Band Saw Blade sharpener

[Steve Worcester]

Does anyone own a bandsaw blade sharpener? I am looking around and have found them used at about $500 and new for $1200-$2100.
There isn't any sharpening services around here, so I was looking to get one my self.

 

[S. Clark]

I didn't know you could sharpen a bandsaw blade. I purchase replacements at about $20 ea. which seem pretty cheap considering. But when I'm done with one it has usually lost some set and may even have a kink or two. I've tried flattening these kink with only mediocre results. Is there a tool to reset the teeth too? This is probably just as necessary as sharpening.

 

[Steve Worcester]

Some of the machines will do set and sharpen.
The blades I buy are $40 each (200") and I go through about one a month lately. I have heard that you can sharpen a few times without resetting. I have read through the whole thing about sharpening with a stone or a dremel, but I want more precision and predictability.

Set usually gets taken out when you cut through a nail or hit a rock. Kinking a blade, I would throw them away. The blade will be weak where it gets pounded back.

 

[rich stewart]

A feller could buy a lot of blades for 1200 bucks.

 

[Bob Hadley]

Check out the portable sawmill websites like Linns (linnlumber.com) or the Dino (westernwoodlot.com). These grinders are for (band) sawmill blades so the presets are generally not compatible with the finer pitch bandsaw blades. But I would think one could easily modify such a unit... one way or another.

When I was in China I stumbled across a crude single-cylinder diesel-powered sawmill operation and the guy was regrinding blades, setting and tensioning them with what looked like 50 year old gear. He had several blades that were once over two or three inches wide that were now less than 1/2 inch wide. The bottom line is it’s the operator, not the gear that makes the blade sharp!

Anyway, I know what you mean. Blades are cheap, but when you go through so many it seems like a waste to throw them in a landfill when all they need is a light tough on a grinder to make them good as new.

Let me know if you get one, I’ll send you some blades for practice (hee, hee).

BH

 

[AtSam]

Steve,

Do not discount the idea of doing it with a dremel. It does work very well and once you have done it a couple of times it doesn't take very long.

I myself have only done it a few times as I do not use the band-saw everyday but the fellow who showed me how even say his blades are sharper after he does it.

You could also built a small jig to hold your dremel and use springs as pressure with a thin shim for a stop and you would have your repeatable setup without spending 1200.

 

[Brian Hahn]

setting teeth

Is there a tool to reset the teeth too? This is probably just as necessary as sharpening.

I use a setting tool for hand saws to set the teeth on my band saw blades. Since I don't take a lot of metal off the teeth when I sharpen them, I only have to reset the teeth after 20 sharpenings or so.

The biggest problems with setting the teeth are:
1) trying to put too much set on the teeth - the teeth on premium blades are very hard and I've broken more than one tooth by using too large of a set; and
2) seeing which way the teeth were originally set - the set isn't large and with widely spaced teeth or a variable set pattern, this can be a real challenge. Trying to reverse a set (i.e. setting a right tooth left) will inevitably break the tooth.

 

[Brian Hahn]

Sharpening jig

There was a one-page article in Fine Woodworking #40 (page 83) about a band saw blade sharping jig that uses a bench grinder with a modified grinding wheel. I didn't try it because I found hand sharpening was adequate for my needs. (See my band saw sharpening post in the How-To forum.)

 

[S. Clark]

I use a setting tool for hand saws to set the teeth on my band saw blades.

I have one of these. It's an antique but I use it with satisfactory results on my handsaws. I just figured that a bandsaw would be different somehow. I'll have to give this a try. Sounds like many people have done it successfully. Nothing to loose for trying!

 

[Steve Worcester]

There was a one-page article in Fine Woodworking #40 (page 83) about a band saw blade sharping jig that uses a bench grinder with a modified grinding wheel. I didn't try it because I found hand sharpening was adequate for my needs. (See my band saw sharpening post in the How-To forum.)

Do you have that article? The only way to download it is to pay them on-line.

 

[Hawaii Turner]

Sharpening BS blades

Steve,
I wonder if a chainsaw sharpening grinder would work. I think that with a thin wheel that it might be possible. I don't know if the vise on mine closes enough to grab the blade. What it the thickness and the width of the bands that you use? I will try and see if my machine will clamp on the blades, and report back.
Aloha, Doug

 

[Hawaii Turner]

I'm baaaaack

Steve,
I checked and my sharpeners vise will grab onto a .032 thick blade, but not the .025 ones. Another problem is that the indexing stop is on the wrong side for BS blades. I bought my grinder from Baileys and it's a Speed Sharp Automatic, which sells for $349.95 right now, but I would buy either the Speed Sharp with the manual vise @ $319.95 or the Speed Master @ 169.95 and go from there. It looks as though the indexing part on the Speed Master might be bolted on, where mine is part of a casting plus the Hyd. cyl. is in the way of a full depth cut. A way around this would be to modify the thickness spacers on the vise, or make a new guide system from 3 pieces of sheetmetal that would clamp in the original vise. If you use only 1 thickness blade, I dont think a clamp would be needed if everything was snug. Copy, or mount the indexing lever on the other side and you are ready. BTW, my 3/16" thick grinding wheel fits into the gullet of my 1/2"-4 tpi blade just fine and IMO, would work. I would pursue this, but my blades are 118"-3 tpi which means about 354 teeth, and my time is worth more than that. Besides, I sell bandsaw blades.
Aloha, Doug

 

[DeanGThomas]

Poser

Another problem is that the indexing stop is on the wrong side for BS blades.

