Touching up the blade on a buzz saw

[thecfarm]

My Father sharpened a saw like that. I might of been around 14 when someone wanted it more than we did. We went to The Farm one day and it was gone. The bearings was pretty bad in it. I can still hear my Father say,they will be replacing the bearings in that saw quick. He always kept oil in the cup above each bearing.
But he sharpened it with just a flat saw. I can see him do it now. I was not allowed around it when it was running. I do remember the zing of it. I can still hear it. But as I said before on here,my Father grew up with buck saws and axes. Either you learned how to keep your tools sharp or you worked way harder than you had too.

[Al_Smith]

For that matter my father also had a frame mounted buzz saw on a Farmall F 14 .I was too little back then to help .He got the drops from a sawmill for free and cut up enough to last the best part of the winter in just a few days .Great big pile of them fed to  a gravity furnace in the basement.Put out a lot of heat .I might have been four at the time on the farm near  Caledonia Ohio .I remember it though over 65 years ago .I also remember the stacks and stacks of stickered hard wood every where .What he ever figured out what it was to be  used for I never knew but there was a bunch of it  .

[Don P]

I guess my plan is to just file the teeth with a new 12" file.  I'm staying away from a die grinder, knowing me I'd surely take too much off with big differences from tooth to tooth.  For now I'm just going to ignore the blade waving, I've not ever heard that there is any danger of the blade grenading or anything like that.  As soon as the blade meets wood it runs true it seems.  

I got a decent deal on the saw I think ($400), but if I need to put hundreds into the blade I'm going to have to do a major rethink.

Since I have a circle mill I know a sawdoc already so that kind of changes how I look at something like that. Like many he is full service, I'll be down there within a week or so to pick up planer blades I had dropped off. I had sharpened them by hand a few times and he'll get them back to correct. Flattening that blade out and getting it set up would be under a hundred I imagine. I'm not worried about the blade grenading but if it is hitting the guard I'm more worried about it snagging that up. You know what you're seeing just be safe. The blade was more than likely originally tensioned to run at 540 but it got hot.

[CTPhil]

Blades will only run true at a given RPM range.  A sharp blade that diameter doesn't have to be run real fast in order to cut fast. Try some different speeds.

I had wondered about that, I'll try it.

[CTPhil]

OK, I'm a little dense, but I think I'm finally seeing what others are seeing.  The face of the tooth from gullet to tip is supposed to be straight and at least the one in the pic is canted back at the tip, am I getting it?  So perhaps the blade was misused somewhat by the previous owner.

[Don P]

Yes, that tooth took a whack from something, probably embedded trash in a slab. He didn't keep the blade sharp and kept pushing it and it got hot, lost tension and now wobbles. Any circle blade will do that, from my 7" skill saw to the mill saw. I throw the disposable skill saw blade out at that point, anything bigger goes in for a tuneup. His shop is full of everything from edger blades to 60" headsaws.

Just as general info whenever sharpening any edge tool look right at the edge in strong light. A sharp edge splits the light, anything shining back at you is a flat spot, dullness. Sharpen the face, keep top dressing to a minimum.

[Al_Smith]

That thing could be 50-60-70 years old .You have no idea what it was used for  .Could have been fence posts,railroad ties old building materials which contained stones ,nails whatever that nicked a tooth or two .In reality it's not much different than a chain on a chainsaw because it could happen .Whoever had it which could be many people just ignored the tooth angles .Most likely didn't care or didn't know how to fix them . 
Now a theory,unproven on the blade wobble .Might be the blade,bearing/bushing  or arbor .
Like I said many owners .Who knows they might have pipe wrenched the arbor to hold it and used a 24" Rigid pipe wrench on the nut with a 7 foot cheater and  two 250 pound big men breaking the nut loose and bent it .  

[ButchC]

I am out and about today but will try to get some pics posted later

[CTPhil]

Well I got a 12" mill file and sharpened the blade.  I sharpened the tops because my arms just won't go in the angles needed to sharpen the gullet side with the blade in the saw.  I tried to take as little off as possible.  It made a huge difference, it cuts with ease now.   I also lowered the tractor RPM and the wave was reduced to nearly nothing.

Thank you everyone for all of the great help! 

[jerry sundberg]

Here is a site to explain how to sharpen a cord wood saw. Belsaw 10452 Buzz saw m...

[luap]

Good to hear it's working for you. One other operation a saw shop will do is restore the roundness of the cutting circle and restore the tooth height. Both of these will be out of spec after repeated hand filing.