There is a commercial mill not too far from me that is considering putting in a twin blade band re-saw to accompany/replace a gang saw he has been using to re-saw cants. He primarily cuts hickory. He wants me to bring my mill to his place and re-saw some of hickory cants so he can get an idea of how well a band mill will handle the hickory cants before he invests in a band re-saw.
I have ordered a 7° carbide blade, at a very hefty price I may add, to use. I am not afraid of hitting metal or anything since they will have already been though his metal detector, debarker and circle mill before I get them.
Does anyone have experience using this blades on hickory, and what were the results? I am very interested to see how long I can run it before it gets dull. I know a regular double hard blade does not last very long at all in hickory.
I am hoping the cants will be easier on the blade than sawing whole logs.
following.
here is a voting pole i created for what degree bandsaw blade people use
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,95785.msg1477473.html#msg1477473
Ran a couple of the carbide blades to try them out. They do outlast the doublehards I normally use. The downside for me was each tooth cuts a full kerf width (zero set) and thus requires more horsepower to take advantage of. On a 25 hp mill, a carbide blade loaded the engine noticeably..
I prefer a 4/39 for hickory and it works decent, resawing cants will be easier on the blade as opposed to sawing logs, but hickory isnnasty stuf. I'm curious to see how the carbide does. Are you resawing with a resaw attachment or just sawing like usual?
Is the twin band resaw they are looking at a typical resaw with 4"-6" wide bands or is it a thin kerf narrow band like you'll be using. If it's a wide band setup they're looking at any demo you can provide won't tell them anything of much value. Just my 2¢ worth.
Esp. if you're not using a resaw attachment and are just pretty much sawing I've tried that multiple different ways and never had much luck with it.
I am not going to be using a re-saw, just sawing the cants on the mill, and I don't know what the specs are on the re-saw that he is considering.
Darrel,
I agree that my demo won't be of much value, if the re-saw that are considering is designed significantly different than my band mill. If I wanted to saw hickory all day with a band mill, I would certainly want something other than my thin kerf 1.25 inch blades. If that is what his re-saw is going to use, he won't get much done other than change blades.
I tried the carbide blade out today and resawed 8 or 10 hickory cants and about 15 red oak cants. The cants were anywhere from 6 to 10 inches wide. I did notice that the blade did want to dive two times cutting that hickory and I could tell the blade was starting to get dull as I was finishing up the last of the red oak.
I changed blades to just a regular double hard to saw two hemlock logs before I finished up. When I got home, I inspected the carbide tipped blade and found that some of the carbide teeth were missing and some of the teeth were showing some "wear". Not sure what would have caused the teeth to break like that.
Is it normal for this to happen with only a few hours of use? Once a tooth breaks off, I am assuming it can't be resharpened.
If it's anything like other carbide blades for other saws the carbide and be replaced.
Razor Tip stelite may be a better option because it is not as hard and therefore not as brittle. Just my 2¢ worth.
I used the razor tip stellite blades in . 045 x1.5x10 degree on my LT70 with the resaw attachment. When sawing clean lumber with these blades, they stay sharp for a very long time. We resawed 18,000 bdft of 2x6 into 1x6 in one day with one blade on the mill all day. This saved about 8-10 blade changes during the day(about an hours time total) and increased production. The blade saved alot of money in labour costs and I threw it away after taking it off. Same program for three days in a row. THey are awesome when everything is clean and the finish was nice.
Quote from: Percy on August 20, 2017, 12:01:43 PM
I used the razor tip stellite blades in . 045 x1.5x10 degree on my LT70 .......and I threw it away after taking it off. Same program for three days in a row..........
what?? cant they be sharpened??
https://woodmizer.com/Store/Shop/RazorTip-Stellite-Bandsaw-Blades
$68 per blade when purchased in a box of 5.
three thrown away = $204 in the trash??
Quote from: DDW_OR on August 20, 2017, 12:36:26 PM
Quote from: Percy on August 20, 2017, 12:01:43 PM
I used the razor tip stellite blades in . 045 x1.5x10 degree on my LT70 .......and I threw it away after taking it off. Same program for three days in a row..........
what?? cant they be sharpened??
https://woodmizer.com/Store/Shop/RazorTip-Stellite-Bandsaw-Blades
$68 per blade when purchased in a box of 5.
three thrown away = $204 in the trash??
They were stressed beyond what a blade should have to endure. Running extremley high strain and feed rates around 75 feet per miniute. My guess is they were ready to break but they did an awesome job saving me money. Broken blades are a pain and lose me money.. Thats why I chucked them.
Thank you for the info.
8)
Quote from: Percy on August 20, 2017, 12:01:43 PM
I used the razor tip stellite blades in . 045 x1.5x10 degree on my LT70 with the resaw attachment. When sawing clean lumber with these blades, they stay sharp for a very long time. We resawed 18,000 bdft of 2x6 into 1x6 in one day with one blade on the mill all day. This saved about 8-10 blade changes during the day(about an hours time total) and increased production. The blade saved alot of money in labour costs and I threw it away after taking it off. Same program for three days in a row. THey are awesome when everything is clean and the finish was nice.
What species were you resawing?
Western Red Cedar