Steve,

Just curious, could you turn the blade inside out (making the teeth go the "wrong way" for sawing) and then still be able to use your indexing stop???

 

[Gynia]

Sharpening a bandsaw blade is easy and effective. The process does take a few minutes.

Using a drimel or a flxshaft machine mount a cutoff wheel. Use the flat of the cutoff wheel to do the sharpening.

There are two sides to any sharpeing. When we sharpen our turning tools we usualy only remove metal on one side of the edge.

When you look at the tooth of a bandsaw blade you will see that there is a curved underside and a flat top side.

If you touch the top flat side of the tooth with the flat side of the spinning cutoff wheel you will see the top of the tooth becomes shinny. Well if the angle of the "touch" is right the top of the tooth will be shinny to the tip of the tooth.

I find that doing every other tooth (right set) helps me to be consistant.

Then switch to the other set. You will know when you make it around the blade (or the blade makes it around) because the next tooth top you want to sharpen is shinny.

This is a cheap solution which is effective and easy to try.

 

[Hawaii Turner]

Dean,
No, I tried that but on my grinder, the head pivots only to 90* to the left, but goes to 35* to the right. My blade profile is hooked so the cutting edge is at an angle.
Gynia,
While I won't dispute that grinding the back side of the tooth will sharpen it, the cutting edge is where the dullness occurs and that is on the front of the tooth. If I remember right, Steve's question was about a dedicated BS blade grinder, and those that I have seen that sharpen blades for the Wood Mizer saws, grind the whole profile of the blade. That is the gullet,top side, and back side all in one motion and that always keeps the gullet depth the same for consistent chip removal.
Doug

 

[Brian Hahn]

Sharpening Jig article

Do you have that article? The only way to download it is to pay them on-line.

Yes, I have that issue. Here are two images of the graphics section of the article. The text doesn't contain any significant extra information. The original scan (TIF format) is rather large and I can e-mail it if these images aren't clear enough.

 

[George Van Beynen]

[font=&quot]Steve, you could use a Woodmiser blade sharpener if you find one at a reasonable price. They were originally for a 1 ¼†blade. The guide pins could be raised to allow for a narrower blade. The most difficult part would be modifying the cam to produce the sharpening profile to match your tooth profile. I have two different cams for two different profiles. As Brian mentioned, after a few sharpenings you have to set the teeth. The Woodmiser setter that is usually sold with the sharpener would work with a minor pin adjustment. If you would care to send me a piece of your blade from a broken one I would be glad to see how much modification would be necessary.[/font]​

 

[Randy Rice]

Steve, you might want to talk to Brian Evans at Thursday's DAW meeting. He has become quite proficient at freehand sharpening on a bench grinder.

 

[quartlow]

Steve, when I got my sawmill it came with a sharpener. All it they did was modifided a chainsaw grinder to hold the band and shaped the stone to match the gullet.

Basicly all they did was take the guides off for that hold the chain and mad longer ones out of two small pieces of flat stock that where longer.

The biggest thng you have to watch is you have to keep the gullet profile smooth. I sharpened a few and discovered if you get any sharp notches ground in the gullet the band will break right there.

I put mine back to grinding chainsaws and buy all woodmizer blades now and use their resharp service.

 

[Mr. Don]

Bandsaw blade sharpening

Oh well...to each their own. I buy only Timberwolf blades, mix or match, in batches of 10 or so, direct from manufacturer and save about 50% (including shipping) over retail. When they get dull, I take them to my local Woodcraft store for sharpening. They have a local outfit pick up and deliver once a week, at a cost of about $7 per 123" blade, and these come back to me BETTER than new. I get an average of 2-3 sharpenings out of each blade before the set is gone, then it's off to recycle....I cannot justify all that work to save $7 or so...... and I do not even mess with kinks....ain't worth it. Druther cut wood than steel!!!!!!!!!!! I own a 16" Jet saw, and typically run 3/4" to 1" 2 to 4 tpi blades. Rip cut a lot of Holly, Madrone, Black Locust, etc. both seasoned and green, into boards and bowl blanks, and it is better to swear by a good blade than at a bad one!!!

 

[tvgordon]

One of the sharpening shops I worked for had an automatic bandsaw blade sharpener. I believe it was a Vollmer, made in Germany. They had two of them, one had an automatic setter and one did not. I can't remember how much they cost, but I want to say I saw a used one in a Moon's Saw Supply catalog for around $1500. You may want to consider shipping your blades to a sharpening shop - would be cheaper and take less of your time than sharpening them yourself. Tom.

 

[Barbara Gill]

I know you guys are talking about small bandsaw blades. I have a Wood-Mizer bandmill and used to sharpen and set the bands myself. For me it was a PITA and a hugh waste of time I didn't have. I use a resharpening service provided by Wood-Mizer. I would think for shop bands, you could get a few that need sharpening and ship them to someone who sharpens. I take my small shop bands into Richmond VA and they ship back to me.

 

[robert davis]

isharpen my blades using a dremal witha small diamond disc.you do not need to worry about set,just touch each tooth top.this works for we who do not need resawing precision.for resawing go to highland hardware resaw blade bob davis kansas