Gummed up bandsaw blade

[Hugh]

Does anyone out there know of any method of keeping sap from cutting green wood from collecting on a bandsaw blade?

I recently aquired some Red Eucalptus. I know there are many species of Eucalptus and I do not know which one this is. The sap is so bad it gums up my chain saw. Then I got it to the band saw where it procedes to gum up and collect on one side. I have to try to scrape it off after each cut or the saw cuts crooked. I know it is a "gum" tree and those jokes will go unanswered. Pretty wood though. Blood red color. I am trying to process a bunch for drying for future use. Then I will try to make some bowls/vessels out of the wet stuff also.

I tried a new sharp bandsaw blade and it makes one cut and then needs to be cleaned up before the next cut.
Thanks for any good suggestions.
Hugh

 

[Bill Boehme]

As standard equipment in your shop, you need a can of "PAM" -- this is the stuff your wife uses in the kitchen to spray baking pans before filling it with cookie dough or cake batter. Sneak some from the kitchen or buy your own for the shop -- my wife has even come to the shop to ask if she can borrow my Pam. Saturate a paper towel with the Pam and wipe the blade as you rotate the wheels backwards by hand. Let it sit for a while and then repeat the process and finally use a clean paper towel to wipe the pitch from the blade. You will be surprised at the noise reduction in the blade after it has been wiped with Pam. Make it a regular practice to wipe the blade clean with Pam after cutting green wood and clean-up will not be as much of a problem.

Bill

 

[almather]

I had some trouble with some wood I tried to cut up a while ago. I found kerosene and/or degreaser worked as well, apply with a cloth or paper towel as described above. Sometimes I would also take my pocket knive, after the pitch had softed up and hold it against the blade as I ran it backwards, this seem to remove a lot of the stubborn areas.

Al

 

[MichaelMouse]

Or even WD 40. But, as I have mentioned before, you have a bit of a problem in the solvent department. The sugars and such are water soluble, the resins are oil soluble. Means a dual wash of some sort, except that the WD stands for Water Displacement, so oiling your blade and guides should help keep your sugar-making efforts from sticking as it cleans the resin.

Love the ceramic guides in this application, because you can snug them up so tight that they scrape the blade for you.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Love the ceramic guides in this application, because you can snug them up so tight that they scrape the blade for you.

I thought that I just had to have a set of those ball-bearing roller guides and then I figured out why they are not so good after all -- They just roll down any crud stuck to the blade which leads to more noise and vibration -- kind of like driving down a rough dirt road. I think that any type of guide that can be placed right up against the blade so that it wipes the blade clean is the best solution. In addition to my Cool Blocks, I have found that many good hardwoods will also work just as well. I have used Jatoba, Cocobolo, and Teak with as good results as anything -- just don't use steel.

Bill

 

[S. Clark]

As standard equipment in your shop, you need a can of "PAM" --

I have found that silicone spray lubricant works well. It's probably more expensive than Pam but I use it to lubricate all the bearings on my shop tools along with all my blades. Being a dry lube, it doesn't collect dust nor does it stain the woods that may touch these surfaces. Also it doesn't deteriorate rubber or neoprene materials. It is thin and penetrates well but it doesn't have a long life on these high friction surfaces.

- Scott

 

[john lucas]

Bill I found the same thing about the bearings. When I bought my used bandsaw it had the bearing guides and they do work well for resawing but they suck for green wood. Like you said the wood just builds up on the bearings and then they are lumpy. I haven't tried spraying them with anything to see if that would help. I've contacted the original owner and he said he may have the old guides. I'm going to see about getting it from him and trying the ceramic guides.

 

[DeanGThomas]

Silicones are a NO-NO in woodworking and metalworking

I have found that silicone spray lubricant works well.

ssssssss... can you hear the sound of air being sucked through my teeth, signaling pending doom??

Silicone ANYthing is just not wood friendly. More specifically, it's not finish friendly. And once you get silicone lube on anything at all, it's virtually impossible to remove. It rubs off metal tables and blades onto wood surfaces. Taking that a bit further, after I mentally hear you say, "Yeah, but I'm going to turn all that away!", I remind you that it is never, ever cured or stable. One of its most destructive characteristics is that it migrates and carries it's anti-finish message wherever it goes. And it doesn't take much to do damage to your finishes. I learned this the hard way, dealing with piano finishes, piano wires, and especially piano tuning pins and the wooden tuning pin blocks. People would use cleaning agents and polishes with silicones hoping to prevent rust on the wires. Those silicones would travel along the stupid wires and down the pins and find themselves in the pin blocks! Suddenly the tuning pin that requires friction to work, finds itself marvelously free to spin and detune itself. Marvelous invention! And refinished piano lids with huge craters in the new re-finish. Like up to 3-4" across ripples, like a time freeze of a pebble in a pond. Nightmares for tuners and rebuilders. Usually they were not that large, but when the silicones were heavily saturated into the wood beneath... And you just can't remove 'em. You can push the silicones around, spreading their issues, but you can't get rid of 'em.

Do you remember a fall weed from your childhood that ended up attached to nearly everything when one ran through the weeds? In my neighborhood it was called beggar's-tick. Little dark brown seeds with two barbed legs that clung to anything they touched? Silicone is a lot like that, only it never lets go!

