Set variation in new bands

[petefrom bearswamp]

This may not be new but is new to me.
It seems that there is quite a variation in the set of new blades.
My friend and neighbor who saws a lot more than I do had a box of 20 WM blades that cut terrible and varied .008 in set from side to side.
He reset them
I checked some Cook's super sharp yesterday (I don't have any other brand of new blades right now) and they varied from .019 to .025 from side to side. The remainder of the box (five blades) was consistent in this regard.
Being a rather lazy sort, I just reset the .019 to .025.
I had already used 5 of the 10 I bought with mixed results.
One blade lasted all day for me and cut great. (Hemlock)  the next 2 wandered right out of the box.
I'll report back on this experiment when I get some more logs to saw.
My neighbor also gave me a .055 to try. these @#$$$ are so stiff that with my arthritic wrists I can't fold the sucker.

[Kansas]

The box before last for the LT 70 would not cut out of the box. Somewhere around that .008 difference. We had to reset the blades before we could use them. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Its not just with woodmizer blades. We have had it happen with others.

[John Bartley]

I'm using Hakkansens (sp?) and I'm finding that the set out of the box is 0.021" across the board. I find though, that they will lose their initial factory set quite quickly in the first log, but once I reset and sharpen them they're fine and they stay set well. The Hakkansen's are very flexible and I can run them at lower strain levels than the Munkforsagers.

cheers

John

[Larry]

I've found the same thing...one side is perfect from tooth to tooth but the other side is out...sometimes to much.  I've reasoned, but don't know this for fact that they set, than cut for length and maybe that has something to do with it.

[Cedarman]

Some new blades might have some burrs on a few teeth.  But that should only be on one side of the blade.  Make one pass through a log, then check set.   That will deburr the blade.  Also running a block of wood across the teeth should  remove them.  Just one thing to look for among many.

[sgschwend]

I believe you will find that your supplier is purchasing blade stock and welding them together and then shipping them to you.  They are not checking the set, so what ever is there is what you get.

I know my sharpening service has told me that the blade stock he purchased has not being set right, his rep tells him that their blades are set with high accuracy, but so far their is no proof of that.  My service guy is stuck resetting all of the new blades. 

[Kansas]

I would guess that in Woodmizer's case, they make the blade, then set them. When I picked up the LT 70 from Indy, the service guy grabbed a new blade over against the wall and put it on. It made it about 2 inches into the log. We got the blade off, and looked it over. There was zero set on the blade. Not even the slightest trace of set. The teeth were in a perfect straight row.  I think someone went in the back and had grabbed the wrong one.

[backwoods sawyer]

Quality control.

If the tooth setter is off or the operator is slacking and is not checked on a regular basis a lot of saws will go out with improper set with out them noticing. Let the let who ever you got you bands from know there is an issue so that they can find the underlying cause of it before they have to do a massive recall. If the problem persists over time with no improvement then change supplier.

[sgschwend]

I have modified this posting removing an errant reference.

To clarify:
Saws are made by cutting blade stock to length and welding the two ends together. This is what many saw shops do.

Blade stock is made by a companies that most of us have never heard of, companies mostly in Europe, such as Banso.  These folks form the saw tooth/gullet, sharpen and put in the set.  Roll the stock into a big roll. 

Your saw supplier unless directed by you may send you saws made from different blade stock companies.  Or overtime switch blade stock without telling you. 

In all cases we all need blades that are sharp and have the correct set (not to mention other important things such as good welds).  I would make sure you supplier is verifying set on every tooth!  Or you will need to do it.

I know my service does this for me.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Just a note, we never had a bad Munks blade. Every one cut great right out of the box, and set was not needed for 2 sharpenings.  8) 

[Kansas]

According to Woodmizers website, they sharpen and grind the teeth on their blades, and put in set.  Wether they manufacture the steel, I don't know. I know other companies buy rolls of blade stock and cut and weld to link. I would be interested to know exactly how far back in the process woodmizer goes.

[MartyParsons]

This is what Woodmizer and other saw shops do.

Wood-Mizer purchases the Steel from a specific maunfacture, they are even fussy about where the metal was made. Very high specs must me meet. Wood-Mizer punches the blade at Indy with a press ( about as big as a house) (very noisy) there is a punch for each profile of blade. They cut a sample of the blade every so often ( sorry I am not sure exactly) When I took a tour there were guys checking this on a computer and measuring every part of the blade. The bands are cut to length and then welded. I think the set is done before the blades are cut but I could be incorrect. There is also an induction hardness done in the process. ( Double Hard)
Wood-Mizer was manufacturing about 7 miles of blades every day.
When we took a tour I wanted to spend more time here but they were draging me through the plant to get through it all. Wood-Mizer is also pretty fussy about the tooth spacing on the weld.
Wood-Mizer uses two different types of steel, one for Double Hard and one for Silver Tip.

Marty

[woodmills1]

I like my mizer blades, and i uses dem up dil dey done.