1. Ordering blades - When ordering bandsaw blades for the first time
we often ask several questions to do our best to make sure that you get blades
that will make your mill the most productive. Once you have ordered blades
one time we keep this information on file and all you have to do is tell us
that you want the same blades you received last time.
We will often ask the brand of your sawmill - We do this to help confirm that
the length and width is what is normal with your brand of mill. Also concerning
the brand of blade we are often asked which blade we sell the most and which
is the best.
We think the blade that is best for your sawmill ultimately will
be determined by you. We carry Simonds, Lenox, and Munkforsager blades. We
plan to have our own blade by the fall.
Simonds is the largest seller for
us and then Lenox and Munkforsager sell about the same behind Simonds. We
hear a lot of different comments about blades. Sometimes a customer will say
I want this blade or that blade and will never use the other blade. You can
be very passionate about what you prefer.
It is funny that we can hear that
about every blade that we sell. Just last week we had a customer tell us that
a certain blade that we no longer carry was the best blade he had ever used.
I have one or two other customers tell me the same thing. At the time I didn't
tell them that we discontinued the blade because most of the people who used
it had complaints.
This goes to show a few things: price, type of wood, and
feelings about a blade all affect whether a person likes a certain blade or
not. We are not like many companies that we run into that will not give you
a suggestion. We have an opinion and will opinion and will make a suggestion
but ultimately we want and know that you are the final judge of what works
best for you in your situation.
Once you have decided whatyou like best we
are glad to supply it. There is one blade that the Cooks would like to officially
introduce and suggest that you give a try is our new Presharp blade. As most
of you know a sharpened blade will run better than a new blade out of the
box.
There may be several reasons for this: between handling the stock at
the factory and welding the blade and boxing, some of the teeth of the blade
may get pulled, pushed and bumped into something that will do a small amount
of damage to the teeth. This is most often not even noticeable.
The teeth "feel" sharp but in fact there is a small amount of dullness that
is already there. Also, more likely why you see a big difference in sharpened
verses new is that the teeth are set after being milled or ground at the factory.
What this does is to cause the tooth geometry to actually be the reverse of
what is best. When you sharpen, you get any dullness out.
Of course, you also
change the face angle on the tooth. It becomes a flat face angle when before
it had negative face angle. With the Presharp bandsaw blades (for very little more
money per blade) you can know that the blade is perfectly sharp and we will
actually give the blade a positive face angle. This will make the blade cut
longer with greater speed. You will find it is more than worth every penny
extra they cost.
As always you will be the one who decides if these blades
work best in your situation and we want to please you.
2. What is the length of your blade? To measure: Put the
bandsaw blade on the floor and make a mark at the weld. Then roll the blade till the
weld goes all the way around and stops on the floor again and make a mark
there. Then measure from one mark to the other. This will give you an accurate
measurement of your blade. Trying to measure the blade by holding a tape and
pulling it around the blade is almost always wrong by 1 or 2 inches.
We will
ask the exact length and then how much tightening ability you have when you
tighten (tension) the blade. This is important so that we can get the blades
the right length and have the tooth spacing correct at the weld. The only
time that a blade can actually be the exact length is if you plan to run it
once and then throw it away.
If you want to sharpen the blade, the tooth spacing
must be correct at the weld. That means on a 7/8 tooth blade the overall length
of the blade will be anywhere from exact to 7/8 short if we index back. It
can be as much as 7/8 long if we index forward. The reason this is necessary
is because the tooth will hardly ever land just right so the spacing will
be correct at the weld.
In addition to this when we weld the blade it is shortened
about 1/4 inch. All this has to be taken into account so that the tooth spacing
will be correct when you get your new blades so that the blades will tension
up properly. Once we have established what is right for you we will make a
note of it in our computer system so that on your next order all you have
to do is say give me blades like I got last time. We work hard to give you
the right blade for your mill every time. These questions help assure that
they are correct the first time.
