Does particle board dull bandsaw blades?

[Jack Hovanec]

I do a lot of radius work and cut my templates and jigs out of particle board for cost saving reasons.

Question is, will particle board do more damage to carbon steel band saw blades than typical hard/softwoods due to the glue content? I seem to go through band saw blades fairly frequently (or so I think, maybe its just the nature of these blades?).

I am aware that particle board/plywood, etc will wreak havoc on all other steel cutters. Curious what everyone else does.

Thanks

[Prashun Patel]

yes it will. MDF also wears blades faster. One has to do what one has to do, but I wouldn't subject a premium blade to it.

[Doug Garson]

Bandsaw blades are relatively easy to sharpen without even having to remove them from the saw. I've just done it once with a 3 TPI x 105" blade using a cut off wheel on a Dremel and it only took about 10 min and I was amazed how much better it cut.

[Mark Bolton]

Bandsaw blades are relatively easy to sharpen without even having to remove them from the saw. I've just done it once with a 3 TPI x 105" blade using a cut off wheel on a Dremel and it only took about 10 min and I was amazed how much better it cut.

How do you calibrate the grind and set? Do you clean up the gullet as well? We have a full profile grinder for bandmill blades that grinds the entire profile, hook, rake, gullet, but setting is the killer. Two bandsaws in the shop, latest I posted here, cant imagine how to sharpen and set by hand. Small saw maybe, but the one I posted with a 242" blade.. gosh I dont know how we could ever touch that up by hand.

[glenn bradley]

Any material with glue and resins in it (plywood as well) will dull your cutters faster than material without. As for blade sharpening, you will have to decide is that is something you want to do or not. I touch up router bits many times before sending them off to the sharpener's. I sharpen twist and Forstner drill bits. I don't do bandsaw or circular blades as I rely on the geometry expected and I'm not sure I would duplicate that as well as I might want.

[Doug Garson]

How do you calibrate the grind and set? Do you clean up the gullet as well? We have a full profile grinder for bandmill blades that grinds the entire profile, hook, rake, gullet, but setting is the killer. Two bandsaws in the shop, latest I posted here, cant imagine how to sharpen and set by hand. Small saw maybe, but the one I posted with a 242" blade.. gosh I dont know how we could ever touch that up by hand.
I didn't worry about calibrating the grind or touch the set or gullet. I definitely didn't do a high tech sharpening job. Mine's a 14" Rockwell from the 60's with a riser block. My 1/2" 3 TPI blade was dull, it cut poorly with lot's of drift. I just touched each tooth for a couple seconds with the side of a cut off wheel on a Dremel. Didn't expect it would make much of a difference but thought I could get a little more out of it before replacing it. I was surprised how much better it cut and was basically drift free. Used it for resawing some 3 to 4" cherry and also curved cuts on 2" thick oak and cherry and pleased with the results. If I had a major resaw to do I might switch to a new blade but I might try this blade first.

[Alex Zeller]

The other day I learned that the Lowes (maybe a local thing) will not cut MDF with their saw. They will cut plywood/ particle board though. Had to drive across town to HD as a full sheet wouldn't fit into my car. The guy said that MDF dulls the blade pretty quickly.

[David Buchhauser]

The other day I learned that the Lowes (maybe a local thing) will not cut MDF with their saw. They will cut plywood/ particle board though. Had to drive across town to HD as a full sheet wouldn't fit into my car. The guy said that MDF dulls the blade pretty quickly.


My local Lowes here in Tucson has cut down MDF on their panel saw for me on numerous occasions. The main thing is that you don't want to breath the MDF dust from cutting.
David

[Mark Bolton]

I didn't worry about calibrating the grind or touch the set or gullet. I definitely didn't do a high tech sharpening job. Mine's a 14" Rockwell from the 60's with a riser block. My 1/2" 3 TPI blade was dull, it cut poorly with lot's of drift. I just touched each tooth for a couple seconds with the side of a cut off wheel on a Dremel. Didn't expect it would make much of a difference but thought I could get a little more out of it before replacing it. I was surprised how much better it cut and was basically drift free. Used it for resawing some 3 to 4" cherry and also curved cuts on 2" thick oak and cherry and pleased with the results. If I had a major resaw to do I might switch to a new blade but I might try this blade first.

