blade talk time

[woodmills1]

well its time again


as some of you know I use only woodmizer .045 general purpose blades set for pine in the box and sharpen and set myself on mizer tools

the current box i have has 14 left of 15 and has been sharpened at least 5 maybe 6 times with only a few being over run or hitting metal

I dont set  often, and just set 10 of these last night and sharpened a few this morning

set out to cut pine early today to try to beat the stain weather coming



the first blade cut 468  board feet and is still on the mill though it is now dull.  Understand all of the logs in the footage were under 10" on small end as the concentration yard won't buy the small anymore.  Each and every log was cut through and through then all boards were edged on the mill at one inch passes.
this makes it so that blade took a lot more cuts than the footage tells.  I am impressed :P  I had a log pick up at noon or would have tried to get another hundred feet from it.

[woodmills1]

got another 120 out of that blade till I put on a larger log and it didn't wanna cut level.  The next blade hit 2 nails on its third pass so can't give good numbers for it.  Today I cut up the hollow or rotted bones to get the clear from the outside and tomorrow I cut 12 by 12 to make my newly designed top soil screnner.

[Percy]

Im not sure how much HP you have on your 93 WM but if you get a chance, try WM's 13 degree blade on soft woods and even the easier cutting hardwoods(Birch, Alder, Cottonwood). The feed rate increase at the same "throttle"(you know what I mean ;D) setting are noticeable. Also you can turn it up considerable. In WRC cutting a 12 inch cant, we are running well over 60 feet per miniute(probably close to 80) and the motor isnt working as hard as with the 10 degree blades.

Point being, faster cutting means more BFT between sharpenings...... ;D

[Furby]

Point being, faster cutting means more BFT between sharpenings...... ;D

I think you are getting more BFT in a given day, but more BFT between sharpenings ???

[Percy]

Point being, faster cutting means more BFT between sharpenings...... ;D

I think you are getting more BFT in a given day, but more BFT between sharpenings ???

Well, my thinkin on this is I change blades before they get dull to extend flex life. So, in a given amount of time, there is more bdftage at the faster feed rates between sharpenings.... ;D

[pineywoods]

re: 12 deg blades    I set and sharpen my own and I'm running 15 deg rake cutting southern yellow pine. didn't work very well when I had the tired old 18 hp briggs, but since I upgraded to a bigger kawasaki, it does make a difference. 

[Furby]

But are you not still cutting the same amount of wood before the blades get dull Percy?
Cutting faster, don't mean you are cutting less wood now does it?

[Percy]

But are you not still cutting the same amount of wood before the blades get dull Percy?
Cutting faster, don't mean you are cutting less wood now does it?

Heh...I may not be right on this but Ill use an analgy(sp) to explain my way of thinkin.

Suppose you had a pair of shoes that had , say 10,000 steps in them before they were worn out. The user of those shoes could cover more ground by taking longer steps, in the same amount of time, compared to a person that was taking smaller steps.  In this case,  length of steps  = bdft.... Ima lousy splainer but I do keep records and blade costs have dropped in the last year sice Ive started using the 13 degree blades and production(bdft per hour) is up. My formulas are not complicated or scientific for that matter so feel free to correct me.... ;D

[Tom]

Percy, that was a good anology.  It also pertains to the horsepower of the mill and the sawyers ability (learned) to make fewer cuts to get the same product.

[woodmills1]

my point is the longevity of the woodmizer blades.  I had the long life before the upgrade to the new blade guide was put on the sharpener, but now my blades cut very very well.  I cut some honker oak today but only had the newly set for pine bldes, extra sawdust and a little crowning on the 20 AND 18 INCH BOARDS BUT CUT CUT CUT THEY DID. This today was a 1000 ft 43 inch 16 foot section of red oak, though cut into 4 ft lengths due to large wall in back yard of removal,  Hey, customer installs stair treads for a living and he and I figured 4 foot was fine anyway.................62 5/4 by 12 by 4 witht the last and largest log left. :D