BANDSAW BLADE QUESTION

[HOGFARMER]

Talked to the blade shop today about blades for a homebult mill that is in the final stages of completion.  They told me that by using trailer wheels instead of regular bandsaw wheels my blades will hold up for 8 to 10 sharpenings.  They advised that you only get 4 to 5 sharpenings with the regular bandsaw wheels.  Is this true?  Also said that the trailer wheels are a proven design and work quite well.  Please comment.  THANKS!!

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Biggest advantage is probably the dia. Trailer wheels and tires give 21.5"--24" dia. Most bandmills are 19" dia. Less flex = longer life ???  We have no problem with blade life and the wheels & tires work very well. Get them balanced as well as you can. Be a fanatic at it with the tire shop. If you buy pre-mounted, deflate them and re-inflate them, then balance.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Welcome to the forum.....Im a believer in rubber wheels....from the experiences of my friends on this site.....I run a circle mill...but have a verticle mill with tires on yhr project list :D

[Tom]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that the band wheels don't have anything to do with the number of sharpenings.

If you only cut 100 bdft and take the blade off, you will get a "lot" of sharpenings.  'Course sharpenings isn't what you are really after.

The number of sharpenings has to do with the stress you put the blade through.  How long you run it dull,   How hard the wood is.  Whether you hit something metal or not. Part of that stress is how hard you push the blade.(it will put cracks in the gullet).  ....or...How slow you advance the blade. (by not cutting an ample amount of wood on each pass, your bdft quantity between sharpenings drops)

He is right about the trailer tires being a proven way of carrying a blade,but, I don't think it is the only or best way.  You will find through experience that there are a myriad of different things that affect blade longivity.

[Gipper]

I have been running with metal band wheel for almost 3 years now and most of the blades I have broken have been due to the over-extended life of the blade and me pushing it to far, or simply due to my own ignorance.   :D :D  My band wheels are 26 inches in diameter and that, I think helps, but I can also see where the rubber wheels could certainly have an advantage!

I have some blades sharpened as much as seven or eight times.  Some have broken after less sharpenings, but I usually find I had too much tension, etc.  One new blade became disabled when I tried to saw off the top of one of the squaring arms. ;D  

As Tom said, the number of sharpenings depends on many factors.  The amount of board footage per sharpening will, of course, have probably the largest effect on the number of sharpenings.  Excluding metal of course!