Broke a blade today with most unusual results.....

[Percy]

As I was nearing the end of a cut on a 16 foot sitka spruce log, I heard the familiar Bang!! I quickly disengaged the auto clutch and shut the mill down as per usual. I opened the LT70s idle wheel door and as is usually the case, the 24 inch wheel was spinning at near cutting rpm. I pushed my gloved hand against the outer rim of the band wheel and slowed the spinning to the familiar smell of almost burning cowhide. I opened the drive side door and the center flap thingie and grabbed the blade with both hands.....and here is the strange part, it just came out..... Ya, it was wrinkled up here and there but it  wasnt stuck in the log anywheres. It wasnt stuck behind the bandwheels or blade guides or sawdust chute. It just came out. There was no cursing...well maybe a little...but only because I was dumb-founded....I didnt bleed at all, no band wheel belts mangled, no drive belt damage...it just came out like it wanted to.....I dont think anyone will believe me...I shudda taken pics...or a vid.... It just came out......

[sandsawmill14]

that happens to me from time to time  maybe 1 out of every 75 blade breaks : it is nice when it happens

[fishfighter]

I will say, count your blessing. :D

My last one just laid around the wheels and didn't go anywhere.

[Nomad]

     I'm afraid I have yet to be so lucky.  Mine are always a PITA. :

[Kbeitz]

I gotta be doing something wrong.. I run every blade until it breaks.
I have yet to fight a blade to get it out.

[sandsawmill14]

i think band tension has alot to do with it i have never had one to kink up and give problems on the little hudson mill

[bandmiller2]

That was an unnatural act, everyone I've ever removed from a 70 was kinked up, jammed up and usually took a bite out of the belt. Frank C.

[paul case]

Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then! ;D ;D ;D

PC

[WV Sawmiller]

I gotta be doing something wrong.. I run every blade until it breaks.
I have yet to fight a blade to get it out.

X2.

   Then again, I have not had very many break. They are a PITA if in the log but out of the log Mafi Misquila.

[Carson-saws]

Phewwww....always a good thing when blood doesn't factor into it.  I am curious as to how some of you coil up your blades to store or ship.   Now THATS a task than can bite you as well.

[Kbeitz]

 

 

[slider]

Kebitz,that's a nice illustration you present showing the process but i can assure you that you won't coil a 184in x1.5 x .55 band with one hand.It just aint going to happen.

[LeeB]

[/quote]



   Then again, I have not had very many break. They are a PITA if in the log but out of the log Mafi Misquila.
[/quote]

I think you and I may be the only two that knows what that means. :D

[Percy]

Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then! ;D ;D ;D

PC

:D :D :D Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  :D :D :D

[Kbeitz]

Kebitz,that's a nice illustration you present showing the process but i can assure you that you won't coil a 184in x1.5 x .55 band with one hand.It just aint going to happen.

I use both hands and it's a whole lot easier than you think
after you do it a few times. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRarn9st2bg

[paul case]

I think that the tightness of your guards and proximity to the wheels and several other things make it more or less difficult to remove a broken blade. Those things probably also help cause or diffuse a blade wrapping around the wheels/ shafts.
Guards with more room  like on the ez boardwalk 40 that I owned would let the blade get away. I never had an issue with a broken band getting hung up or eating a belt on it. The trade off is the band is more likely to get out of the roomy er guards.
PC

[Magicman]

I have had plenty to just break.  No excitement, no sparks, no nothing, and then there were the others.   

[hopm]

Any special techniques for uncoiling a blade?
I always kinda feel like I'm wrestling an alligator.

[Magicman]

There is a video on Wood-Mizer's facebook page and also Chuck White made and posted a YouTube video.

It is simple though; teeth up and drop the coil.  Cross your arms and unfold.  See, I told you that it was simple.   ;D

[paul case]

Start by going to get the paper towels, bandaids and duct tape.

Do it a few times and it becomes second nature.

PC

[sandsawmill14]

no problem uncoiling the small blades for the hudson or timberking    but the 1 1/2 x 18' blades for the s&w are a little scary and the 2" x 20' blades for the brewco resaw are down right terrifying  but i havent had to put a blade on the brewco yet my brother has been the lucky one so far ;D but i know my turn will come and they scare me just watching him uncoil them 

[5quarter]

I use the bowling method. Just remove the metal ties and roll the coil across the grass. About 10-12 feet later...kaboing!  Except once it didn't... it just fell over without uncoiling. after a moment I went over to get it, and as i was just a step or two away it suddenly went, Kaboing! No blood, but it was REAL CLOSE. If a band coil ever does that again, I'll get a long stick and spring it like a bear trap.

[Brucer]

About half of mine come out without any hassles. The other half are a total pain. If the blade isn't broken but is badly kinked (a write-off in other words), it's easy to break with a claw hammer.

My friend Bob coils his blades by stepping on them (as shown in post #10). He uncoils them by tossing the onto a pile of sawdust. Mind you, he's only got one arm so he doesn't have too many other options.

[LeeB]

Wow, putting a blade on must be a challenge. It's hard enough with two hands.

[Chuck White]

Here is a video that Dan and I did up a couple years ago!  Starts on post #42.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,73467.40.html

Good info here!

[Percy]

About half of mine come out without any hassles. The other half are a total pain. If the blade isn't broken but is badly kinked (a write-off in other words), it's easy to break with a claw hammer.

