blade life question

[hogdogman]

is there a blade life (generally speaking) that can be expected from any given blade as to how many times it can be sharpened?

[LittleJohn]

If memory serves Wood-mizer (bandsaw baldes) will only resharpen twice, but don't quote me on that.

A few years back found a local guys who resharpens blades, as long as the blades are able to be resharpened (meaning teeth able to hold edge, no cracks, etc.).  I can typically get 3 maybe 4 sharpeninging out of blade, before catastrophic failure (I try to saw a portion of the mill, blade cracks or breaks). 

I advise against running til the blade break (for obvious reasons, hopefully), as long as blade and teeth are structurally sound, there shoudl be issue with resharpening.
Good luck and hope the piles of sawdust are tall

[NMFP]

I have some customers that I have sharpened their bands 7-10 times.  I actually have one customer that buys 1.50" bands and we sharpen them down past 1.25" and then he uses them for odd ball stuff.

Nothing wrong with sharpening a band that has a few missing teeth either.  If the band is ok, with no cracks, i would say keep sharpening it as long as its sharpenable. 

If my customers could only get 2 sharpenings and then threw them out, i would be out of bsuiness.  You dont sharpen lawn mower blades 2x and throw them out.  Same principle here although there is a point where it becomes fruitless.

[drobertson]

I believe under normal sawing conditions, without hitting metal you could expect at least 4 sharpening's. Some blades will give you 6-8 without problems,  I know of some who have surpassed 10 on a single blade.
david

[Larry]

Depends on the mill, sawyer, what species, and the moon sign.  With my old Kasco mill I could sharpen maybe 10 times and the band would get trashed when it became to narrow.  Hardly ever broke a band.

With my TK I can usually sharpen 5 times or so and it breaks.  More horsepower and I'm pushing it a lot harder than I did on the old Kasco.

[Chuck White]

I've gotten as high as 12 sharpenings on some of my Wood-Mizer blades, but then too, I've gotten as little as 3 sharpenings.

A lot of factors are figured into the life of a bandsaw blade!

Hitting a foreign object while sawing is the biggest factor, rotations around the blade wheels is another, and wood species is also included.

After sawing a good period of time, if you watch the blade, you can tell if there is a crack in it, it will have a little fluttering motion in it if it's cracked, shortly after the flutter is noticed it will break!

[NMFP]

There are many factors that affect band life but in general, you can get numerous sharpenings out of one band. 

Another factor of longevity is alignment.  If you have even a slight pitch one way or the other, you fatigue the band body and generate stress in the gullets.

Diameter of band wheels is important as well.  Thicker bands typically need larger band wheels where as smaller band wheels typically can run thinner bands.  It all has to do with work hardening and transitioning between straits and curves.

If you do any kind of production sawing, you will tend to go to wider and thicker bands as they are able to withstand the punishment of stress longer than thin narrow bands.

Typically, I run .05 or .055 bands and sharpen once or twice and run them hard.  I get more than my moneys worth out of them.  At that point, my average cost per bf sawn at that rate is .01-.03 per bf.

[bandmiller2]

I run 1 1/2" bands with minimal tension and get at least 10 sharpenings usally more on 19" bandwheels. I have never broken a band on my bandmill, they just get worn down to 1 1/4" and start to dive. When I operated the WM-70 three or four sharpenings and the band would break. Frank C.

[Cypress Sam]

I get from zero to twelve.  Just depends on what you are doing and the quality of the blade.  Some batches (from the same company) last longer than others.
Sam

[pineywoods]

Welcome hogdogman. We're practically neighbors. Tell us about yourself and your interests. Got a mill ? logger ? woodworker ? On the blade question, I concur with the comments here. I run a wm lt40, sharpen my own blades. I have seen blades break after 1 or 2 sharpenings, others go 8 or 10.