Cedar Gone Wavy!!!

[highleadtimber16]

I was cutting cedar today and all of a sudden my blade started going up and down almost 1". I've never had it be that bad. It is wet wood, old growth, I had water running. It was a brand new blade that was starting to get dull. I then grabbed another brand new blade, threw it on and wavy again. I've had this happen once with new Wood-mizer blades. I can't figure out why though. Any comments? Thanks

[Ocklawahaboy]

Knots?  Blade tension?  Embedded metal? Those are my usual suspects.  An inch is a bunch though.

[arkansas]

I seen something similar just the other day.  It turned out to be
bearings in idle wheel.  Just a thought.  Mike

[JustinW_NZ]

try another band on another log?

Cheers
Justin

[hackberry jake]

I think a lot of people arent running enough tension on the band. I like to crank mine up to max... then again I also like straight boards  8)

[Dad2FourWI]

Yeah.... my WM rep likes to "peg" his tension too.... way more than I thought to use, but he has been doing this for a long time....  I need to get used to this too.....

[JustinW_NZ]

Its funny, but the better I have got at sharpening and keeping my guide rollers smack on straight I find more tension does nothing, I often now run quite low tension in hard timber with no Ill effect.

I am also running bigger bearings than the woodmizer ones in my rollers as well though, perhaps that helps?

Cheers
Justin

[highleadtimber16]

Very few and small knots, no metal "this is all mountain timber", blade tension was at my usual 2400-2600. It's weird, the last batch of new blades I had did not perform well on my cedar. I'm running 1 1/2" .45 10 degree blades on 1 1/2" rollers. Logs were clean. It's just super odd. Check drive belt, it's at 18 lbs. I'm going to a recently sharpened blade on this log. I will also double check all my rollers make sure every thing is in line. Thanks for the tips. 

[JustinW_NZ]

if you can check the set on both sides of the bands.

different set on either side will make things go really weird! (don't ask how I know  : )

Cheers
Justin

[highleadtimber16]

if you can check the set on both sides of the bands.

different set on either side will make things go really weird! (don't ask how I know  : )

Cheers
Justin

I wish I could! I sold my setter and sharpener a couple months ago. I'm thinking it may be the set. The blades are sharp as hell, but just don't leave a very straight line!  :D

[redbeard]

Cracks in gullets? Even dull blades cut WRC pretty straight.

[backwoods sawyer]

Cracks in gullets? Even dull blades cut WRC pretty straight.

It takes a lot to wave in WRC. Take a look at tracking, could be loosing set after it goes on the mill.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Other ideas, check to see drive side roller isn't wobbling (vertical holding bolts not broken from getting smacked by something).  Drive and feed belts tensioned right. I see you have 2011 mill but its 2014 now.  :  8)

[dboyt]

A new blade from the same batch won't eliminate the possibility that something was out of spec where it was manufactured, and several hundred blades were produced with bad set or crooked welds before quality control caught it.  Do you have another species of log you can try out?

[isawlogs]

  Have you tried that blade on a different log, internal tenssion in logs will give greiff to the best sawblades.  ;)

[GAB]

highleadtimber16:
Another thing to check is if the blade is parallel to the bed rails.
Some adjustment must be out either because it got hit or something loosened over time.
Cedar should not be that hard to saw.
Gerald

[highleadtimber16]

Well I tried the same blade on the same log this morning. I turned the water down from full blast to a slow drip and it's fine now...... 

[reswire]

I bought a brand new box of blades once, and found that 5 had misformed or missing teeth in places, (from the factory).  I know this sounds a little crazy, but I only found out after having used four bad blades in a row.   Just because it is out of the box, dosen't mean it's perfect!  I always look closely at the teeth on each blade, before installing it.   And I did have one that was turned "backwards" once, needless to say it didn't cut too well either. ??? ??? :

[coastlogger]

Maybe you were just feeding too fast?

[highleadtimber16]

Maybe you were just feeding too fast?

I had it at my normal rate. Then slowed it down the next cut and had the same results. Seems to much water was the culprit.

[redbeard]

I've been doing opposite with the lube. The old growth I've been milling is getting blade to hot, my resharpened blades 3-4 times have been breaking there lennox woodmaster. My TK ultra max have been holding up good. I have a  steady flow of water lube. The only wave deviation that is noticeble are the bigger knots.

[highleadtimber16]

This old growth is different than the stuff down here. It's harder and much more abrasive. When I cut old growth from south BC my blade will last the whole log. This wood, I usually use two blades on one 20"x16' log.

[redbeard]

The logs that I have have been down and decked for years most of the sap wood is sponge about 1" under bark. I hear you on abrasiveness when I change blades the covers are clean no saw dust build up (some times).

 

[ST Ranch]

highleadtimber16
I find cedar very challanging as well - My experience is similar at times sawing near the end of the cut - sawdust seems to build up in the gullet  - hard to balance the lube rate to the sawdust/log dryness.  Seems if the Cedar sawdust gets to wet it bulds up and log dives, and to little, the blade gets real hot.  I use some sunlight dish soap [1/2 cup per tank\ and this "appears" to help a bit as well.
Tom

[leroy in kansas]

Check the curve of the blade. If it's crowned up in the cut it seems it would dive.??