professional bandsaw blade sharpening?

[Tai Fu]

I found a place near my shop that sharpens bandsaw blades professionally. So I went over with my 1/2" 4 and 6T blades and asked if they could sharpen them. They said that the tooth is too fine for them to sharpen because their machine can only do 3T at the very most. What is the upper limit for professional bandsaw blade sharpeners? It seems they can only sharpen sawmill type blades...

Was hoping to save some money because they don't charge very much to sharpen the blade.

[Frederick Skelly]

Tai, Sorry I dont know the answer. Im guessing people resharpen sawmill type blades because they are very expensive to buy evey time you dull one. In contrast, one can buy pretty good blades for a hobbyist size bandsaw at affordable prices. So folks dont have them resharpened. Therefore the pros dont invest in the machinery, etc. But Im guessing.

Fred

[Erik Loza]

...one can buy pretty good blades for a hobbyist size bandsaw at affordable prices. So folks dont have them resharpened. Therefore the pros dont invest in the machinery, etc. But Im guessing...

That guess would be correct. Tai, what are your options for new blades over there?

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Alan Bienlein]

This is what I did on my band saw blade and it actually cut better than new. I realize it won't work for everyone but it did for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wht-30Oh4zQ

[Tai Fu]

As for options, I don't know because I guess I can always buy carbon steel blades from the company I bought my bandsaw from, however being carbon steel they dull kinda quickly and I haven't really found where I can get some coarse 1/2" coils (so I can braze them myself). I won't buy carbon steel blades from the US simply because the shipping is too high, rather pay a little more for a bimetal blade that lasts a lot longer.

As for the cut off disk sharpening. I have done it before, and it works. The problem is I tried to sharpen the gullet and everything with the cutoff disk, and when I mounted the blade back on the blade cut well but drifted like crazy. So I kinda hoped for some kind of professional sharpening service to restore the gullet or whatever else I might have messed up. Also with a 133" band it takes really long to sharpen them unless you are sharpening a Woodmaster B or something like that. I guess maybe I should get a Woodmaster B once the CT really wears out, and have the sharpener sharpen it when it dulls. Not sure how long a 1" .035" band will last on a 18" wheel though, because chances are when it dulls the band will also be at the end of its life (which is really the catch-22 with those wide blades).

I am guessing the wheel on bandmills are so large fatigue is not an issue...