Sawing northeastern white spruce

trumpets3u · July 04, 2014, 10:32:06 AM

Has any one had any luck sawing spruce with a 7 degree blade? Or would the 4degree be better. I've tried the 9 degree with a little luck. Any help wood be good We have a 20hp Norwood.
Thanks Brian

Chuck White · July 04, 2014, 12:32:39 PM

I've sawed a bit of Spruce with 10° bands and when I slowed the feed speed down a bit I got a few less wavy cuts, then I resharpened a couple of 10° bands to 8° and cuts improved a bit, so I would think the less hook you have, the cut would be better.

So, when I have Spruce to cut, I use the 8° bands and .030 set and a little more water than when sawing W/Pine!

47sawdust · July 04, 2014, 01:56:52 PM

My results were not good sawing spruce with the 10 degree blade.I switched to the 7 degree blade and I was much happier.This was sawing nasty Vermont black spruce with knots every 8 inches.I don't think I've ever sawn any logs as ornery as this.
Chuck,
Where can I find the icon for degree on my keyboard?
Thanks,
Mick

ladylake · July 04, 2014, 02:38:34 PM

The degree icon is not on your keyboard but up above by the 1/4 icon, just click on it . I've had the best luck by far by using 3/4 " pitch rather than 7/8 pitch blades for cutting spruce, don't know why but it works. Stever

barbender · July 04, 2014, 05:06:09 PM

I think both the shallow hook and the 3/4 pitch poing at something, anything that tries to take too big of a bite in spruce ends up following the grain (just a theory). I have some 3/4 pitch blades, I might have to try sharpening them at 7°, and push the set out to .030".

trumpets3u · July 04, 2014, 05:34:48 PM

Thanks for the help here.. I'll try the 7* blades
Brian

ladylake · July 04, 2014, 06:21:05 PM

As mentioned above I found the best results with the 3/4 pitch blades, hook angle didn't matter as much and I tried everything. Steve

thecfarm · July 04, 2014, 06:35:58 PM

The spruce that I sawed made some mighty fine flames from the bon fire.

Chuck White · July 04, 2014, 07:47:44 PM

Quote from: 47sawdust on July 04, 2014, 01:56:52 PM
My results were not good sawing spruce with the 10 degree blade.I switched to the 7 degree blade and I was much happier.This was sawing nasty Vermont black spruce with knots every 8 inches.I don't think I've ever sawn any logs as ornery as this.
Chuck,
Where can I find the icon for degree on my keyboard?
Thanks,
Mick

When the window opens up for you to make your "post", look above the window about 2 inches and to the right, there is a button for °, ¼,½,&¾.
Just click on it and it will show up in your post!

Jim_Rogers · July 04, 2014, 08:46:56 PM

Wow, I never saw that "degree" button before.

I always us the key board method of holding down the "alt" key and typing in on the number pad 2 4 8 That will give you the "degree" symbol on most computers or in most software.

Jim Rogers

isawlogs · July 04, 2014, 09:10:08 PM

I neer use any of those for the degree :D I push Alt Car and « and this comes up ° .... Many roads lead to Rome :P

For white spruce up here I have tried many bldes, the best I found was the .45'' with 9° blades. They worked really well for me, mustn saye that the logs where really nice logs too. None of those pasture spruce with stagered 4'' limbs every 3'' :-\ Those I now run from...

47sawdust · July 05, 2014, 07:17:04 AM

Chuck,
Thank you for the ° tip.It is amazing what you can find if your eyes are open and you have a little help.
Mick

barbender · July 05, 2014, 12:24:43 PM

Spruce makes beautiful lumber when you figure out how to deal with it's quirks. Open grown stuff isn't worth sawing, or anything with large knots. White spruce that has grown quickly tends to have wide growth rings that can behave strangely as well. You're just better off to start with nice straight clear logs.

terrifictimbersllc · July 05, 2014, 05:22:26 PM

Quote from: barbender on July 05, 2014, 12:24:43 PM
Spruce makes beautiful lumber when you figure out how to deal with it's quirks. Open grown stuff isn't worth sawing, or anything with large knots. White spruce that has grown quickly tends to have wide growth rings that can behave strangely as well. You're just better off to start with nice straight clear logs.

Sawed 12-16" dia spruce today, with .045/ 7 degree WM doublehard blades. Started with 26-30 thousandths set, results were satisfactory (occasionally could see a trace of slight wave on sharp corners. Switched to blade having 35-40 thousandths set with noticeable difference, faster sawing with absolutely no wave. I think this is my answer to any spruce sawing problems. I have 42 HP diesel, and with the 35-40 thousandths set blade, indeed I can saw too fast, if I try. I did notice a few times going too fast when hitting larger knots.

These blades are freshly sharpened with my 7 degree WM CBN grinding wheel. With blades freshly set to 35-40 thousandths (before grinding), I have to go around about 3 times to get the tooth completely ground off square. The reason I have the 35-40 thousandths set 7's is because I am going to encounter 18-30'" diameter spruce which is completely dried out, the next time I go back to one of my commercial customers. The results today were with smaller greener logs.

Wintergreen Mountain · July 05, 2014, 07:59:33 PM

47sawdust;

The black spruce you mentioned is deffinatly a challenge. I live about 35 miles from you in Fletcher VT. and have a lot of it. I found it was much easier to drop them, trim them down and let the become forest nutrients.
I have noticed a mill on rt12 just north of Worcester. Is that your mill?
Would like to meet you some day.

LEON.

VTwoodworker · July 05, 2014, 08:10:53 PM

I cut a lot of red and white spruce on my LT 30. The spruce on my property is not the best. I have tried different blades and have had the best luck with the WM double hard 0.045" 9 deg blades. I have the best luck with the green logs when they are frozen but that does not help now. Other wise I saw at about 60% of the feed rate that I would use for hemlock or balsam fir.

I have been able to cut cants into straight dimension lumber at a higher speed if I do more than one at a time. I think that cutting multiple cants evens out the density and minimizes the blades following the grain in one particular log. I have cut some very straight lumber using these guidelines - probably about 20,000 bdft since I got the mill three years ago.

Cut this ugly white spruce from the neighbors lawn into some pretty good 2x4's last summer. It can be done but I would rather cut just about anything else.

I am located in Orange, VT.

highlandsaw · July 09, 2014, 03:16:40 PM

° I think it is ASCII code but holding down the Alt key and hitting 0176 on the number keypad ( not the number keys at the top) will also generate a ° degree symbol. Used to have to type a lot of temperatures. :laugh:

Magicman · July 09, 2014, 09:26:14 PM

If the question is about the ° symbol, when making a post try clicking on the DEG box that Jeff has provided for us located just above the "Happy New Year". There is also lotsa good stuff in those other boxes.

GDinMaine · July 10, 2014, 12:02:03 AM

I have cut red and black spruce with 7° WM blade. I have to slow down at the knots otherwise I make waves. Tough stuff to keep straight in general. It was on the frustrating side and I have another spruce job coming. :-\

barbender · July 11, 2014, 01:25:56 AM

I need to get a setter so I can try pushing my set out to .035".

DeepWoods · July 11, 2014, 11:54:41 AM

Hey Bert, if you want, bring as many bands as you want set to .035 and I will let you use my setter. Or if you just want to drop them off and pick them up later I will set them for you. What ever works for you.

Les