Best Advice in Awhile

[Jim Koepke]

Much of my knowledge and understanding of woodworking comes from right here at SMC.

Thanks to all who share their knowledge here and on their own blogs and sites.

Today a special thanks goes to George Wilson for his advise on re-sawing on a bandsaw.

If you saw carefully and feel how the saw is cutting,and don't force it,it is remarkable what it can do.

I had the furniture conservation guys(3 of them) come into my shop and ask to use my 20" Delta. They wanted to resaw 5" tall walnut planks. I watched them saw,and none of them could stay within 1/4" of the line. After watching them waste a lot of wood in several planks, I took a plank and sawed it right on the pencil line they had drawn. They wanted to know how I could do that. I told them "You have to learn to make love to the bandsaw". They all thought I was joking,but I really wasn't. I was using the usual 1/4" blade.

Being like the "furniture conservation guys" my re-sawing was all over the place.

At first, "making love to the bandsaw" didn't quite make sense until it was given some thought. One has to take the time to understand what one's lover needs and wants. The bandsaw is like a lover.

Thanks George, my re-sawing has improved incredibly.

jtk

[Michael Ray Smith]

Sounds dangerous to me.

[george wilson]

If you carefully nurse the blade along,feeling how it is cutting,and keeping a steady,but careful pace,not too fast for the blade to take,even a 1/4" 6 tooth blade can do wonders. The blade has to be sharp for this to work,though. A half dull blade will not perform like a good one will.

I have had good luck just lightly touching the top surfaces of the teeth of dull blades,using the bench grinder. Consistent touching of the blade's teeth is the key. It would be better to make a grinding jig,but I can pull it off a few times on used blades. The set gets diminished each time,so you can't do it too many times. On wider blades,there were devices to re set the blades. They had a few antiques in the millwork shop that were for filing and re setting bandsaw blades. Unused for decades. I guess workers aren't as frugal as they used to be. The millwork shop always used a 1/2" blade. I think the old equipment was for more like 1" wide blades.

Anyway,the blades I barely touched up out performed the blue blades I started with. The process of bluing the blades took away some of the sharpness. It would have been better if the saws had been factory ground AFTER drawing them to spring temper. Probably cheaper to do it the way they are made. A light grind got them sharper.

[Derek Cohen]

George, I discovered a video demonstrating the sharpening method on eBay a little while ago. How would you rate this ...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UygEQ-0...%3DUygEQ-079Ws

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

They had a few antiques in the millwork shop that were for filing and re setting bandsaw blades. Unused for decades. I guess workers aren't as frugal as they used to be. The millwork shop always used a 1/2" blade. I think the old equipment was for more like 1" wide blades.

Not many are frugal when they are spending someone else's money.

jtk

[Mike Holbrook]

Interesting post. I just finally got my bandsaw moved into my shop today from the garage. It took a weight lifter and two other guys to nurse it down all the steps to the basement. It is now where I can get my hands on it anytime I want. I am anxious to start nursing wood across the blade. It came with a 1" Resaw King blade which I hope will work well for resawing and long rips. I have a little Inca 10" saw that I will use for cutting most curves.

Since I have not perfected my sawing technique I bought a Driftmaster fence which I hope will help me with cutting in the direction the blade and saw want to cut in. When I anticipate making no more direction change than the blade can handle I get a good cut, when I have to adjust after I let the saw start to steer off the mark I wind up with those little ridges in the kerf.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Since I have not perfected my sawing technique I bought a Driftmaster fence which I hope will help me with cutting in the direction the blade and saw want to cut in.

You don't need the fancy fence. Just watch the video from Alex Snodgrass and you'll never have to worry about blade drift again.

The only downside is that the maximum blade width is subsequently reduced.

[Dave Cav]

You don't need the fancy fence. Just watch the video from Alex Snodgrass and you'll never have to worry about blade drift again.

The only downside is that the maximum blade width is subsequently reduced.

This video was probably the most productive half hour I have spent in a while. Lots of good info here but now I need a blade stabilizer for my 14" saw.

