Band sawing wet (green) wood

[Peter Blair]

Ok, so the last couple of days I have been banned sawing blanks and wonder if anyone has come up with a solution to the 'gunk' buildup on band saw wheels when doing this? I usually try to stop every so often and lightly scrape but yesterday it was really tough. After I got them clean I sprayed some silicone on the wheels and have a couple of other pieces to saw today and will see if it helps? Any other thoughts?

[Reed Gray]

Seems like no matter what you do, some woods will gunk up your blades more than others. When really bad, I spin the blade by hand and use a straight screw driver or one of those 5 in 1 painter tools to scrape it off. I have heard of using WD-40, Pam, Top Cote, Teflon, and others....

robo hippy

[John K Jordan]

I keep a piece of square brass tubing from the hobby shop at the bandsaw. It is fairly thin walled. When I get resin and junk buildup on the side of the blade I press the end of the tubing into the side of the blade while the bandsaw is running. This very quickly knocks off most of it. After cleaning the sides, I move the brass into the gullets on both sides to clean those. The brass is so soft that if I run it into the teeth there is no damage, it just wears a bit off the end of the tubing. I'm guessing my tube is about 1/2" shorter than it was 10 years ago.

I have been doing this for years with no incidents and I consider it completely safe. As with any moving things, wear safety glasses. I stand behind the bandsaw.

If there are a few very stubborn spots I stop the bandsaw and scrape them by hand with a sharp tool.

BTW, I clean pine resin buildup off the top of my Woodmizer bandsaw mill with the same technique, but using the steel tip of a large and long screwdriver instead, again standing behind the saw. I'm careful to not touch the gullets. For some reason, the resin only builds up on the top side of the blade.

JKJ

[Brice Rogers]

I wonder if having a brass brush rubbing on the blade would help? Perhaps positioning the brass brush so that it spins. I wonder if anyone has done this and has found it helpful.

[John K Jordan]

I wonder if having a brass brush rubbing on the blade would help? Perhaps positioning the brass brush so that it spins. I wonder if anyone has done this and has found it helpful.

I know a stiff plastic bristle brush helps. I mount one inside bandsaws. Some bandsaws come with them. Pieces cut from a small scrub brush work.

I haven't tried mounting a bass brush but holding one against the moving blade doesn't do much after the buildup is caked on, at least if brushed for a short time.

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

My saw has a stiff bristly brush but it only helps remove dust not the sticky gunk I get when sawing green. John, If you are sawing 40 or 50 blanks how often would you use the brass tube?

[John K Jordan]

My saw has a stiff bristly brush but it only helps remove dust not the sticky gunk I get when sawing green. John, If you are sawing 40 or 50 blanks how often would you use the brass tube?

It depends on the wood. Most hardwoods I cut don't cause any buildup. I use 1/2" 3 tpi blades.

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Pete - were you asking about the wheels or the blade - seems like, even though they’re related, the brass tube solution would raise bloody hell on the tires. Mysaw has a bristle brush mounted on the lower wheel that rubs the tire - it does help a little, but cutting wet blanks always means a long time scrubbing when done. been using the Trend blade and bit cleaner to get the stubborn spots off, then putting a little armorall on the tires. It seems to make the next cleanup easier.

[Peter Blair]

Jeffery I was referring to the wheels. I'm not as concerned about the blade as it is replaceable and much easier to scrape. The bristle brush on mine really just removes dry dust, doesn't do a thing for the 'gunk' from wet Maple.

[Geoff Crimmins]

Depending on what type of guides your bandsaw has, they could be contributing to the problem. Ball bearing guides tend to squish all of the goo onto the blade, which can then transfer it onto the wheels. Steel or ceramic guide blocks tend to scrape the goo off of the blade, so there's less to transfer onto the wheels. They won't completely solve the problem, but they do help.

--Geoff

[John K Jordan]

Jeffery I was referring to the wheels. I'm not as concerned about the blade as it is replaceable and much easier to scrape. The bristle brush on mine really just removes dry dust, doesn't do a thing for the 'gunk' from wet Maple.

