Band-saw: removing compacted wet sawdust from blade

[John L. Poole]

I am resawing "green" walnut that was felled last week on a 14? Powermatic band-saw, with the riser option ? a 105? blade. The Powermatic has roller bearing on each side of the saw instead of guide blocks. I obtained from Suffolk Machinery Corp, the manufacturer of Timber Wolf? band-saw blades, a special "rip" blade; this blade is designed to cut into the end grain as one does cutting planks off a log. The blade cuts very nicely; I first tried cutting some samples with a carbide blade and the blade just accumulated the sawdust in its gullets making further sawing useless. The problem I face is that there is a white crusty buildup on the blade after sawing maybe 60" of 4" thick branches. The buildup is mostly sawdust-like, it appears almost like a white papery substance. I'm thinking it is a mixture of sawdust and sap? I?ve only been doing some test sawing on 6? branches and making a few cuts from chunks of the trunk. The buildup seems to be sticking to blades causing the blade to not smoothly go through the band rollers. At some points, the buildup seems almost like paper, but a paper that sticks to the blade. Maybe the use of roller bearings is causing increasing compression and build-up each time an affected portion of the blade passes through the guide?

Does anyone have an opinion of what this buildup is? Sap and sawdust? Wet sawdust that has been dried by heat buildup?

Does anyone have a solution to remove the buildup that would allow me to avoid removing the blade from the band-saw? As I am writing this, I?m wondering if I should try installing guideblocks and see if the blocks act as a scraper. I?m wondering if there is an alternative substance I might saw that will act as a cleaning agent. Sawing for several feet and then having to clean the blade off the machine is not a practical solution. Since this is my first experience cutting "green" wood, I don't know if this is typical for all green wood, or something unique to walnut, or something unique to my blade guide system when working with wet wood.

My experience has only been sawing dried wood, so the problem is novel to me. Duginske's book, Band Saw Handbook, does not offer any suggestions for in place cleaning of a blade, nor has my search of the newsgroup rec.woodworking produced anything on point.

A close-up photograph of the blade covered with the build-up can be viewed at my website at:

contacting Suffolk Machinery, too.

John Poole

[Leon]

> I?m contacting Suffolk Machinery, too.

That is only one of the reasons that I do not like roller bearing guides. I had the same Problem with my 18" Rikon. I bit the bullet and stepped up to a Laguna with ceramic guides. Use blade cleaner to remove the residue. CMT Formula 2050 works decently.

[Enoch Root]

Try a rag or paper towel soaked in a solvent (lighter fluid, if you have it) and come at the blade from the rear while you turn the upper wheel under tension.

er

[Fly-by-Night CC]

I have a Delta BS with Carter rollers and have the same problem when roughing out green turning blanks. The rollers just pack the wet sawdust to the blade and roller surfaces.

I scrape the residue off the blade with a razorblade or other small metal edge while hand-rotating the upper wheel in a reverse direction (so the teeth don't grab the scraper). A ScotchBrite on the rollers cleans them up. It's not difficult and doesn't take that long to get back to sawing.

It is important to remove the compacted residue at the end of a session though as it will rust the blade body if left on - as well as becoming extremely difficult to remove when hardened... speaking from experience.

I looked into replacing the Carters but the standard block setup would have set me back a couple hundred for all the replacement parts.