[Jim Koepke]

This video was probably the most productive half hour I have spent in a while. Lots of good info here but now I need a blade stabilizer for my 14" saw.

+1 on that. It was good enough for me to watch again with a note pad.

Used the 2X4 trick to set my blade today.

Maybe after my current project my next quick project should be to clean up my bandsaw and do a few of the tune up tips and see if a blade can be sharpened by hand.

jtk

[george wilson]

Derek: The FIRST MENTIONED 18 minute video was a bit long and wordy,but the guy is doing exactly the same thing I do when I sharpen a blade. It cuts about 4 times as fast with the tip of each tooth kissed with the grinder.

The new teeth are dark because the manufacturer is heat treating the blades after the teeth have been made. It doesn't take a genius to see that the tips of the teeth are burned off a little from the heat treating process. Tipping them with a grinder just a tad gets the teeth sharper. I noticed for many years that my blades just cut so much smoother and better after this little grind on each tooth. When I was younger and poorer!! I would grind the tips of teeth often to save a blade for further use.

I fully recommend sitting through this 18 minute video(which is a bit hard to do). The guy repeats himself often,but the learning experience will be valuable for anyone who wants better performance and longevity for his blades. His methods were simple but flawless as far as I'm concerned.

If you really want to get into this process properly,you can make a plywood jig to run the teeth in against a stop for consistent grinding. Also,with this jig,put on a narrow wheel,and dress the shape of the wheel to the shape of the teeth. A ratchet stop to space the teeth automatically would be valuable too. It would take away the skill needed to consistently do the process,too.

I am tipping SIX teeth per inch!! 3 TPI would take less effort too,but half as many teeth wear 2x as fast. Fewer teeth are better for resawing thick lumber,though I can do it effectively by carefully feeling the saw cutting,and having long experience with it.

I will say here that it isn't long experience that counts the most. It's the ability to THINK the process through,FEEL the blade cutting,and make careful adjustments to how you feed the wood that count the most.

We had a friend who owned a Wood Miser(sp? Mizer?) sawmill. It had a blade sharpening outfit with it. He HAD to sharpen his own blades due to their expense,being wider blades. He used the same blades several times before they were worn down. You can imagine sawing through bark,some dirt in the bark,hitting the occasional nail.etc.. Those blades were just carbon steel,sawing logs many feet long and of large diameters. It was not long until they got dulled. I don't know if he had means to re set the teeth.

[Chris Griggs]

I fully recommend sitting through this 18 minute video(which is a bit hard to do). The guy repeats himself often,but the learning experience will be valuable for anyone who wants better performance and longevity for his blades.

I watched it with great interest and excitement. I don't even own a bandsaw, but am going to try and budget to get one in the coming year. I will referencing both these videos again when I do FOR SURE.

Great stuff guys. Thanks for the links.

[Jim Koepke]

And the great advise just keeps on coming.

After watching the videos and reading comments here another thing or two was learned and put to use.

Seeing the blade being sharpened with a grinder kind of bummed me out for a while. Then it came to me, why not just do it by hand?

Searching through my oil stones the large (2X3ish) slip stone seemed to be the right one, but it was a bit unwieldy. A small 1/2" triangle by about 4" fine India seemed to be the right stone.

This was done with the power removed, the blade set to full tension and the guide all the way to the top. About 5 or 6 teeth could be worked before reaching to the other side and turning the pulley. It didn't take to long to hit al the teeth with just enough strokes to clean up the tooth's point, about 10 strokes in both directions.

My attention was focused on keeping the angle constant while moving the stone across the top of the teeth. Probably a lot less metal was removed than if a grinder was used.

The re-sawing is greatly improved and the saw tracks a lot better.

So, again thanks to all who have added their two cents.jpg.

jtk

[george wilson]

Only a small amount of metal need be removed if the blade isn't REAL dull. Therefore,Jim's method worked out well. If Jim's method is used every time the blade seems to not be cutting perfectly,it should work a good many times before the set in the teeth is finally removed too much.