Troy, my Dad was a carpenter, and his father and uncles were loggers and Sawyer's. I remember my Dad using hand files and a hand set to sharpen his blades. His father and uncles did the same thing, except there were working on 36 inch circular saw blades for those mill. My uncle told me that his father used a hammer to set the teeth, and would sometimes need to square the blade as it would get a warp in it so it would not run straight and leave the boards with a wavy face like your mill was doing. I am lucky, I still have a local shop where you can saw blades sharpened so if I take in ten blades I will get them all back, even the ones too damaged to resharpen. What is nice about that is you can cut out the bad sections and turn your blade into a hand saw or if the blade is thick enough I know some knife makers who can use them for knife blade stock.
I haven’t logged into your channel in a while. Glad to be back, it’s like visiting a loved family member I haven’t seen in too long. Just something amazing about you and your family
Troy I look forward to your sharpening video as I have mentioned my experience has all been on circle mills. I always hand filed them and used a hand swedge. But I have looked at many different band blade sharpeners some are very exspensive and Norwood too me had the cheapest and best quality of all of them. So for me getting to see one in actual use will be great. Being disabled have thought about getting one to see if I could sharpen blades to supplement my income. These mills are becoming more popular now days as well as affordable. So they just might be enough to make it worth the initial upfront cost.
As far as sending in 10 blades and getting back less, I'd be a little disappointed and would rather make my own call on that. I like to keep a couple somewhat damaged blades (a few busted teeth) handy for doing a cut or two that I'd rather not put a brand new blade through. For example, I milled up a few cedar corner post out of my great grandad's old fence row for a few wall hanger decorative sign slabs and can never be 100% certain that I'd gotten every Staple, barb wire or nail on something like that. An older "on its way out" blade saved a few teeth on the new blade and was the ticket for those few cuts you know? Great video, great topic. 👊
Have you ever tried a bi metal blade ? I think you will be pleased as i was with the results i dont know what your preferance is reguarding tooth and size of your blade but for me i just eye balled the closest matching one and ran it to start and then fine tuned it with metal sellection like alum brass copper , as to harder stuff like stainless molley your harder stuff . It sure saves me money , and down time . Thank you for taking the time to share what yove learned the hard way . Great show .
Pop rivet a 1/4 inch plywood to your cover. Just where the blade would hit will do, to keep the covers light. With a push saw like this I can tell the difference between a super sharp blade and a dull blade by the amount of pressure required to push the mill through. If you pay close attention to this you can too. I tried to make a sharpening video for Y tube, could not do it. Not smart enough I guess. I sharpen on a 1 inch belt sander. Table top type. With this I am able to put a polished edge on the blade that melts through the wood. Once the blade starts to push harder through the wood STOP. pushing hard is not the answer. Take it off and polish it up. You will find these blades will last a very long time. Also by not pushing hard your blade will not loose any set from the stresses of making wavey cuts. It is the best way. When I worked with power feed mills I did not realize how hard that blade was pushing through the wood until the waves started. Now that I am using a LM 29 it is very clear. I mill mostly pine squares as my woodlot is mostly pine. Cheers
Or buy an old Foley sharpener. Last one I bought cost $20 with blade carriages Now, yes, that was a heck of a bargain because I was the only one at the auction who had any idea what it was, but you can buy a nice one for $200-300 vs Norwood's $800
I appreciate all the information you have put out on the topic of the sawmill. My only question (and you may cover this in a video actually using the tool) is how much time does it take to sharpen a blade using that tool? Depending on how long it would take could also determine if sending blades out could pay for itself in that time is a valuable and finite resource.
On the Norwood website it says 8 minutes per blade, presumably once you have set up the machine properly. Doing it by hand with a Dremel (not so accurate of course) takes about 10 minutes.
Just wondering if the bark will dull the blade would it be worth cutting several cants and storing them and change the blade to cut them with a fresh blade later
My OCD has me staring at the tilted ladder in the background..... I live in Arkansas but if you give me your address I'll drive to Virginia and straighten it. Lol
Good info Troy! I'll be looking for the update. I'll be finishing my DIY sawmill build soon and should be dulling some blades. Maybe I'll do a DIY sharpener?
