Harvey Pascoe
09-11-2010, 3:53 PM
If you do a lot of band sawing of tropical hardwoods or other resinous woods, you're probably a little miffed at how fast your blades seem to dull, particularly if you saw a lot of veneers with expensive blades such as the $32 Wood Slicer. But wait, before you throw them away as being dulled, check the blade to see if its all gummed up. Even it is just mildly discolored, it has resin on it which is causing friction and slowing it down and building up heat. This, in turn can cause blades to track off course and make veneer sawing impossible. Here is a way I have devised to clean saw blades quickly and extend their life by up to 300%.
Obtain a piece of 4 ft. long melamine covered MDF. This is often available by dumpster diving for free, old shelving and display cases that are tossed out. I found mine as a tossed bookcase curbside on garbage day. Cut a section about 8”0 to 10” wide and just short of your doubled blade length. This can then be clamped to the edge of bench for easy working. Round the ends of the MDF and slip the blade over it so that you can rotate the blade around the MDF without it hanging up. Use the weld joint as a starting point.
Using a brass brush dipped in lacquer thinner (acetone works too, but it evaporates too fast), wet the blade over an 18” area and brush back and forth both with and against the teeth. Don't worry, the brass brush won't dull the steel. Then quickly wipe away the residue with a paper towel and move on to the next section. You'll note that some very ugly sludge was taken off the blade. Next, turn the blade inside-out and do the other side.
After you are done, wet a rag in the solvent and wipe the blade clean of all residue both sides. It is very important that you remove all traces of gum and resin so as minimize friction, so wipe until nothing shows up on the rag. Now test the blade on the saw. If it now cuts well again, then you know the problem wasn't a dull blade, it was blade contamination. The approximate time to clean a blade, 15 minutes, a small price to pay to extend the life of a $32 blade. You can now stop throwing away perfectly good blades.
Oh, and you just might want to apply the same logic to all saw blades !
Obtain a piece of 4 ft. long melamine covered MDF. This is often available by dumpster diving for free, old shelving and display cases that are tossed out. I found mine as a tossed bookcase curbside on garbage day. Cut a section about 8”0 to 10” wide and just short of your doubled blade length. This can then be clamped to the edge of bench for easy working. Round the ends of the MDF and slip the blade over it so that you can rotate the blade around the MDF without it hanging up. Use the weld joint as a starting point.
Using a brass brush dipped in lacquer thinner (acetone works too, but it evaporates too fast), wet the blade over an 18” area and brush back and forth both with and against the teeth. Don't worry, the brass brush won't dull the steel. Then quickly wipe away the residue with a paper towel and move on to the next section. You'll note that some very ugly sludge was taken off the blade. Next, turn the blade inside-out and do the other side.
After you are done, wet a rag in the solvent and wipe the blade clean of all residue both sides. It is very important that you remove all traces of gum and resin so as minimize friction, so wipe until nothing shows up on the rag. Now test the blade on the saw. If it now cuts well again, then you know the problem wasn't a dull blade, it was blade contamination. The approximate time to clean a blade, 15 minutes, a small price to pay to extend the life of a $32 blade. You can now stop throwing away perfectly good blades.
Oh, and you just might want to apply the same logic to all saw blades !