Bandsaw blade sharpening jig

[David Ragan]

With having my BS back in service finally, was using it yesterday, and the blade was drifting (drift is a whole nother meeting).

YouTube had a video, I can't recall the fellow who had the jig, but I copied it:



Bandsaw backbevel sharpen.JPG

The above Dremel has a standard 'Metal Cutting' wheel at the lowest possible speed, and trued to the face of the tooth as close as eyeball possible.

It takes just a second to take off a little of the back bevel of the tooth. No discernible heat.

After measuring several teeth/blade front to back, the results were surprisingly consistent @ 0.005" taken off.


Then, the actual bevel/gullet:

Bandsaw bevel sharpen.JPG

A 16d nail was with some PSA 400 grit SC paper was perfect for some finger powered honing (rotation CCW as pictured)

The teeth were surprisingly very sharp following this 40 minute procedure.

And, easier cutting w no drift.

(Honorable mention should be given to the value of periodic cleaning of resin and dust toward keeping the teeth cool and clean.)

[Al Launier]

Good tip, but if you get sparks you might want to remove the sawdust first. So you guide the fixture & Dremel tool along the fence & just "touch" the tooth. Neat!

[Warren Wilson]

I imagine the video you are referring to is John Heisz's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRFASuwGodE

I have thought of doing that myself -- thanks for sharing your experience.

[Derek Cohen]

I have been sharpening bandsaw blades for years with just a Dremel and a small diamond disk. Same principle, but freehand. Simply stroke the back of the tooth.



I do not touch the gullet, but I do like the idea ... in theory ... of the nail and paper. In practice this would not work since I use bimetal and carbide blades. Diamond is needed for those. The back-of-the-tooth honing is sufficient for a sharp blade. I get at least 3-4 times the use from a bimetal 1/2" blade, used for general sawing, and 3 sharpenings (so far) from a 1" carbide Lenox Woodmaster CT.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Ragan]

I do not touch the gullet, but I do like the idea ... in theory ... of the nail and paper. In practice this would not work since I use bimetal and carbide blades. Diamond is needed for those. The back-of-the-tooth honing is sufficient for a sharp blade. I get at least 3-4 times the use from a bimetal 1/2" blade, used for general sawing, and 3 sharpenings (so far) from a 1" carbide Lenox Woodmaster CT.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Yes, I have an expensive Laguna Resaw King carbide blade. But realized that I was using it up on non-critical cuts (non-veneer)-huge carbide teeth.

Had not considered the fact that diamond will be needed for that. The Lee Valley diamond paper will come in handy there.

Am looking for an 18" diameter shallow pan to lay my BS blades in. Cleaning them periodically ought to help also.

Warren, yes-the parent video is John Heisz's; thanks for looking that up for us.