band blade flatness

[paul case]

is this something that deserves looking at?
i bought some cookssaw blades and i get their magazine. this months issue has 1 article and it is all about blade flatness. that is from gullet to back. do any of you guys/gals have a blade roller from cooks? can you tell it makes a diference?
the funny thing is the new cookssaw magazine is the first one without the band roller listed for sale in it.   pc

[ladylake]

 My 1-1/4" blades cut good untill they die, A roller might help 1-1/2" blades.    Steve

[sgschwend]

From my experience the saws need to be flat.  They are when I purchase them and will stay that way if I use them correctly.  Otherwise in my view I have abused the saw.

My sharpen service will throw away a saw with too much damage which I suppose would include a none flat saw.  So the roller might fix/recover that saw.  But to tell you the truth I knew I sent them a iffy blade because I remember some bone head error I made that messed it up.

I can't speak for other bandmill brands but the one I used will not distort a saw to be out of flatness (assuming it is setup with the proper tension and blade guides adjusted).

[backwoods sawyer]

When sharpening a 12" wide saw part of the process is to "bench" the saw by taking a straight edge and looking for light that comes under it, these areas are then hammered to flatten the band. You can do the same thing at home with a set of wheels that allow the saw to roll around as you work over a flat steel plate with a good light. I will bench a saw when I wreck a saw and it dose helps. Rolling the saw is less accurate then benching the saw as it just puts even pressure on the saw as it goes around.