Anybody sharpening and setting their own bandsaw blades?

[idahohay]

I asked a saw filer from a large commercial mill about some cutting problems I was having with my old Mighty Mite. He mentioned the rolling process where the back of the blade is rolled and how it actually makes the back edge longer than the cutting edge and that it made the cutting edge run more true when the blade was up to tension. He also doubted it would be effective on 1-1/4" bands. At that time my mill was running 2" but in its original form, getting enough tension on a 2" band was questionable. I converted it to v-belt sheaves and belts(now polyurethane) and no more problems running 1-1/4".

Haven't heard the Dino profiler mentioned. I have a 12volt hand crank one that I really like but have never learned to use anything else. I built a manual setter that is very accurate but super slow and could see why a pro would not wan to mess with one.

 

[Dave Boyt]

It is pretty noticeable when a blade starts to dull on a manual mill... harder to push, and you can really feel it when you push through the end of the log. Your sawdust will be more of a powder. Usually this is so gradual, you won't notice, but if you saw through dirt in the bark, you'll notice the difference right away. I don't recommend you do this on purpose... it will happen even if you're careful. Until you get the feel for it, you might just change blades after every 4 hours (hardwoods). That's about what I average.