Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Band Saw Blade Sharpening
Jerry Whitaker
>After dulling the original blade on my Jet 19 in bandsaw, I installed a 1/2 in. 3tpi Timberwolf hook tooth blade and absolutely love it. Just wondering if anyone knows if these blades can be easily and economically sharpenend. If so, can someone provide me a name and address of a sharpening shop. I live in South Texas so the closer to me, the better but not absolutely necessary. Jerry
Ask Steven Russell
steve antonucci
>And he's even in Texas! He'll pick this up sooner or later :-)
S
Re: Band Saw Blade Sharpening
Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.
>Jerry, you can easily sharpen band saw blades yourself. Mark your starting point with a piece of masking tape. Then, using your grinder, just touch the top of each tooth on the wheel. Make sure that the corners on the wheel aren't rounded over. Doesn't take as long as you might think. I haven't done this for quite a while, but I can remember that the blade was sharper than when new. I learned this from Richard Raffan.
Wally
Re: Band Saw Blade Sharpening
George Van
>Steve uses a Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel attached to sharpen the back of the bandsaw blade.
Works Great!
George
Re: Band Saw Blade Sharpening
Joe Fleming
>I'll expound on George's answer.
If you use a Dremel cut-off wheel or a diamond cut-off wheel (available for your Dremel from Lee Valley), you can do this procedure. It is accomplished while the blade is on your saw.
Definition: Each tooth, as it passes through the throat plate, has a leading point that points down. The "top" of the tooth is that portion of the tooth above the point when looking at the blade in this orientation. Some people would refer to this as the "back" side of the tooth or the trailing edge of the tooth.
Mark your starting tooth. Notice that the teeth have alternating set. Point the Dremel with cut-off wheel down toward the tooth such that the flat part of the cut-off wheel is tangential with the back of the tooth. Given that the teeth have set, move the Dremel slightly left or right depending on the tooth. Brace your hand on the table in this position.
Turn on the Dremel and just touch (kiss) the top of the tooth with the rotating cut-off wheel. The newly sharpened surface should come all the way to the point of the tooth.
Down move your hand from the table, but now pull the blade down until the next tooth with the same set is ready for its "kiss". Repeat this for all the teeth with the same set.
Now move your hand to the other side of the blade and sharpen all the teeth with the alternate set in the same fashion.
A bright light helps to show off the newly sharpened surface.
Joe Fleming - San Diego
Re: Band Saw Blade Sharpening
John Trant (aka Boxes-n-Bowls)
>I just wish to concur with Joe that this procedure works well. It is great for bands used to cut turning stock and green logs/blanks. You can get 3-7 sharpenings from your band before you have to trash it. If you are resawing, get a new band and relegate this band to rough cutting.
John
Re: Band Saw Blade Sharpening
Greg W. in NC
>Joe,
Thanks for the detailed description on how to do this! Very helpful. I would recommend this info be listed in the 'articles' section.
Re: Band Saw Blade Sharpening
Joe Fleming
>All credit for this technique, as far as I know, goes to Steve Russell. I think he has written on this before. Maybe he can provide the definitive article for archiving. Joe