Ruining bandsaw blades?

[Dan]

Hi everyone I am having a problem with resawing wood and think I have ruined

2 bandsaw blades. What I am doing is resawing 2X4's into 1/2 inch thick pieces. The bandsaw is a 14" Jet. After sawing about 6-7 2X4s the blade does not want to cut straight anymore. If I remove the fence and cut freehand the blade wants to lead right to left badly, about a 20-30 degree line from straight, when the blade was new the lead angle was very slight. The first blade that got ruined was a WoodSlicer fro Highland Hardware and the 2nd was a 3/4" 4tpi Delta. I have tried to check the alginment of the guides and the blade tracking, but no amout of fiddling seems to change the condition. If i feel the teeth on the blade it seems sharp? Am I expecting too much life out of the blades? This does not seem like a lot of useage to dull the blade. Am I doing something wrong here? Any help would be appreciated!

[Bill Rittner]

Check that the blades are running in the center of the tires. On a 14" bandsaw if you let a 3/4" blade come forward enough to run on the metal rim of the wheel you remove the set and ruin the blade. This is why I only use

1/2" blades. It prevents this from happening and as most of you already know I am cheap :-) From your description it sounds like you have lost the tooth set from the inside of the blades. I have a 1/2" Timber Wolf blade I have been using to resaw for more than 2 years on a 12" Craftsman and it still cuts true.

-- Bill Rittner R & B ENTERPRISES

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"Don't take this life too seriously.......nobody gets out alive" (Unknown)

[Nova]

By chance, did these blades happen to hit the blade guard? On a 14" saw there's not a lot of clearance between the teeth of a 3/4" blade and the front of the guard.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]

It still sounds to me like you don't have your cool blocks adjusted correctly. Do you? They will hold it to a lot closer tolerance than that.

[Dan]

On Sun 02 Nov 2003 05:05:03p, "Bill Rittner" wrote in news:r4gpb.118854$0Z5.13375@lakeread03:

That's just what I'm thinking too. Instead of checking to see if the teeth feel sharp, I think maybe you should check to see if the "set" is the same on both sides. If one side of the blade made contact with the metal wheel instead of the tire, even for only a few revolutions, the teeth on that side would be pushed just about straight. I know that would make the blade want to veer sharply, but I can't remember now which way. I think it would want to wander towards the side that still had the proper set, but I don't think I'd bet on that.

Dan

[Howard Ruttan]

Check you tension too. I find those Delta blades to be especially cheap and soft and if you leave the tension on while the saw is not in use they can get stretched and then they tend to wander around. I have resawed with them in the past and I found that you have to heap a little extra tension on to keep them taught so they cut straight. The Woodslicer blade I can't comment on, but the Delta blade should give you more life than that. I also second the comments about the cool blocks. Have you tried making your own out of hardwood?

[George]

Keep the blade clean. You're cutting extremely resinous knots and pockets, I'm sure. Increased resin on one side equals drag, equals the same blade movement as loss of set and unequal cool block (get ceramic) gap.

I like some WD40 on a rag, power off, hand rotate blade in reverse to clean the gum off. Lubes the blocks, too.

[JMartin957]

Most bandsaw blades will lead one way or the other, but that is way too much. Resawing 6-7 2x4s should be nothing for a good blade.

If by leading from right to left you mean that the blade wants to cut in towards the column, you've taken the set or edge off the outside of the blade. Could be rubbing in a few places. I'd check the guides first.

John Martin

[Jerry Mosier]