Bandsaw blade sharpening

Bob Anderson

Member
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12
Does anyone sharpen dull bandsaw blades? I hit a hidden nail with mine and it seems like a waste to get rid of it? OR Have you found another use for dull blades?
 
I've sharpened bandsaw blades (105" 3tpi) with a Dremel spinning a small cylindrical stone. It worked to a certain degree for my type of work (cutting turning blanks) but it wasn't as good as a new one. Now that I've started using $9.00 blades that are as good or better than the $20.00 blades, it's not worth the trouble for me to sharpen them.
 
I've sharpened bandsaw blades (105" 3tpi) with a Dremel spinning a small cylindrical stone. It worked to a certain degree for my type of work (cutting turning blanks) but it wasn't as good as a new one. Now that I've started using $9.00 blades that are as good or better than the $20.00 blades, it's not worth the trouble for me to sharpen them.

$9.00 blades from???

I do resharpen blades to cut green wood for bowl blanks..
 
Yeh, $9 blades wouldn't be worth sharpening. I think these were 12 tpi, 105 inch so I think a guy would go blind before he finished sharpening with a dremel. I think these were about $16. Still not really too much. but enough to make me more careful.
 
A search will find a good tut. here on resharpening BS blades.
But, hitting a nail is pretty fatal to a blade. You are sure to have nicks, kinks and other nasties on that blade now. My suggestion is to discard and buy new.
 
When they're as cheap as they are, it doesn't make very good sense to sharpen 'em unless you're REALLY STRAPPED for money. There are all sorts of useful things you can do with dull bandsaw blades, so don't throw it away.

Now, if it was a $50 blade I'd say ya might want to resharpen it. Would you send a table saw blade out to be sharpened, though, if you had bought it as cheap as you bought that bandsaw blade? Prob'ly not.
 
I do resharpen my blades. I have a high speed pencil grinder (air driven). I use a diamond burr that is slightly conical. I sharpen the teeth alternately to different angles by hand guesstimate. The idea is this: The diamond will not wear like a stone so the profile stays relatively the same. The angle is set by angling the burr up and down alternately with successive teeth with a slight angle toward the back of the blade. I try to be careful to not burn nor change the profile of the tooth point.

This works for me and I do a lot of re-sawing and cutting of bowl blanks so blades take a beating.
 
I do resharpen my blades. I have a high speed pencil grinder (air driven). ...The diamond will not wear like a stone so the profile stays relatively the same...

Not true, though. It'd be true if you were grinding carbide, but high-speed diamond erodes in contact with hot steel. The iron in the steel actually dissolves diamond; it's one of the very few things that'll do that.

Diamonds aren't used to grind steel in industry for that very reason. Instead, aluminum-oxide stones are used for the purpose.
 
Ever since Tod Evans convinced me to try them, I've been very happy with the blades from Ellis Manufacturing.

http://www.ellissaw.com/

They don't accept online orders (phone only) and they have a minimum of $50 per order, but I like their blades as moch or more than the blades I was getting from Timberwolf (Suffolk).
 
Ever since Tod Evans convinced me to try them, I've been very happy with the blades from Ellis Manufacturing.

http://www.ellissaw.com/

They don't accept online orders (phone only) and they have a minimum of $50 per order, but I like their blades as moch or more than the Wolverineblades I was getting from Timberwolf (Suffolk).

Vaughn,
I didn't see a price list on their site... do they have one.. what price range does their blades fall into?... I use the BORG blades now and just toss them after they get too dull.... My saw is the Delta 14" that uses the 93" blade.

Somewhere I read on one of the forums that most band saw blades only last for a couple hundred board feet before they start to get dull... that's not a lot of wood under the blade.
 
Vaughn,
I didn't see a price list on their site... do they have one.. what price range does their blades fall into?... I use the BORG blades now and just toss them after they get too dull.... My saw is the Delta 14" that uses the 93" blade.

Somewhere I read on one of the forums that most band saw blades only last for a couple hundred board feet before they start to get dull... that's not a lot of wood under the blade.

Chuck, they don't list prices as far as I know. When I called them last summer, I told the guy I needed 105" 3tpi hook tooth blades for cutting green wood. He said there was a minimum $50 order. I told him to just send me as many as it took to get over the minimum. I don't remember the exact price, and I don't remember for sure how many blades it took to get over the minimum, but it was either 6 or 7. So that's somewhere between about $7.15 and $8.35 each, not including shipping.

You're right...bandsaw blades do wear out. They're expendables, sort of like sandpaper. So I figured stocking up would be a good idea. I was planning to go through a lot of these blades cutting up a log of desert ironwood I had gotten. Now I'm pretty much done cutting the ironwood, and I'm only on the second blade. (It's about worn out now, though.) The first blade might still be cutting if I hadn't done something stupid and put a kink in in cutting a piece of pine lumber. :doh:

For years, Tod has been telling us about Ellis blades. They're the ones he uses in a commercial shop, and he's been happy with their price and quality. As far as I know, he never used the Timberwolf blades that a lot of us turners use. I'm the only person I know who has used both Timberwolf and Ellis blades, and at least in my experience, the Ellis blades are as good or better than the Timberwolf blades.
 
I pretty much stick to Lenox bimetal blades for most sawing and wouldn't bother trying to get them sharpened. At 40-50.00 for a blade that last 3-4 times longer than most is a pretty good deal. I also have a Lenox Trimaster carbide and a Laguna Resaw King that I'll definitely have sharpened when the time comes. They're pretty pricey.
 
I pretty much stick to Lenox bimetal blades for most sawing and wouldn't bother trying to get them sharpened. At 40-50.00 for a blade that last 3-4 times longer than most is a pretty good deal. I also have a Lenox Trimaster carbide and a Laguna Resaw King that I'll definitely have sharpened when the time comes. They're pretty pricey.

Ricky, do you know if Lennox makes a bimetal blade with about 3tpi and 1/2" width? That's typically what's on my bandsaw, since I'm usually cutting thick green wood with it. I wonder if bimetal blades would be any advantage for that kind of cutting.
 
Not true, though. It'd be true if you were grinding carbide, but high-speed diamond erodes in contact with hot steel. The iron in the steel actually dissolves diamond; it's one of the very few things that'll do that.

Diamonds aren't used to grind steel in industry for that very reason. Instead, aluminum-oxide stones are used for the purpose.

True enough in general. Iron will pull carbon molecules out of the diamond when red hot. Iron wheels are actually used to shape diamonds. I am a diemaker by the way. However the key is HOT IRON as in red hot. If you keep the burr from burning the steel and throwing sparks then they seem to last a long time. The profile staying true is what I am after. Aluminum oxide wheels will wear much faster over the length of my blades (131-1/2") making the sharpening job more difficult. The diamond burr I use matches the profile of the saw blade tooth fairly well and that is what I want.
 
Toni, I quote from their "About Us" page:

if they don't... there's ALWAYS a WAY. One of us can take delivery & ship to you.

That's odd Tim, I tried to ask them about it and on their web form there is no way of specifiying a different country address than US, and as you say there is always a way;)

have you used all those i sent you up already toni???? and if so they all came from ellis:)

No Larry not yet, they are being used and taken care, so there are still a few left to go:);)
 
Ricky, do you know if Lennox makes a bimetal blade with about 3tpi and 1/2" width? That's typically what's on my bandsaw, since I'm usually cutting thick green wood with it. I wonder if bimetal blades would be any advantage for that kind of cutting.

They make the blade with 3-4 TPI in a half inch. I have no experience with cutting green wood. You can get a real good price here:
http://www.woodcraftbands.com/Pricing page.htm
 
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