Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Thanks Mark, As you say, easy to do. I've found that often the re-sharpened blade cuts better and straighter than when new.

Wally

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Rusty

>depending on how careful you are you should be able to re-sharpen a few times (3) maybe as a small bit of the kerf will be ground off each time. I have extended a few blades life time this way, although i had to use the manual method with a round file, and on a 105" 3tpi, my arms were tired.

Will it work with the carbide matrix type of blade (nor pure carbide)??

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

John Trant (Baltimore/DC area)

>For your type of precision work, your blade will only be good for a few re-sharpenings however it will still work fine when cutting logs for bowl blanks. Even though you probably were aware of this (you did not mention this in your post), try to keep the offset of the teath the same. I will rotate the blade twice (I leave it on the saw)... once with my hand set for one angle and again for the opposite angle.

John

I may not pinch every penny but most of mine will get streched.

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Mark Kauder. Phenix City, AL

>Wally,

No Thank YOU.

I read or heard somewhere that it takes a sharp blade to cut a straight line, and the Kerf is what allows you to cut curves, so the reason that home resharpened blade may cut better and straighter, might because of a reduced kerf after sharpening.

This one cut straight to begin with because of almost no kerf.

Mark

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Mark Kauder. Phenix City, AL

>Rusty,

This method does not touch the inside curve of the tooth, but the outside edge of the tooth. So, you do not have to use a round file/grinding bit.

I suppose with the right grinding bit, you could do carbide as well.

Mark

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Mark Kauder. Phenix City, AL

>Thanks for the heads up, John.

However, this blade will never work on a bowl blank, it has almost ZERO kerf - just made for fine resawing. So, it will not cut anything but a very, very long radius curve.

Mark

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

jared

>remove 1 for email

Hello: I am having a hard time visualizing why you grind on the top of the tooth rather than the front face of the tooth in order to sharpen it. If I sharpen a circular saw blade or a hand saw blade I take material off the front of the tooth to make it sharp. Apparently that is not how it works on a band saw blade. Am I looking at this wrong? Is there such a small amount of metal that gets worn off the tooth that taking a small pass on the top of the tooth removes enough metal to get a square and sharp edge exposed? Thanks in advance Jared

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening *LINK*

Don Henthorn

>If you think about how the blade cuts you will see that the top of the band saw tooth is in the same position relative to the cut as the front of the tooth on a hand saw. I used to sharpen all my bandsaw blades with an electric chain saw sharpener and the round stones used on chain saws. I had the setup on a work bench edge where I could rest my hand(s) to maintain good control over the sharpener. I always made a sweeping motion that included the gullet and ended up in an upsweep that just followed the curve of the tooth. Unless you have hit some steel there is only a tiny bit that needs to come off to make the tip of the tooth really sharp. To me grinding on the front of the blade destroys the geometry of the tooth and will limit the number of times you can sharpen the blade. In Europe band saw blades are sharpened not thrown away. I made a special rig to hold the bandsaw blades during sharpening. I really kept the blades on my bandsaw mill sharp and could cut thin veneer if I needed it.


http://users2.ev1.net/~henthorn

Re: Bandsaw Blade Resharpening

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>Jared,

In my crude drawing, I point to the surface that I ground to make the BS blade sharper.

Any cutter can be sharpened by grinding/polishing either or both of the two surfaces that make the cutting edge. We do it all the time on turning gouges - we could also sharpen gouges by grinding the flute, but that is more difficult (though some do use a stone to dress the flute as well).

Router bits are sharpened on the flat side, because 1) it is easier for the machines that do it, and 2) is does not dramatically change the size and shape of the cutter. TS blades are sharpened on the front because 1) it is easiter for the automated machines that do it, 2) the carbide is made so the it is thick in that direction and will take more sharpening, and 3) there are two sharp edges involved in the cutting - the top and the outside.

You can sharpen the curve on the BS tooth (harder) or the outer edge of the point with just a tap of the grinder (easier).

Just my opinion.

Mark