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.

 

[tjkox]

Mahindra, I sharpen and set my own blades, as well as several other sawyer's blades. The tiny metal burrs that are left on the side of the teeth after sharpening, I remove them with a small carbide metal block. It came with my sharpener. The sharpener I have is the Cook's Cat Claw, and I use the Cook's setter as well. I rarely remove these burrs, unless I have big burrs from having to take a lot of metal off. Cooks also sells a blade roller that flattens your bandsaw blade, which I assume is the roller that you are talking about. I personally do not have a blade roller.. I do fine without one. However, the guys at Cooks know what they are doing when it comes to bandsaw blades. I have had some blades that after 4 or 5 sharpening cycles, will start to dive or rise in the cut, causing wavy cuts. I know that they are set perfectly and sharpened correctly.. so my suspicion is that the roller would fix this problem. I just throw the blades away at that point, but I imagine that if I had the roller, I could probably get a few more cycles out of those blades. Again, to me the roller is overkill, I get 6 or 7 sharpening cycles out of my blades before they start to cut badly, and that's good enough for me. Hope this helps you some.. :msp_smile:

would you be interested in a band saw filing job in western Wisconsin? 12” wide 6’ band saw set up for head rig and resaw. Complete filing room. Koxlien Bros. Wood Products on FB if interested. Looking for anyone with interest and experience.

 

[Seachaser]

would you be interested in a band saw filing job in western Wisconsin? 12” wide 6’ band saw set up for head rig and resaw. Complete filing room. Koxlien Bros. Wood Products on FB if interested. Looking for anyone with interest and experience.

He was last seen on this board in 2013.