Cat Claw sharpener and blade question

[jaayres20]

I just received my cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  After a few blades I am finally getting the hang of it.  I have a question though.  Currently I have two types of blades from Cooks.  I have a lot of their 10 degree Xcell blades and a few of their 8 degree super sharp blades.  I have two cams for the cooks sharpener so I can accurately sharpen both types of blades.  For the fun of it I sharpened one of my 10 degree blades with the sharpener set up for the 8 degree blade.  I took it easy and went a few rounds but it appeared to sharpen just fine.  I haven't run it on the mill yet, but is there any harm it "converting" all my 10 degree blades to 8 degree blades?  Obviously a less agressive cut?  But maybe a flatter cut in harder, knottier wood?  Even if it is a littler slower than the 10 degree blades.  Most of the wood I cut here is KS is harder than Oak.  I have a lot of Mulberry, Honey Locust and Osage Orange.  What would be benefit or downside of converting all of my blades to 8 degree?  It would definitely save time adjusting the sharpener for each blade and keeping track of which ones are 10 degree and which are 8.

[tylerltr450]

Why not keep one for 10s one purpose and 8 for others. I have sharpened many blades to different degrees however you can take the hardness out of the blade or overwork harden them if your not careful.

[Gere Flewelling]

If you want to convert them all to 8 degree, that is your choice.  I would suggest you try a couple of the 10 degree ground to 8 degree before you convert all of them.  You won't have much of a tooth profile /blade width left if you try changing them back to 10 degrees.  I have ground a 10 degree to match an 8 degree and had good luck.  I did it by accident as the 10 was mixed in with the 8's.  I use 8 degree Super Sharp most as that is what my cam is on my Cat Claw.

[Chuck White]

I have a Cat Claw and have used it with good results since 2009.

I have only ever bought Wood-Mizer, Double Hard 10°, and I have converted a few of them to 8° specifically for a sawjob that was just Black Locust.  They cut with good results.

Later on, I converted them back to 10° with no ill effects.

FWIW, I feel that there is no degradation in doing so!  Also, I don't necessarily go for the full profile of the tooth/gullet, just sharpen until the face and the top part of the back of the tooth are ground!

[BandsawBen]

I sharpen all my woodmizer 10 degree to 8 degree on a cat claw sharpener. They cut better than new. I wanted to try some new blades and just bought a 15 box of 7 degree turbos, i think i got a bad batch they are terrible. I put a new one on my setter to check the set because it was "barrel cutting" and rising in the cut or "push off" with in the first few cuts. The set was off .003 from side to side. I reset and touched up with two light passes @ 8 ° and bam like new should be. I know its far from your original post, just wanted to chime in

[KenMac]

I think you'll be ok going to 8 degrees on them. I would only hit the tips front and back and not worry about the gullet. I learned that works really well for me and doesn't change the setting much. As Mr. Cook says" only the top .010 cuts" so that's about all I sharpen. Lightly hit the front on one pass then lightly hit the back on the second pass. YMMV

[barbender]

I regrind blades to 7° on my Cook's all the time. You really don't have to take off much material when you are lessening the hook angle. I've never ground any back to a 10° or anything like that because 7° works well for me. No, there isn't a hole on the Cook's for 7°😁 I've never given much credence to the "grind out the gullet cracks" theory, I'm more worried about the top of the tooth face/back. When I have blades break, you can tell they are stressed from fatigue going around the band wheels. You can fold them and break them more, where a fresh band it is almost impossible to do so.

[jaayres20]

How did you grind 7 degrees?  Make a new hole?

[barbender]

I found where it needed to be with a protractor, and clamped it in place. Tbh, I'm not even sure, I do know I intended to tap another hole for it if I ever got serious 😁

[farmfromkansas]

I take my blades to a guy in McPherson who has a catsclaw sharpener with a supersharp cam.  He sharpens all my blades to the same.  And he just takes enough off to make them sharp. I have a variety of blades.