6 in double cut bandsaw blades

[cherish]

I've recently bought mill with 6 in double cut bands. Looking for sharpening and maintenance. I live In New Mexico. 

[stavebuyer]

I was the log procurement manager for a man that built a mill based on one of the first 6" double cuts. It was a painful journey, not solved until he built and equipped a filing room and poached an experienced saw-filer from a mill running 18" bands. 

Narrow bands you can grind and set and call it good. 6" + will need to be tensioned. No custom sharpening outfits had the equipment or experience for that task at the time. Hopefully that has changed, but the degree of difficulty involved in maintaining the 6" bands is the main reason they didn't become common. If another small mill nearby is sharpening their own, perhaps they could help you out.

[chet]

Long time sponsor of this forum 'Menominee Saw', left side of page.  

[moodnacreek]

Not to put down the double cut band but here lies the reason circle mills are still around. Being able to insert teeth requires little skill.

[longtime lurker]

I've got a resaw runs 6" single sided bands. I have an antique Armstrong grinder and setter  to suit and can touch up bands in house.

But here's the thing right - I can touch them up from half sharp a couple ( 1 or 2)  times. But I can't hammer them or stretch them and once they're blunt they'll require shipping away to a saw shop with all the toys required to do the job properly.

Double sided bands are a significant magnitude more difficult to get to run right, and I've read or heard a lot of informed commentary suggesting that many owners of the equipment end up running single sided because it's too hard to get right. I know one of those commenters personally and he wasn't real happy to have spent the extra $ to get a saw that can't outrun my big old Robinson XF54.

Big band maintenance isn't rocket science, but it is a skillset, and you either need to pay the man with the skills to do it or spend the coin for automatic equipment that you can run yourself. Or you ship them to somewhere else that's got one or the other. Biggest cost with shipping is the sheer number of bands you end up with in circulation because some are home sharp, some are home blunt, some are at the sawshop, some are going one way or the other, and freight and logistics means you need to send them in batches. $30k won't go far buying double siders, but of you can get them cutting right it won't take long to cut that value in lumber either.

As with most things in life you get what you pay for, but if I had to choose I'd go with a 10" or bigger single side for a headsaw rather than a 6" double cut. Similar performance, easier to maintain.

[moodnacreek]

I didn't want to say negative things about the double cutter as I have no experience with such but it seams many who had them converted to single cut. I would like to see a heavy duty horizontal traveling band rig [for logs] with edger saws.

[longtime lurker]

Couple of the European manufacturers do that Doug.

Usual thing for us guys: it's setup cost vs run cost. I imagine it's not cheap but nor is a dedicated egderman.

MOBILE BAND SAW with inbuilt EDGER - Mebor S-Mobile 13 - YouTube

[moodnacreek]

Well there it is. I wish I could see the bunks like that guy does.  I passed up a vertical edger once because I could not see a way to operate alone with all those boards and sticks falling off. On this [video] sawmill everything returns to the sawyer so that would be great with the right take away conveyer. That mill seems slow but I bet the production of boards ready to stack is quite good. Thanks for posting.