If you coat your blade, you will get some on the outer surface of that newly cut turning blank. When you turn away the outside, you will then get some of it on your tools. And again, once it's there, it's there. People in the finishing industry have been trying for decades to defeat this stuff. All they've been able to come up with is something that helps reduce the fish-eye that silicones produce. They have not been able to defeat the occasional inability of finishes to adhere to the product. Those bubbles that end up as pock marks with bare wood showing through?? Silicones.

It may seem to be a good thing, but don't do it. There are numbers of blade coating substances out there that are teflon or carnauba based that work well. Yes, they don't last as long as silicones, but neither do they muck up your work! Just re-apply and continue cutting.

 

[Hugh]

I have not been into the shop for a couple of days - but today I got back there. I have only tried the WD-40. Using a rag to apply. Much better than nothing at all which I had been doing. The blade still gets gummed up but it seems to take longer to do so and then it is easier to get the gunk off the blade. Thanks for all the ideas everyone. I knew I could ask on this forum and someone would have some good ideas. I will try the PAM the next time. This is making my processing the wood much more fun. Thanks.
Hugh

 

[Mr. Don]

No-stick stuff

:cool2: Very good advice, Dean....don't particularly like your little jumpy thing, but I just scroll it up out of the screen so I can read your words of wisdom with no distraction. I think I will stick (no pun intended) with Pam or WD40. You saved me from a very dumb trip to Ace hardware.

 

[S. Clark]

Very interesting Dean! I had no idea this caused finishing problems but nor have I experienced any of the problems you described. Maybe that is just dumb luck, or maybe my finishes aren’t sophisticated enough to suffer from the silicone. I don’t know? In any case, I may just do some testing with the stuff and see if I can force some reactions between it and the finish products I use. I’d like to know what these problems look like for future reference.

 

[DeanGThomas]

The effect is called "fisheye" because it looks like a fish eye!

 

[MichaelMouse]

Very interesting Dean! I had no idea this caused finishing problems but nor have I experienced any of the problems you described. Maybe that is just dumb luck, or maybe my finishes aren’t sophisticated enough to suffer from the silicone.

If you use oil-based versus shellac or lacquer, you probably wouldn't notice. The silicones would merely be further diluted. If you use the evaporative finishes, they'd fail to adhere in places, drawing back and forming a bit of a meniscus to form the "eye."

Ounce of prevention in a mineral spirits wipe is worth a pound of cuss.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I don't allow silicone anything near the woods because it will most likely get finished with lacquer.

I am a big advocate of PAM though too.

 

[john lucas]

I've been using wd-40 to clean and lube my lathe and my metal working machines for years. I use lacquer on most of my work and have never had a fisheye problem. Might just be luck but I think the problem might also be overblown a little. I'm pretty sloppy with the wd-40 and I spray my lacquer.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I've been using wd-40 to clean and lube my lathe and my metal working machines for years. I use lacquer on most of my work and have never had a fisheye problem. Might just be luck but I think the problem might also be overblown a little. I'm pretty sloppy with the wd-40 and I spray my lacquer.

WD-40 does not contain silicones -- it uses hydrocarbon ingredients. That is probably why your finishes have not had a problem with fisheye. I am in agreement with you that the problem is somewhat overblown. If you were to spray silicone lubricant directly on a surface that is ready for finishing, I expect that there would be finishing problems, but otherwise the chance of contamination is small (based on my personal experience before I stopped using silicone sprays so liberally).

Bill

 

[Bob Hadley]

I use Lenox Band-Aid pitch remover/reducer and I've added rotating brushes (canted at 15 degrees to the blade so they are self-propelled) to constantly scrub pitch off the blade. They work so well I am going to add these to my vertical bandsaw as well. I recently sawed some super gummy eucalyptus and the blade stayed clean. Before I’d have to use pitch cleaner every two or three cuts.

(You can see my sawmill on Youtube.com... do a search for "After the Chainsaw").

BH

 

[Hugh]

Bob,
How about a picture of these rotating brushes on your bandsaw? How are they attached? I have never seen or heard of them before. I have a brush that sits and tries to clean the bottom wheel (does not work that well). But I think I would be interested in a brush that would clean the blade as it was building up gum.
Thanks.
Hugh

 

[Bob Hadley]

I will get a series of photos showing the exact installation of the brushes on the band. They scrub the band (or tire) free of any debris or pitch. I'll update this posting later this week if possible.

 

[Hugh]

Bob,
Those look interesting. Where did you get them? Is there a special name to look for?

I have a brush on my Laguna saw but it is stationary and does only a mediocre job.
Thanks for the picture.
Hugh

 

[Bob Hadley]

Here is the set-up. Basically I made a goose-neck mount for the brush. I found if the brush is mounted too close it will not spin reliably. It just bearly touches. When it’s just right, the little guy spins like crazy and degunks the blade and wheel with amazing efficiency. The brush is from a bicycle chain cleaner kit (http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/chain-cleaner.htm).

 

[Sky]

Here is the set-up. Basically I made a goose-neck mount for the brush. I found if the brush is mounted too close it will not spin reliably. It just bearly touches. When it’s just right, the little guy spins like crazy and degunks the blade and wheel with amazing efficiency. The brush is from a bicycle chain cleaner kit

Looks like a few other bicycle parts were used also. Who peddels while you saw wood?

 

[Bob Hadley]

It is sort of a Wright Brothers version of a bandsaw. The pedalling is done by a guy named Robin Subaru. He's good for 9 ponys.