Once you learn to sharpen a blade, its like a everyday thing just to keep caught up as needed but like you said,quite the learning curve an not as much fun as the video. Owning tools where you have the automatic sharpener and you walk away, it grinds the tooth aaway leaving you with little tooth left as it will keep going around and ruin the blade. the setup is not cheap and them sharpening sounds better. Truth is it depends on the amount of blades and how quick you need them and so on. Of course you know all that but some readers get stuff from reading just like me as I learn a lot from you. I also have done it but that don't make me smart cause everyone does stuff different and new perspectives.
@@RedToolHouse Red, thanks. I haven't worked with band saw mills. My dad had a circular saw mill, an old Bell Saw, and he had lots of blades and spent a fair amount of time tuning them. I thought a band blade might be a little better. Good comment.
TBone would you prefer a 80in swingarm circular saw. My Grandpa ran one of those from 1940s to 1970s behind their farm when I was little. Our barn was built from those milled trees. I bought the farm in 1990 but I had it in my parents name. When they died in 2015 they left it to all 4 children. I lost my farm. Sister would not sell it to me even when I matched buyers price. Still pissed. Sorry for venting. Would you rather have a circular? Seem like less trouble when replacing teeth rather than blades. Much easier to sharpen too. Here's a good TBone link. You may recognize the person th-cam.com/video/zYTsJkuEPWQ/w-d-xo.html
Troy, my Dad was a carpenter, and his father and uncles were loggers and Sawyer's. I remember my Dad using hand files and a hand set to sharpen his blades. His father and uncles did the same thing, except there were working on 36 inch circular saw blades for those mill. My uncle told me that his father used a hammer to set the teeth, and would sometimes need to square the blade as it would get a warp in it so it would not run straight and leave the boards with a wavy face like your mill was doing. I am lucky, I still have a local shop where you can saw blades sharpened so if I take in ten blades I will get them all back, even the ones too damaged to resharpen. What is nice about that is you can cut out the bad sections and turn your blade into a hand saw or if the blade is thick enough I know some knife makers who can use them for knife blade stock.
I haven’t logged into your channel in a while. Glad to be back, it’s like visiting a loved family member I haven’t seen in too long. Just something amazing about you and your family
Troy I look forward to your sharpening video as I have mentioned my experience has all been on circle mills. I always hand filed them and used a hand swedge. But I have looked at many different band blade sharpeners some are very exspensive and Norwood too me had the cheapest and best quality of all of them. So for me getting to see one in actual use will be great. Being disabled have thought about getting one to see if I could sharpen blades to supplement my income. These mills are becoming more popular now days as well as affordable. So they just might be enough to make it worth the initial upfront cost.
Every mill needs a metal detector, check each log before cutting, and then you also have something to do when not milling.
As far as sending in 10 blades and getting back less, I'd be a little disappointed and would rather make my own call on that. I like to keep a couple somewhat damaged blades (a few busted teeth) handy for doing a cut or two that I'd rather not put a brand new blade through. For example, I milled up a few cedar corner post out of my great grandad's old fence row for a few wall hanger decorative sign slabs and can never be 100% certain that I'd gotten every Staple, barb wire or nail on something like that. An older "on its way out" blade saved a few teeth on the new blade and was the ticket for those few cuts you know? Great video, great topic. 👊
Have you ever tried a bi metal blade ? I think you will be pleased as i was with the results i dont know what your preferance is reguarding tooth and size of your blade but for me i just eye balled the closest matching one and ran it to start and then fine tuned it with metal sellection like alum brass copper , as to harder stuff like stainless molley your harder stuff . It sure saves me money , and down time . Thank you for taking the time to share what yove learned the hard way . Great show .
Pop rivet a 1/4 inch plywood to your cover. Just where the blade would hit will do, to keep the covers light.
With a push saw like this I can tell the difference between a super sharp blade and a dull blade by the amount of pressure required to push the mill through. If you pay close attention to this you can too.
I tried to make a sharpening video for Y tube, could not do it. Not smart enough I guess.