Sorry, I didn't read carefully - I thought you were referring to buildup on the blades. I have never experienced buildup on the tires, either the stock tires on three bandsaws or on replacement urathrane tires, wet maple, pine, anything.

JKJ

[Robert Hayward]

I have never experienced buildup on the tires, either the stock tires on three bandsaws or on replacement urathrane tires, wet maple, pine, anything.
JKJ

That is amazing to me. Someone that has to stop sawing quite often to clean the blade, guide bearings and the tires. I have had the tires so gunked up sawing green Florida Live and Laurel oak the blade has come off the wheels.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hé Peter what you turning, Spruce and other evergreen trees :D ;)

I sometimes have the tires and blades get gunked up, usually if I saw some of the above species but on other wood on occasion as well, I will have the saw spinning and hold a piece of hardwood against the tire, and then also with 2 pieces of hardwood at the same time on both sides of the band right above the table, so I can use some pressure to clean it up, some people seem to have amazing saws that never have buildup on the wheels, but mine certainly do.

Now in another life and another world, I seen the use of a brass plate held against the band at an angle, this was at a sawmill where we did repairs and maintenance work for, the very large horizontal bandsaw had steel wheels with flat faces, so no rubber or other material on them, they used 4” wide bands and ran at very high speed, any sawdust would be scraped and bounced right of and away from the band, the brass piece was just set onto of the band and then fastened to a large bracket, occasionally they also sprayed water onto the band, as they cut mainly European Oak (that is all White Oak) they also cut other species of logs where the wood that might have sticky sawdust, like Teak and Pallisander, Afcelia etc, as these logs came in at Rotterdam on ships, and that was close by or even by boat on the canal witch was only 5 or 6 miles away in the Tilburg harbour.

Anyway it was quite easy to set and adjust the brass scraper and lots of room for a bracket, probably not as easily done on the smaller lathes we use, but you could give it a try to add a bracket and use a brass scraper, if set at an angle it would be self cleaning and not load up.

[John K Jordan]

That is amazing to me. Someone that has to stop sawing quite often to clean the blade, guide bearings and the tires. I have had the tires so gunked up sawing green Florida Live and Laurel oak the blade has come off the wheels.

Maybe be occasionally cleaning the blade keeps gunk from being transferred to and building up on the blade. Or maybe the a different tension, different tires, or sawing the types of wood local to here makes a difference. No Florida oaks around here yhat I know of. A mystery to me. I do have strong dust collection I've added around the lower guides below the table - maybe that makes some difference.

[Robert Hayward]

I also have what I consider strong dust extraction, a Laguna Cflux3 and it sits right next to the bandsaw. I still get a fair amount of wet sawdust in the bottom of the bandsaw when I cut the green oak. Some of the oak has more pitch than others. Those are the ones that really make a mess of my bandsaw and also the one that gummed up the tires so much my blade came off the wheels. Yes I sawed too long without checking, just did not realize how much gummy sawdust was in the bandsaw wheel cavities.

[John K Jordan]

My 18" Rikon also accumulated a lot of dust in the bottom, even with the 5hp cyclone, until I made one change. I added small box that fit around the lower guides and forced the air from the upper pickup to go across the blade and guides. Now I get almost nothing in the cabinet. This also took care of what sawdust that sprayed out of guides and onto the floor.

JKJ


I also have what I consider strong dust extraction, a Laguna Cflux3 and it sits right next to the bandsaw. I still get a fair amount of wet sawdust in the bottom of the bandsaw when I cut the green oak. Some of the oak has more pitch than others. Those are the ones that really make a mess of my bandsaw and also the one that gummed up the tires so much my blade came off the wheels. Yes I sawed too long without checking, just did not realize how much gummy sawdust was in the bandsaw wheel cavities.

[Peter Blair]

I was sawing fresh cut red maple but I have had this problem before with green maple. The Laguna has ceramic guides that just barely touch the blade and do some scraping but the wheels still get buildup. I have never tried ignoring this issue as I am nervous about the 'gunk' changing the tracking. The rubber on the wheels is pretty hard. I did try spraying with silicone this time AFTER I finished! Next time I saw wet hardwood I'll try it BEFORE I saw. LOL
Thanks so much for all the helpful comments.