Number of resharps before breaking?

[Ocklawahaboy]

Just curious how many you get.  I just had a blade break after two.  Seemed like it should have lasted longer.  Maybe I'm dreaming.
WM blade, WM resharp

[Grizzly]

The fellow that got me going in the sawdust trade buys blades from WM and resharps himself (or did I should say). He speaks of some going 30 resharps and some only making 3. According to him it had to do with how well you ground out the gullet and how hard you ground. Too much heat from grinding caused early breakage according to him. My resharp equipment should arrive by Friday and then I have to do all my own learning. In other words I'm sharing others wisdom cause I got none of my own!!   :D

[shakebone]

I get 8-10  usually I sharpen with a woodmizer CBN grinder and the key is setting up on blade right and not just running the blade to death run it just till it starts to dull and change it .

[sandsawmill14]

I dont know I just sent my first box off to wm resharp yesterday. I have a cooks catclaw sharpener and when i was running the simonds red streaks and doing my own sharpening about 1/2 would break after 1 sharpening. I am not putting the blame on simonds I have run their blades for last ten years. I just decided to try woodmizers resharp to see if I had better luck. I was having a local saw shop sharpen my blades but they were all breaking after 4-500 bd ft on the 1st sharpening so we bought the cooks sharpener but i've had about the same results. If woodmizers do the same i will just run new blades and forget it. I only have 30 wm blades but the saw shop set me up to auto ship 10 per week till i can get changed over. how many blades do some of you other guys using wm resharp keep in rotation? ???

[bandmiller2]

Sands 14, their is some other reason your bands are breaking other than your sharpening, probably an alignment or guide problem. I run 1 1/2" bands,  run and resharpen them on the cats claw until they reach 1 1/4", at the very least 12 grinds. I think band tension and probably alignment are the key players in band life. Frank C.

[Dave Shepard]

My .055" thick WM bands seem to go about 4-5 sharpenings using WM's ReSharp service. At one time I had about 80 bands in rotation. 50 or so 10° and the rest 4°. Now I'm down to just a couple of 4's and about 30 10's. Thinking about going to mostly 7 or Turbo 7 at some point.

[sandsawmill14]

Sands 14, their is some other reason your bands are breaking other than your sharpening, probably an alignment or guide problem. I run 1 1/2" bands,  run and resharpen them on the cats claw until they reach 1 1/4", at the very least 12 grinds. I think band tension and probably alignment are the key players in band life. Frank C.

  it could be but i have the same problem with both mills. it may be the way i saw or something else i'm doing.

[shakebone]

Dave Shepard im considering going to all 7 °also they cut everything pretty well and less to keep up with

[WH_Conley]

I use an older model WM drag type sharpener. Maybe it is how I run, I don't know. Out of a box of 10 blades I will usually have two break about the third sharpening, the rest will usually give me 8-10 sharpening s. Sometimes they are past the hardened part of the tooth, when that happens I pitch them.

[bandmiller2]

I forgot to add another thing that plays hobb to band life is running even slightly dull. Many band mills have high HP and still seem to cut well when the teeth have lost their keen. Dull teeth pull hard and stress the gullet. Some folks that send bands out to be sharpened tend to run them longer than the "in house guy" (notice I said some not all) Frank C.

[sandsawmill14]

bandmiller  I may be running them to long. I run them until I notice it getting dull some blades cut 1100-1200 bdft and some only 400-500 bdft . btw  I think the cat claw is a great sharpener I didn't mean to sound like i was unhappy with it.

Dave what lenght blade do you run?  My blades are 12'6 and they told me that was to short to run the .055 blades  what do you think ???

[Ocklawahaboy]

I run mine until they quit cutting straight.  Maybe that's my problem.

[Magicman]

I have no idea how many resharps I get with blades, but I did have one break today that had not been resharpened many times.  I had probably previously ran it too dull.  They usually get down to about 1" and WM rejects and replaces them.