I sharpen on a 1 inch belt sander. Table top type. With this I am able to put a polished edge on the blade that melts through the wood. Once the blade starts to push harder through the wood STOP. pushing hard is not the answer. Take it off and polish it up. You will find these blades will last a very long time. Also by not pushing hard your blade will not loose any set from the stresses of making wavey cuts. It is the best way. When I worked with power feed mills I did not realize how hard that blade was pushing through the wood until the waves started. Now that I am using a LM 29 it is very clear. I mill mostly pine squares as my woodlot is mostly pine. Cheers
I’m really looking forward to seeing your sharpening videos.
There is one out there. Should pop up at the end of this video.
Do you have any concerns about blade going through plastic shroud ,?
Troy... Maybe a dumb question but... How do blades react to lead? ie. Bullets in trees?
Or buy an old Foley sharpener. Last one I bought cost $20 with blade carriages
Now, yes, that was a heck of a bargain because I was the only one at the auction who had any idea what it was, but you can buy a nice one for $200-300 vs Norwood's $800
I appreciate all the information you have put out on the topic of the sawmill. My only question (and you may cover this in a video actually using the tool) is how much time does it take to sharpen a blade using that tool? Depending on how long it would take could also determine if sending blades out could pay for itself in that time is a valuable and finite resource.
On the Norwood website it says 8 minutes per blade, presumably once you have set up the machine properly. Doing it by hand with a Dremel (not so accurate of course) takes about 10 minutes.
What do you do with them after you can't re-sharpen them anymore?
Broken ones are recycled
i sharpen mine, but for those that don't woodmizer has a resharp service. not sure norwood does
Great video and thanks for sharing
Does the “dryness” or moisture content affect the dulling of you blades on the sawmill?
Yes, some woods are a bear when dry. These you would want to slab to size and not leave in the cant to cut on demand.
Hello there did you ever try bimetal blade?
Just wondering if the bark will dull the blade would it be worth cutting several cants and storing them and change the blade to cut them with a fresh blade later
My OCD has me staring at the tilted ladder in the background.....
I live in Arkansas but if you give me your address I'll drive to Virginia and straighten it. Lol
Ha! If you drive to Virginia, you have gone too far!
Good info Troy! I'll be looking for the update. I'll be finishing my DIY sawmill build soon and should be dulling some blades. Maybe I'll do a DIY sharpener?
I thought you were going to turn a 'bad' dull blade into a harp/bow saw blade
Once you learn to sharpen a blade, its like a everyday thing just to keep caught up as needed but like you said,quite the learning curve an not as much fun as the video. Owning tools where you have the automatic sharpener and you walk away, it grinds the tooth aaway leaving you with little tooth left as it will keep going around and ruin the blade. the setup is not cheap and them sharpening sounds better. Truth is it depends on the amount of blades and how quick you need them and so on. Of course you know all that but some readers get stuff from reading just like me as I learn a lot from you. I also have done it but that don't make me smart cause everyone does stuff different and new perspectives.
Dull after 4 logs? That seems like a lot of wear.
That's pretty standard in my experience with multiple mills.
@@RedToolHouse Red, thanks. I haven't worked with band saw mills. My dad had a circular saw mill, an old Bell Saw, and he had lots of blades and spent a fair amount of time tuning them. I thought a band blade might be a little better. Good comment.
You got to sharpen The Dull sawmill blade ,it would saw more better.
TBone would you prefer a 80in swingarm circular saw. My Grandpa ran one of those from 1940s to 1970s behind their farm when I was little. Our barn was built from those milled trees.
I bought the farm in 1990 but I had it in my parents name. When they died in 2015 they left it to all 4 children. I lost my farm. Sister would not sell it to me even when I matched buyers price. Still pissed. Sorry for venting.
Would you rather have a circular? Seem like less trouble when replacing teeth rather than blades. Much easier to sharpen too.
Here's a good TBone link. You may recognize the person th-cam.com/video/zYTsJkuEPWQ/w-d-xo.html
You resharpen them and move on !!!!!!
Why don't they make a double sided band saw blade ,so it can cut coming backwards???
They do but it wouldn’t work on this model