I might give it a go on some of the large resaw blades. Now that youve got me thinking it probably would be too awful bad to setup a simple little jig with a pin that references on the next gullet. Our nearest option for resharps with the shipping and sharpening makes it almost a toss them out option.

[Bradley Gray]

40 years ago I was buying band saw blades from a place in Cincinnati that had automatic sharpening machines. For a couple years I sent my blades in for sharpening. I think it cost $3. for a 17' band. But the 3/8 - 1/2" blades I use are impulse hardened only at the very tip and when they came back from sharpening they dulled really quickly.

[Mark Bolton]

40 years ago I was buying band saw blades from a place in Cincinnati that had automatic sharpening machines. For a couple years I sent my blades in for sharpening. I think it cost $3. for a 17' band. But the 3/8 - 1/2" blades I use are impulse hardened only at the very tip and when they came back from sharpening they dulled really quickly.

Agreed, I do get to a point with the blades for the mill where it is no longer worth it but most often they just break. Its honestly not worth it period if you value your time to clean and sharpen them in-house forget about having to ship them.

[Brice Rogers]

I've cut MDF under low light conditions and I've seen sparks come off the blade. Perhaps some sand/dirt ??

[Ron Selzer]

I've cut MDF under low light conditions and I've seen sparks come off the blade. Perhaps some sand/dirt ??
Back in the late 80's was cutting lifts of imported mdf, definitely tearing carbide blades up. Also heavier, 5x12 took two people most of the time to start cutting on it. Fortunately only about 15% was that size, most was 3x10. Sparks flew when cutting it. Boss said it was 60% cost versus domestic.Ron
Ron

[David Buchhauser]

Perhaps sand or dirt or?
David

[Alex Zeller]

I assume that MDF is made from logs that aren't of much use for anything else. If so I think it's safe to assume that it would include bark and anything that wasn't washed off like dirt and tiny rocks. If you've ever used a chainsaw in low light conditions you will also see sparks as you cut.

[John K Jordan]

Question is, will particle board do more damage to carbon steel band saw blades than typical hard/softwoods due to the glue content? I seem to go through band saw blades fairly frequently (or so I think, maybe its just the nature of these blades?).
... Curious what everyone else does.


All wood dulls bandsaw blades, some more than others, particle board can be harsh. I also resharpen my bandsaw blades. I had sharpened my last 3tpi blade four times before I replaced it. I grind only the part of the tooth that faces me (some call that side the back; I call it the front). I use a small metal-cutting disk on a Dremel, handheld with the blade on the saw, calibrated by eyeball, grind takes less than a second per tooth.

443415

One thing about this method - the cut can become less smooth with every sharpening since it can reduce the set on the teeth and since ground by hand the set on some may vary. This doesn't affect most of what use my bandsaw for - preparing turning blanks.

JKJ

[Randall J Cox]

Sparks off a band saw blade, I have seen them. Scary as I have my dust collection pulling the sawdust off both my bandsaws. i thought maybe it was my lower ceramic guides.... Maybe not. Randy

[Randall Houghton]

Jack

For radius work in particle board I'd use a jigsaw with a decent blade and clean up by using an edge sander of some flavor to sand to the line.

Regards Randy

[Mark Bolton]

I've cut MDF under low light conditions and I've seen sparks come off the blade. Perhaps some sand/dirt ??

I think if you cut anything under low light conditions you will likely see sparks but MDF is definitely hard on tooling. On the CNC we keep a few cutters used regularly on MDF dedicated to it. One sheet of MDF and it will never cut as clean on anything else but you can cut miles of MDF with the same tooling. Its a pain, but is what it is.