My friend Bob coils his blades by stepping on them (as shown in post #10). He uncoils them by tossing the onto a pile of sawdust. Mind you, he's only got one arm so he doesn't have too many other options.

Im going to hell for this but I shot coffee outta my nose when I read about "Bob, the one armed sawyer"...  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Sandtown Sawmil]

What are some of the choices on broken blades?
Buy a new blade or try and fix the broken blade?

[Magicman]

When a blade finally breaks metal fatigue has compromised the entire blade.  Fix it in one spot and it will soon break in another.  A hobby guy might try to squeeze some more life out of it, but if you are making any kind of production whatsoever, that blade has given you it's life.  Let it die.

[Sandtown Sawmil]

Thanks for the reply back.

[Brucer]

Bob's arm was taken off at the shoulder several decades ago -- apparently in a sawmill accident. It hasn't limited him in any way.

First time I saw him, I watched him (along with his father and his uncle) win the first-ever wood-splitting contest in our local fall fair. The were competing against 9 other teams and left them in the dust. He runs a chainsaw (with a prosthesis), swings a splitting mall one-handed, and picks up split wood with a pickaroon.

He used to run a Logosol chainsaw mill to cut timbers for his own use. Logs his own property. Cuts, splits, and delivers firewood. And last year he bought a Woodland Mills HM126 (and conned me into sharpening his blades for him)  :D.

For several years he worked for the City works department as an equipment operator.

Bottom line -- there isn't anything that he can't figure out how to do, one way or the other.

[Delawhere Jack]

On my 1995 LT40, I just LOVE IT when a broken or just knocked off the wheels band gets stuck behind the drive side wheel. There's a hex bolt head in the back side of the cover at about 1 o'clock that makes it OH SO MUCH FUN when the band gets caught behind it!  >:(

It's on my to-do list to replace it with a carriage bolt or something, but my to-do list just keeps getting longer, and it keeps falling to the bottom of the list. :

[redprospector]

Bob's arm was taken off at the shoulder several decades ago -- apparently in a sawmill accident. It hasn't limited him in any way.

First time I saw him, I watched him (along with his father and his uncle) win the first-ever wood-splitting contest in our local fall fair. The were competing against 9 other teams and left them in the dust. He runs a chainsaw (with a prosthesis), swings a splitting mall one-handed, and picks up split wood with a pickaroon.

He used to run a Logosol chainsaw mill to cut timbers for his own use. Logs his own property. Cuts, splits, and delivers firewood. And last year he bought a Woodland Mills HM126 (and conned me into sharpening his blades for him)  :D.

For several years he worked for the City works department as an equipment operator.

Bottom line -- there isn't anything that he can't figure out how to do, one way or the other.

My Dad lost his right arm in 1935, he was 8 years old. He would not be out worked. I never saw anything he couldn't do. His left arm was the size of my thigh. He even rolled his own cigarettes. :D
The worst thing you can do is sell a one armed man short.

[LeeB]

I hadn't even considered a prosthesis. I worked with a welder several years ago the had a missing arm. He made a lot of different attachments for his prosthesis to use in his daily work and others for off work. I always got a kick out of seeing him sharpen one with the grinder or weld a part to it for better control.
Knew a superintendent for a drilling company back in the late 70's that had lost both arms on the rig. Didn't slow him down any. He could run a rig better than any of the drillers with both arms.

[paul case]

On my 1995 LT40, I just LOVE IT when a broken or just knocked off the wheels band gets stuck behind the drive side wheel. There's a hex bolt head in the back side of the cover at about 1 o'clock that makes it OH SO MUCH FUN when the band gets caught behind it!  >:(

It's on my to-do list to replace it with a carriage bolt or something, but my to-do list just keeps getting longer, and it keeps falling to the bottom of the list. :

When my oldest son first started sawing with my old LT40, He knocked the blade off several times. He thought it worked good to use a crow bar/shop hammer tool we call the slammer to drive the band down from behind the drive wheel. It did except he missed once and broke the wheel between 2 spokes. His miss made a $250 repair necessary.

I wasnt too happy. He quickly figured out how not to knock the band off the wheels.

PC

[mrtwister]

Played in a band with a one-armed drummer....name was Rick....born with his left arm cut-off below the elbow....in his case that was his "snare-drum" arm.....he cobbled-up some kind of tube/prosthesis that he slipped onto the "stump" of his arm...then would slide the drumstick inside the business-end of the tube...not sure how it was held in there but it never came out....he was one of the better drummers I'd ever played with.....didn't let the disability stand in the way of what he wanted to do...pretty inspiring.

[tnaz]

Played in a band with a one-armed drummer....name was Rick....born with his left arm cut-off below the elbow....in his case that was his "snare-drum" arm.....he cobbled-up some kind of tube/prosthesis that he slipped onto the "stump" of his arm...then would slide the drumstick inside the business-end of the tube...not sure how it was held in there but it never came out....he was one of the better drummers I'd ever played with.....didn't let the disability stand in the way of what he wanted to do...pretty inspiring.

Thanks for sharing that story, and welcome to the Forestry Forum.

Terry

[Darrel]

Worked in a furniture factory that had a resaw with a 2 1/2"  band. There was also an old sawdust pile out back. I'd just give the coiled up band a toss and let it land on the sawdust pile. There was a nice twanging sound and flying sawdust and the best part was no blood!

[bandmiller2]

I don't throw sharp bands to open them but a sharpening customer has long heavy bands and when they come to be sharpened I throw them on the lawn to save meat, my own. Frank C.