Larch and resin build up

[Big J]

Can anyone offer advice on cutting larch?

 

I've obviously cut a lot of it, but as time goes by, it seems to get harder and harder to find logs that don't contain huge amounts of resin that sticks to the blade.

 

I assume it must be something that I am doing incorrectly, so if anyone has any pointers, it would be a help. I should stress, I have no issues with any other species, just larch.

 

Blades have a heavy set, usually 0.8mm. I have a lot of power on the mill and like a heavy set for a flat cut.

 

Tooth rake is 10 degrees or thereabouts and I sharpen my own blades. I usually use diesel as blade lubricant, though have tried water also.

 

I basically just end up with a huge amount of resin/pitch stuck to the inside of the blade (with less on the outside) which quite quickly leads to a reduction in cutting performance.

 

I should stress though that I am very happy with the cutting of all other timber species. It's just larch that is causing the headaches at the moment.

 

J

[kinderscout]

Maybe veg oil as a lubricant on the blade

[PeakOakFrames]

White spirit is great at removing larch/Doug fir resin from tools, hands and timber in the framing yard. Something to do with it being synthetic turpentine which is itself distilled pine sap? Could experiment with it so long as it won't damage any other components such as sealed bearings or belts etc.

[Darrin Turnbull]

http://www.oregonproducts.eu/en/products/forestry-chainsaw.html

[Darrin Turnbull]

http://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/products-page/oregon/oils-lubricants-and-cleaners/oregon-mx14-universal-cleaner/

[youcallthatbig]

As I have posted in the past, I use "plantoil band saw emulsion", different blade to you Johnathon, 25* rake, 2" pitch and I raise rate of flow of waterbased lubricant ,which is sprayed onto blade and both wheels, sometimes you just have to swallow the cost of flooding blade to save on labour time of blade changes and cleaning,

 

can you not put a bigger pitch blade on and up feed rate/ slow blade speed, to try to reduce any heat build up, just my experiences, the only timber I shy away from with resin issues would be reclaimed pitch pine, larch down this way doesn't seem to present this kind of problem.

 

Tim

[Big J]

As I have posted in the past, I use "plantoil band saw emulsion", different blade to you Johnathon, 25* rake, 2" pitch and I raise rate of flow of waterbased lubricant ,which is sprayed onto blade and both wheels, sometimes you just have to swallow the cost of flooding blade to save on labour time of blade changes and cleaning,

 

can you not put a bigger pitch blade on and up feed rate/ slow blade speed, to try to reduce any heat build up, just my experiences, the only timber I shy away from with resin issues would be reclaimed pitch pine, larch down this way doesn't seem to present this kind of problem.

 

Tim

 

I spoke to another (more experienced) sawmiller about it, fairly local to me and he knew exactly where it came from (Speyside).

 

I will give the plantoil lube a go as larch is almost a no go at the moment. I have over 20 tonnes of the larch left in the yard and it's very good quality stuff. Just doesn't cut well.

 

Regarding additional lubrication, I only have one lube outlet, but I could fit more. I'm also considering changing from sandwich guides to rollers as I think they create more heat, causing more resin to stick to the blade.

[Brushcutter]

I use to have the exact same problem. I used this as a lubricant neat rather than diluted. Worked well but it's expensive. I had brass scrapers on the band and fly wheels to keep it clean. On bad stuff it didn't work. you needed to use a little saw to scrape the band while it was running.

[codlasher]

There was a regular routine on both Stenner bandsaws, rack & resaw, during the working day, also dependant on the timber being cut. This involved using a 1" chisel & scraping both the inside of the blade and the top wheel. The noise difference before & after was considerable too.

There was a weighted scraper on the Guilliet re-saw top wheel as standard.

I believe yours is a horizontal set up so perhaps you can get to both wheels?

Larch was a bu**er!

Diesel was always the lubricant, Water was never considered. Making sure the felt pads were always in contact with the blade helped too.

Hope this helps

codlasher

[youcallthatbig]

I spoke to another (more experienced) sawmiller about it, fairly local to me and he knew exactly where it came from (Speyside).

 

I will give the plantoil lube a go as larch is almost a no go at the moment. I have over 20 tonnes of the larch left in the yard and it's very good quality stuff. Just doesn't cut well.

 

Regarding additional lubrication, I only have one lube outlet, but I could fit more. I'm also considering changing from sandwich guides to rollers as I think they create more heat, causing more resin to stick to the blade.

 

-I am not saying that Plantoils product is going to cure your problem, but diluting it more and allowing more flow eases the financial pain a little rather than running it @ 20:1 mix....try 30:1, and up the flow,I have not noticed blue staining increase,but the sawdust/board face is wetter!

Is the lubricant, pump fed or gravity fed, if pump fed, a cheap solution to getting the lube to other parts of the machine is the "Hozeloc" irrigation system ,it has a variety of nozzles producing differing fan jets which could be cable tied into place as a temporary measure, also inline valves to help control flow where you need it ....just a thought.

 

Tim

Edited May 18, 2016 by youcallthatbig