3. Another question that we have found to be very important is: Which
way does your mill turn? This is a question that may seem odd without
knowing the reason why. So here is the reason: We have found that nearly all
blades have a curvature (hump) in them from the manufacturing process. We
have found if a bandsaw blade is not completely flat it will not cut accurately. Even
.001 to .002 can give you problems. If the curve is bad enough you can’t
even hold it with your bandsaw blade roller guide or a bottom control guide.
Since no blade
is completely flat we will run it through a flattening process. We have also
found that because of anti-clastic curvature (bending the opposite way on
the tooth and back edge from the direction that it bends around the band wheel)
that we are better to make the blade with a slight curve so the blade will
stay up or against your roller guides.
As the blade continually goes around
the band it is a natural occurrence that it will begin to take on the anti-clastic
curvature. Again, the curve will be opposite of what you normally think (anti-clastic).
Instead of being in the direction of the band wheel you will see that the
tooth edge and back edge actually curve away from the wheel. You can really
see this by taking any band and bending it in a fairly tight circle and laying
a straight edge on it. By narrowly overcompensating for the curvature we can
actually cause the blade to run longer.
After a few sharpenings the body of
the bandsaw blade will again begin to take on an anti-clastic curvature. As the blade
begins to come to the end of its life it will have taken on enough of a curvature
that it will not continue to run without being flattened again. Because of
this it really becomes important to know which way your blade turns. 90% of
all the blades that we weld are correct for standard mills.
But there are
a few that turn in the opposite direction. If your sawmill turns in the opposite
direction and we don't know it, when we do our flattening process we may actually
place the curvature in the opposite direction from which you need it to be,
so it is important that we get this information correct.
4. The last question that I will deal with in this article is tooth
spacing and blade width. Which is best? The answer with saw blades
as in so many other things is it depends. I will give you general guidelines
here that work for most people. The most poplar tooth spacings are 1/2, 3/4,
and 7/8. The 1/2 is used specifically in resawing pallet boards. We find that
the 3/4 spacing in the 1-1/4 wide blade works even better in most pallet resawing
operations. There is more metal in the blade so it will stay in the cut and
lasts longer for resharpenings.
For sawing logs we find that 7/8 tooth
spacing is preferred far more than any other tooth spacing. We use it ourselves
on both hardwood and softwood. This is accepted throughout the industry. There
are exceptions where some people saw only softwood and they prefer 3/4.
The
idea is that the softer wood needs more teeth per inch so that it won't dig
in so much. With more teeth in the cut each tooth is getting a little smaller
bite of wood so that it doesn't over stress the gullet of each tooth. In harder
wood the wider spacing allows each tooth to try to get more of a bite since
the wood itself will keep it from digging in too deep. Again these are just
basic principles and we leave the final decision up to you. We give our opinion
based on our experience but leave room that your specific application.
Band
width is fairly simple. As I stated above the more metal in the blade the
better it will stay in the cut up to a point. What we usually say is if you
just saw occasionally use the 1-1/4. If you saw regularly or need to go as
fast as possible when you are sawing then use the 1-1/2. The wider the blade
the more correct everything has to be on your mill. This is because of the
curvature that we spoke about above. The wider the blade the more the blade
seems to take on the curvature.
It is worth the little extra effort but you
will need to keep your roller guides in excellent shape and keep them adjusted.
Also because the blade thickness is the same in most of the blades bear in
mind that the teeth will be dull at the same time as the teeth on the 1-1/4.
But because of more width (beam strength) the blade will stay in the cut even
after the 1-1/4 will be dull and dipping in the cut.
This is nice for the
1-1/2 but I believe that if you continue to saw with what is essentially a
dull blade (even though it is not diving) you will experience premature blade
breakage. What is best is to establish a point at which the blade becomes
dull and stop 30 minutes before that time and sharpen it them. You will saw
faster which means more production and your blade will last longer which means
more profits. And that is what the game is about.
There are many other things
that could be said but these guidelines should be helpful. Our hope by giving
you this information is that we can help you help us when taking your blade
orders so we insure that you are always getting the best running blade for
your particular application. We want to serve you the best we know how and
help you make more profits.
So let's get out there and make some more sawdust.
Co-Owner CooksSaw.com
Leaders in Bandsaw Technology!
