Board feet per sharpening

[P.A. RESHARP]

Just wondering, with one of the questions in another thread, how many board feet ( on average ) do you guys get per sharpening. 

Thanks

[ladylake]

200 to 1200,  average maybe 450.  Yesterday sawed 1100 bf of clean  basswood 1" on one blade and 600bf of white ash 5    6x8 x 16' stringers and the rest 2"  one the 2nd blade.  In and out of there in 4-1/2 hours, all went well.   Steve

[Magicman]

500 to 700 bf.

[Kelvin]

I've got a older 15hp electric LT40 and pull my blades when they first show signs of slowing down and dulling.  About 250-300 bd ft in oak, less if i hit dirty bark.  I think that the guys who get more board feet are running more powerful motors, b/c mine is barely adequate when it they are sharp.  Also i do quite a bit of 12" plus wide cuts in white oak and this seems to cut the time i can saw with them.
KP

[NMFP]

With a 42 hp diesel, 1.50" x .055 7deg band, i am averaging about 500 bf on a band. Sometimes i might get more but it just depends on how many Cants i cut and the species of the log.  Sometimes I can get about 700 if I am sawing eastern White Pine.

Running 7 deg hook angle is the key to long run times.   ;)

[Chuck White]

I run Wood-Mizer .045 1¼" 10° with .022-.024 set and average right around 500 bf before I pull the blade.
Sometimes I will do as little as 350bf or as much as 700bf.
The debarker extends the blade life dramatically.

I saw mostly White Pine & Hemlock.

[LeeB]

I would say an honest estimate for me would be around 300.

[petefrom bearswamp]

I have a WM LT40SHDD51 AND Just picked up a couple of 1 1/4"x.055 7 degree blades yesterday,  sawed 600 ft. of Norway spruce 4/4 so far  (today is too cold for me at 15 to 20 F) and it is still sharp. the logs are real clean.
This blade is cutting great with a real fast feed.
I also got a couple of 10 degree .055s as well and will try them later.
My .045 10 degree WM blades made extremely wavy boards in this NS.
I had one Cooks new blade .042 which broke at the weld on the 3rd pass.

[maple flats]

I have a Peterson and get an average of about 1000-1400BF on clean logs, hard or soft. One dirty log can change that in one cut, or sawing a roadside log from a gravel road, that gets imbeded in the log. Time to use an old sacrificial blade if I have one. Mine is an 8" cut with a 20 HP turning it.

[backwoods sawyer]

It all depends on what I am sawing. Making wide cuts in a big ugly Doug fir, I may get 250bft. Fresh cedar the saw may be cutting like it was just put on after 750bft. I like to use two saws per day, but take six just in case.

[Brucer]

Last year I averaged 462 BF/sharpening. 100% Douglas-Fir, sawing with a debarker.

[Sawyerfortyish]

All of you run band mills so I'll be the odd one. I don't debark. I run a circle mill and in clean logs I might saw 10-12000 ft without doing anything but then there are those days. Frozen dirty logs even with a kerf saw sharpen every couple logs. It takes less than 5 min to touch it up and maybe 15 if I swedge and sharpen.

[P.A. RESHARP]

I have been there and done that,  Worked for a circle mill owner for 3 years,

[Jaybolicious]

I have a 21 hp Oscar 36" by hudson with 23ft trailer. 1 1/4" blades.  Eastern white pine I can get around 700 bd ft pretty consistently, these are clean and I use a mudsaw debarker. 

[Mark K]

If I see my blade starting to wonder or notice the motor lugging I change the blade. I get anywhere from 350-700 bf between changes. I saw mainly hemlock, white pine and ash.

[Magicman]

Welcome to The Forestry Form, Jaybolicious.   I'll admit that I am not familiar at all with your mill, but I'm wondering if maybe you got into some dirt or something and dulled that band when cutting the oak.

[Chuck White]

Welcome to The Forestry Form Jaybolicious, this is a really great place to hang out.

I feel that when the blade starts to wander, it either doesn't have enough tension on it or it's getting dull.
The more you push it, the more chance of breaking it or turning out bad lumber.
If my blades start to wander, they get changed.

[jcbrotz]

Welcome to The Forestry Form, Jaybolicious.   I'll admit that I am not familiar at all with your mill, but I'm wondering if maybe you got into some dirt or something and dulled that band when cutting the oak.

My first mill was a hudson oscar 30 with a manual mill you can tell real quick if you are pushing a blade with a woodmizer you spend more time sawing. The blade guides also leave a little to be desired depending on which one he has. I upgraded mine and still wasn't exactly happy before I upgraded the whole mill now I only wish it was a super ::)and a cat ;)

[weisyboy]

i run a lucas swing blade mill with an 8" blade and 25hp v twin petrol motor.

my blades only have 5 teeth. they are tungsten tipped.

if im cutting sompthing nice and soft like hoop pine or camphorlaurel i have cut 15-16m3 (7000 bf) without a sharpen.

i normaly cut hardwood (ironbark, spotted gum, bluegum etc) and in clean logs i average 2m3 (1000 board feet.) of sawn timber to a sharpen. but if the logs haev been iting around or snug out threw mud i may sharpen after as little as 1/4 cube of board (80 bf).

it only takes 3-5 mins to sharpen my blade and thats from switching the engine off to cranking her back up again.

[Jaybolicious]

Magicman, I don't think it was dirt because I pressure washed the logs really good, My debarker was down though, so I had that working against me.  That oak just sawed slooow, even at the start.  I made sure to check for tension, red oak is like cutting concrete compared to eastern white pine.

[OneWithWood]

It all depends on what I am cutting and when.
Good clean ash and above 30°F I can easily get 600bf per band.
Dirty soft maple and below 30°F I may get 200bf if I don't hit metal.
I use the debarker whenever I may encounter bark.

[ErikC]

 Peterson 8" 23 hp., I guess about 1000 between sharpening on avg. If there's dirty bark it may be every log (rare), but I sharpen at the end of the day so it's ready in the morning even if she's still cutting good. Just takes a minute and keeps things running smooth.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Update on the WM 7 degree .055.
Finished with my 10' Norway spruce yesterday. See my post on best day so far.
Was all 4/4 and the blade now has 1,200 ft on it and the tips are slightly shiny so I WILL sharpen.
Love this blade.
Sawed Ash today with .045 10 degree and got about 300 ft per blade.
Logs were dirty but the de barker took care of that.
Pete

[Magicman]

I'm just trying to visualize why you can cut 700 bf of pine and just 250 bf of oak.  If blade sharpness is OK then you may have a  blade pitch problem.  I'm just not "up" on lower horse power mills.

[P.A. RESHARP]

Thanks for all the feed back guys, you all have been a big help    p.a.