Sharpening Bandsaw Blade
Sharpening a bandsaw blade on the saw. Test cut through 3″ spalted maple. More at aroundthewoods.com
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11/20/2007
06:52
Nice one.
How many times can you sharpen a blade?
Always wanted a dremel, now ive got a good enough reason.
11/20/2007
07:04
I can get 3 to 7 sharpenings on a blade. I think I could get more with a larger saw. Mine has 10″ wheels and metal fatigue sets in to break the blades while there is still a lot of metal in them. The big help for me is increase in ease of cut with a freshly sharpened blade. I would likely get more sharpenings if I was smart enough to sharpen when the wood needed and extra push.
11/30/2007
18:51
Interesting. I’ve sharpened coarser blades with an angle grinder, with limited success. Do you concentrate on the back edge of each tooth, the front face, or is it a combination of the two?
11/30/2007
19:41
I concentrate on the back edge of the tooth, that is the top of it as you look face on. I have used a chainsaw grinding burr in the grinder to clean up the gullet and the bottom of the tooth, but find that the difference is not worth it.
03/29/2008
01:49
I am amaze that you grind only the back of the blade. I always thought that we need to sharpen the tooth on the indide not on the back. Could you tell us me more about that?.
03/29/2008
04:24
The idea for any cutting edge is to have two surfaces meeting at a designated angle. Most systems of sharpening a bandsaw blade use a specially profiled grinding wheel to grind top and back of each tooth at one time. For the small blades we use on shop machines, grinding one surface to meet the other gives a sharp blade that will actually fatigue and break before sharpening the other side is necessary.
04/04/2008
11:35
Very educational, thanks.
08/13/2008
05:59
This was very informative to me as I just bought a rotary tool and have a blade that will need sharpening soon. I never would have that of using a dremel type tool and the sharpening appears to go very fast.
03/19/2009
06:41
I would think twice before I sharpen a bandsaw blade using a hand held grinder. I don’t think you will get a consistent grind on each tooth of the blade. Therefore not all teeth would be cutting the wood at the same time. Sure, it looked like it did a good job on that Spalted Maple (read soft wood) but how does it do on hard maple or oak?
03/25/2009
11:51
you are rigt.Bandsaw.Allways grind the whole tooth.Front ,Back,Radius.Because of mirco rifts in the steel caused by the force in the theeth ground ,by of the rotation.Worst case, it wrencht.
05/08/2009
04:07
Thanks for the tip I’ve got about thirty used blades hanging in my shop and I carve for a living . I’m definately gonna try this out.
01/03/2010
14:47
I’ve tried other techniques eg a grinding wheel shpaed like the tooth in an off-saw jig, and frankly this technique is as good as the shaped grinding wheel technique. I’d recommend it to anyone. I tried it out on hard maple and red oak ( before and after sharpening) ,and the blade cut ot of those woods easily.
03/18/2010
03:06
My Olson bandsaw blades (used for both wood & metal) range from 14 to 32 teeth-per-inch, so sharpening would take too long. Since they cost less than $10 each (bulk new), replacement is easier and more cost effective with time added to the equation. Old blades are donated to a shop which reconditions them for schools, non-profits, and similar.
09/26/2010
19:26
I’ve read through your comments here, and some things elsewhere, and I’m lead to believe that one reason they break is that microcracks form in the gullets, and not sharpening the gullets along with the backs of the teeth means that these microcracks grow over time. If you are able to sharpen the gullets as well, it removes the top layer with the microcracks in them and the blade is stronger after each sharpening than it was immediately before. Supposedly this gets you many more resharpenings.
10/03/2010
22:25
@gfixler Can you Subscribe peas, Thanks you so much if you can…