Bandsaw mill lubricant

[AdamnRalph]

Just wondering what other people use and why? I'm using straight water at the min but I've heard of people using water/soap mix and also red diesel. Cheers

[Big J]

I use red diesel, and have done for over 2 years. In that time I have used less than 100 litres, having cut over 1000 tonnes of timber in that time.

[AdamnRalph]

Are we talking a drip a second or more?

[codlasher]

Coming from a Forestry and Sawmilling background I am always surprised that folk use water. Until the advent of the portable mill I had never heard of using water.

The standard Stenner drip feed is an economical device and it only needs filling twice a day.

codlasher

[AdamnRalph]

Coming from a Forestry and Sawmilling background I am always surprised that folk use water. Until the advent of the portable mill I had never heard of using water.

The standard Stenner drip feed is an economical device and it only needs filling twice a day.

codlasher

 

I have a drip feeder off a slurry tanker pump that I may have a look at tomorrow and see if I can rig that up.

[Big J]

Are we talking a drip a second or more?

 

About that, yes.

[agrimog]

I use soluble oil, at a very weak mix, and again about a drip a second

[dervishcarving]

I was following this thread for a while but it seems to have died. We have been milling quite a bit of reasonably-fresh Larch recently and the blades dont half get gummed up. Do any of you have any tricks that might help reduce this? Its currently just water dripping about 2 or 3 a minute. I know its better to avoid milling green softwood if possible but this time it had to be done

[Big J]

Like any timber, it's best milled green. I started a thread some weeks ago struggling with larch and resin.

 

I've had reasonable success with water with a lot of fairy liquid in it. Enough so that it forms a bit of a froth as it is deposited onto the blade. You need to massively up your drip rate too. Mine pretty much just flows onto the blade when cutting larch. Will use 10 litres in about an hour of cutting.

 

Cedar on the other hand (which we are cutting a lot of at the moment) is just a joy to cut. No issues at all.

[dervishcarving]

Thanks J, I will suggest that to the boss-man. This is what i like about this forum, you always get goo advice