[YellowHammer]

I can get 8, maybe rarely a dozen sharpenings with a CatsClaw on WM bands, no problem, generally they just get too narrow and eventually pop.  I have noticed a big difference with 044's which I can sharpen many times, and 055's which only get 3 to 5 sharpenings. 

[barbender]

SS14- I never get the board footage others do on a blade. 500 bf is tops for me. I have a 97 WM LT40 Super, it has a debarker but it is the old style with a 1/2 hp motor. It doesn't cut in very deep, so that's probably has a lot to do with why I don't get a lot of footage on a sharpening. I also have a Cat's claw sharpener, I've been happy with it. I've only had maybe 2 or 3 blades break in the first two resharps, other than when I had a bad idler wheel bearing that was busting blades (watch for funny tracking behavior). The blades I broke I was pushing dull, so it wasn't the blades fault. One thing that has been mentioned already- grinding too hard. I suspect some blades air harden, if you grind the gullets too hard you make them brittle. You get an immediate fracture, then if you push the blade past sharp- pow! I do find the  Cat's claw to be somewhat finicky to set up. When I set it to just take a light grind, it will miss some teeth. I end up setting it to take a little more off than I like, just so it's hitting everything. 
    .I have also used the .055 blades on my LT40, they are 13'2" long. I think I got 3 sharpenings before they broke. They definitely saw straight and fast, though.

[Percy]

I have a 2003 LT70...I use mainly 13 degree 1.5x.050. They dont have the beam strength of the .055's but if you run them hard while they are real sharp, they cut strait. I change sometimes as little as 300 bf if the blade dulls fast. In an 8 hour shift, I have many times dulled 10 blades. The many blade changes  = more time cutting fast. Pays off bigtime. I get around 8 sharpenings cept for the rocked ones or the ones I done somthing stupid to...........

[Peter Drouin]

I use the 1¼x55x7° and get 5 to 6 sharpens before the hard tip of the tooth is gone. Then they dull fast. And most times I toss them.
WM blades and WM sharpener and setter .

[Kbeitz]

I'm really new at all of this... I have been watching U-tube and I seen where people was silver soldering broken blades using a home made jig. I made one to try because I have around 30 blades that was broken before they was even put on a machine. The got broken in shipping. For the last few weeks I was reading 1000's of post on the forum but yet to see anyone fixing (welding or silver soldering) there blades. Is it not worth my time to do this?

[Chuck White]

We also need to keep in mind that just the blade rotation on the wheels will eventually break the blade, even without cutting anything.

I think this is why Wood-Mizer recommends disengaging the blade when you exit the far end of the log/cant.  :P

I have a Cat Claw sharpener and I usually get 8-10 sharpenings before I see any cracks, also, it is not unusual for me to get 12 sharpenings once in a while.

[bandmiller2]

kbeitz, if your bands broke in shipment theirs no question faulty welds, the supplier should make good on it. It is possible to braze/solder bands but I don't think they would hold up to the strain. I know its done with small shop bandsaws. Bandsaw bands are butt welded, annealed and ground smooth. I've welded many bands on a big Do-all bandsaw but I don't think that welder is heavy enough for an 1 1/2" band. Frank C.

[Dave Shepard]

bandmiller  I may be running them to long. I run them until I notice it getting dull some blades cut 1100-1200 bdft and some only 400-500 bdft . btw  I think the cat claw is a great sharpener I didn't mean to sound like i was unhappy with it.

Dave what lenght blade do you run?  My blades are 12'6 and they told me that was to short to run the .055 blades  what do you think ???

I use a 158" band. That's only 8" longer.

[sandsawmill14]

I might just order a box of the .055 and see how they do  if it is just because they break after sharpening I have that problem anyway. so i will never no the difference  :D :D :D

[Dave Shepard]

WM told me two hours or 800 feet and change the band.

[Magicman]

And if the blade is hot to the touch, it is past time for changing.

[barbender]

The blade length isn't the critical factor with the .055's, your bandwheel diameter is. The 19" wheels on an LT40 compromise the flex life of an .055", if your bandwheels are smaller they will break even sooner.