Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[TimW]

Doc,  
  I will post photos, this evening, on the Shade Tree thread.

[TimW]

I was happy to read that the Yanmar "ran like a Cheetah". 

Lynn,
      It is running like a young, strong Cheetah!

Now answer me this.....sometimes the simple set makes a wrong cut.  I have it set for 4 inches and had a 5 inch cut.  What causes this?

[KWood255]

3300bf of 2x6x16 and 2x8x12 spruce over the weekend. I have been using primarily Wood-Mizer Razortip carbide blades. This, and a bit more was completed on the same blade. We will sticker later today during delivery. 

[jpassardi]

KN: what are your thoughts on the carbide blades as far as economics and performance?

[KWood255]

KN: what are your thoughts on the carbide blades as far as economics and performance?

Being that I do not have a sharpener/setter of my own, the carbide bands are likely more economical for me in the long run. That would probably differ if I had my own, where sharpening cost was not really a factor. 

The performance improvement is very noticeable in my opinion. We saw about 90% white spruce, which has a horrible tendency to wave near the knots. The carbide has minimized this, although they will still move a little at times. 

I have a habit of arguably sawing too slow. The carbide will easily allow me to saw faster then my nerves can handle. 

My LT70 has a digital engine load meter. Most time with spruce I am running under 30% load with carbide. If I use a 10* WM Doublehard blade, I will see high 40's %. These are both .055x1.5". 

I am sold on the carbide. I was equally impressed with their performance on my LT40 as well. Plus, I don't have piles of dull blades laying around. I typically ran these until they broke on my 40. I'm yet to break a blade on the 70....yet! 

[barbender]

What brand are you running? I have sharpening equipment, but man I just hate changing bands. Every time I really get in the groove, it's time to shut down and switch blades.

[jpassardi]

I'm with you Barbender - I question if sharpening/setting is the most productive use of my limited time...plus I find it boring so I wait til I have a good number of blades to do. 

[Magicman]

When I started sawing, I used the same resharpening guy that my sawmill's previous owner used and it was bad.  There I was not knowing what I was doing anyway and I was sawing wacko lumber.  I ordered 60 new blades from Wood-Mizer and whatdoyouknow, maybe it was not me, but the resharpened blades.

I did not have the funds to invest in a sharpener/setter so I started using Wood-Mizer's resharpening services.  My personal life was such that I did not know when I could sharpen anyway, so I kept using them and have continued to do so for over 21 years.  Yes, I have spent thousands of $$ resharpening but my "mind set" is that when I am not sawing, I am off.  The sawmill has lived up to my expectations of producing extra/supplemental income, so I classify my resharpening expense the same as fuel and maintenance; just a daily expense of about $30 per day.