Question
Just interested to know what brand blades sawyers are using on their bandmills. I am inquiring for softwoods, i.e., spruce, fir, etc. I have 19-inch band wheels.
I'll start:
Woodmiser: Too soft - a good life but the set runs out quickly.
Sterling: O.K., not very aggressive and a good life.
Lennox: Cuts great, but too hard; not very good blade life and very aggressive.
Forum Responses
I run only WoodMiser bands, 1-1/4 inch x 13-feet 2-inch, 7/8-inch pitch, .042-inch thick and whatever the standard factory set is (I use their "Re-Sharp" service.)
I tried a bunch of different bands, and while there may be some that last longer, hold their set longer or are more aggressive, I've stuck with WoodMiser for one reason, consistency in the set. I found too much variance between bands of other manufacturers, which would cause the band to wander.
I just can't seem to get a good cut on Norway spruce. No matter what configuration I try with the blade, I still get wave around the knots. I get a good cut on all the other softwoods until the band starts getting dull.
Woodmizer has a .055 blade for use on knotty logs. I've never tried it, though. They've also come out with a new blade called the "Doublehard." They say the blade and the teeth are as hard as they can make them. I've bought a box, but haven't used any yet.
The key comes mostly to sharpening. I do my own because of the added expense of shipping and sharpening as well as keeping the extra blades in shipment. But back to the bottom line: lower blade tension will extend blade life. Correct saw alignment is crucial to a straight and true cut, and a sharp, properly set blade will do fine, even the thinner, 1-1/4-inch blades.
On clean timber, I've often exceeded the manufacturer's life expectancy of the blades, as well as time between sharpenings. But the biggest factor in how well a particular blade handles has not been the manufacturer, but the quality of the resharpening and setting. I have learned not to expect a blade to perform properly. Everything has to be right, and I'm not afraid to change a fairly fresh blade (factory or resharpened) the minute it isn't cutting well.
I, too, agree -- you can't emphasize "sharpening and set" enough, to get the best use out of whatever brand blade you prefer.
I am really interested in Timberwolf. Their tech department is so far the best, but I want to know the real stats from the horses' mouths.
What about sharpening? Which band fits your sharpener the best?
Timberwolf blades hold their set longer than others.
Tooth height and gullet shaping are critical along with set. Premature breakage due to bad welds, lousy grinding, or brittle steel make me look for another manufacturer. I hope I never hear the phrase "Our welds are good for the life of our bands" again.
I generally get 4 to 500 BF in clean Southern yellow pine, 800 in green cypress, 4 to 600 in red oak. Sand, knots and alignment all contribute to the running time of any band. Six sharpenings are all I expect out of any of them.
Take your pick, but the bottom line is which one cuts the best lumber in the shortest amount of time.
On our LT40HDG35 Super we are running WoodMizer .045 blades. It was having some cutting problems until I worked out some other adjustments. Now it cuts fine. I'll start lowering the blade tension to find a point where I can cut true without problems.
We use the WoodMizer "Re-Sharp" program and have been happy with the results. I re-grind, but don't set the blades one time between sending them off again.
We've tried one of the new WoodMizer blades with the hardened teeth on the Super but didn't see any improvement in performance. This was probably due to the above-mentioned adjustment problems, not the blade, so it was not a good test.
We've been sawing since '94, have surely broken more than a hundred blades, and have probably a hundred blades in service now. We've never had one break at the weld - all have died a natural death - except one Simonds and it broke, not at the weld, within 100 BF of its first use. It was replaced free of charge with an apology.
I intend to experiment with other blades and am tempted to try Timberwolf. I have found a local sharpener to resharpen the Lennox bi-metals but he does not have equipment to set hook, etc. Am I wasting my time? Should I invest in sharpening equipment? We saw approximately 100,000 fbm per week and use three or four blades per week.
My opinion - the best way to improve performance (assuming a good blade, properly sharpened, etc.) is to get away from water! We use a 50/50 diesel/chainsaw bar oil mixture, sparingly. Just enough to get rid of chatter.
Comment from contributor A:
I do custom sharpening, and some of the comments I'm reading about bands running 24 hours just isn't so. The run time on a band should be measured by the board feet produced. A good run time on any band is around 800 board feet. Also, the set and hook are two different things that are equally important. The hook is the degree of angle of the tooth face. The set is how much the tip of tooth is bent from side to side to make clearance for the body of the band. The least amount of set you can have, without pinching or heating the blade, is usually the best.
