Blade sharpening - any hints or tips from the more experienced?

[Big J]

Hi all,

 

Just really getting started with my own blade sharpening and setting. I've probably done about 25 blades so far. It's generally going very well, and I'm working with a 10 degree hook angle and a wide set (about 0.65 to 0.7mm). I've always liked a wide set band - I would happily take a slightly slower cut, a slightly enlarged kerf and a few more saw marks over the very smooth but invariably wavy cut timber a narrow (say 0.4mm) set blade cuts.

 

I tried playing around with hook angle, but once I got towards 15 degrees, it didn't cut the elm well at all. Back to 10 and perfect.

 

I imagine many of you have a lot more experience with this than me - any hints or tips?

 

The one thing I've realised is that even for a part time sawmiller, self sharpening and setting is vital as even my learning curve efforts so far have been vastly better than the majority of blades I've had back from saw doctors. For the £1500 it takes to get set up with a sharpener and setter, I'd highly recommend it.

[agg221]

Are you gulleting the blades? It's a trade-off on this in that if you do it every time then it takes a lot longer and the blade reaches end of life faster than necessary through being too narrow but if you only ever sharpen the tips it will give you premature failures through microcracking in the gullets.

 

Microcracking is almost purely a function of running time whereas sharpness is - apart from exceptional events, also a function of hardness. This means that you can do tips only more times in succession on more difficult timbers such as elm than on softwoods.

 

You would need to find the balance for your set-up through trial and error - on my little Ripsaw it is three to one on hardwoods for example, but it may save you time and money in the long run, depending on the consequences of a band failure in your set-up during the learning phase.

 

Alec

[Big J]

I am gulleting the blades, yes. Took a while to set up the sharpener correctly to do it (the grinding disc is not a profiled one, rather an 8mm standard disc. The profile comes from the set up of the cam) but I'm not worried about prematurely wearing the blade. I've got 50 of them, they cost about £18 each and I'm just using 5 blades at the moment which I've sharpened about 5-6 times already.

 

I tend to find that elm cuts better than most softwood. I find softwoods are usually abrasive and dull a blade a bit quicker. Cedar is an exception to this rule.

[arbwork]

Big J hello good to see your new mill and your positive feed back, how are you setting the blades, manual type ? cheer's J

[Big J]

Big J hello good to see your new mill and your positive feed back, how are you setting the blades, manual type ? cheer's J

 

Manual setting, more or less fully automatic sharpening. The sharpener just requires me to advance the blade around the supports. The advancement through the sharpening machine itself and the grinding is automatic.

 

Sharpener:

 

Trak-Met : Pilarki, Owijarki, Traki : Sawmill machines - Sawmill machines - BAND SAW SHARPENER

 

Setter:

 

Trak-Met : Pilarki, Owijarki, Traki : Sawmill machines - Sawmill machines - BAND SAW TOOTH SPREADER 2013

[arbwork]

thanks for info, I thought the sharpener would have had a profiled grinding disk, I guess you have to compensate initially for wear and changing profile on grinding disk, have you different cams to play with to alter teeth profiles?

[Big J]

That is correct. Seems to be going OK - just sharpen my blades at the end of every day. Trying setting them every other time, rather than every time.