hot circle blades

[Peach]

Peach,
 Is a 48"saw with a 12" crack in the rim worth repairing? Its old.

[Peach]

woodhaven , do not under any circumstances , use that saw ! in the old day's some would have welded it and most of the time the weld would hold . but, the times have changed , in particular...   ... osha . not sure what some states do , but in mich . it is a posted law on their websight . i did weld some cracked saws years ago , but it is not worth the risc today !   if you find someone that say's they will do it , you know the can't be to professional . use that baby for a sign     mi. saw doc.            'peach'

[Frickman]

I've had hot circle saws a number of times, more than I should admit. Like listed above, most of the time it is caused by an unnoticed piece of wood wedged between the saw and something else. Sometimes it's noticed but you can't shut the saw down fast enough. One time it happened because the mandrel bearings overheated after a hired hand overgreased them. The bearings on a Frick mill, if in good repair, only need a few shots of grease twice a year, at Christmas and Fourth of July. Well, this hired hand proceeded to pump in grease until it came out of the bearings. I had to run the saw, without using it, several hours to work all the grease out. Anyway, there are other causes of an overheated saw, but foreign objects are the number one.

Jeff B. had it right in that if the saw isn't hitting anything, let it run free so that it cools properly. You do this to let the saw cool evenly. If it was sitting still the portion above the husk, with more air circulation, will cool faster than that below the husk.

Woodhaven,

I'm not a trained hammerman, but there is no way I'm running a welded saw with that big of a crack.

[sawmill_john]

I'd agree with peach, dull teeth, wrong angle,  & worn shanks, are the most common cause of heating.  The guys I used to trouble shoot for would sware up and down that the teeth were sharp, as soon as the blades came in for repair it was clear they weren't, I even had a guy bring back a saw one day after hammering, saying we don't hammer it properly, he made two cuts and it heated, when he showed up, every tooth had a corner broken off, he swore that he didn't hit any thing but the saw told the true story.  There is no way to guess how long a tooth will stay sharp, they need to sharpened before they get dull, a sharp saw cuts so much better than a dull saw.