he does it. I've heard him say that sometimes he'll sharpen blades before he heads to the where the mill is set up. Knowing Tom, I'm sure it's not automated. I'm thinking he uses a clamp and a file. Maybe when he gets back from lunch with his Old Folk friends, he'll let us know what he does.???

[Tom]

I've got two of WoodMizers automatic sharpeners and setters for sharpening my blades but use a file in the field.

I use a tear shaped single cut bastard to dress a blade that still has life but has been through a bullet or nail.  If the teeth aren't damaged too badly or the set gone, I can file the face of the tooth to clean it up and hit the back a lick to make a good sharp corner in about as much time as it takes to go get blade, put it on and put up the old one.  The tear shaped file keeps me from grooving the gullet.

I wouldn't use this procedure to sharpen a whole blade because it is too time consuming, but a few teeth make it worth while. Most of the damage caused by a nail is the nail's metal welded to the face of the tooth.  If you can clean it off you will find, many times, that the tooth hasn't been hurt too bad.

I don't remove the blade.  Sometimes if it is just 3 or 4 teeth I file next to the blade guide for support.  If it is a lot of teeth, I put a 2x on edge on an end bunk and drop the head of the mill till the blade rests on the wood.  Since all the filing is 90 degrees to the blade I don't bother turning it over.

My biggest problem is that I was given a whole handful of these files once by retired machinists who was a customer.  I have not been able to find them locally since.  One day I'll run out.

I store them under my truck seat, wrapped in an oily hand towel.

[Kevin]

A cordless dremel tool with a round elongated polishing wheel for quick touch ups might be just the ticket!

[Tom]

I have heard of guys using dremel tools for this too.  Just a guess but you could probably charge one from your truck battery. Good show Kevin.  Looks like you may make a good band saw man.  You're thinking like one already.  

[timberbeast]

I just change my inserts!

[Jeff]

Your the man beast, er, I mean your the beast man, oh, whatever, yea! a circle saw guy!

[4x4American]

So have ya kept on with this method or did it only last a little while?

[paul case]

I don't know if you will ever get a reply from Bib. He has mostly retired from sawing. However having tried to read all he ever wrote here, I can tell you he had have at least 2 WM sharpeners. That is an answer I think.
I know that once you get set up to produce lumber on a little larger scale that blade sharpening with a file by hand would be much too slow and not accurate enough. Either get an auto sharpener or send them off.
I do remember Bibbyman saying that his newest WM sharpener and setter rig would sharpen the bands so good that Pro sawyer Mary couldn't tell if the band came from resharp or from Bib's sharpener.

PC