Blades and metal in the timber

[Railomatic]

Does any of you guys ask for a deposit to cover any eventualities of hiting metal whilst milling.
I ask this because a friend has some oaks and sycamores he wants slicing up but he cannot gaurantee if they are D O M, deviod of metal, I suppose you can soon go through a few blades in timber that is contaminated with gremlins.

Would any of you guys refuse to cut the lumber or ask for reimbursment of every blade ruined in the process.

 

[woodshop]

I'm not sure how widespread this is, but some portable bandsaw guys around here (PA, east coast US) actually have you sign something as part of the contract making you liable for the blade if it hits metal. Usually it will simply be a set fee to replace or sharpen the blade. As was posted many times here and there in AS, many sawyers simply refuse to mill a log from a yard or along a road, especially an intersection because of the likelihood of hardware buried in it.

I have personally ruined many a bandsaw blade hitting hardware when I was too lazy or in too much of a hurry to use my metal detector.

 

[dingo]

Does any of you guys ask for a deposit to cover any eventualities of hiting metal whilst milling.
I ask this because a friend has some oaks and sycamores he wants slicing up but he cannot gaurantee if they are D O M, deviod of metal, I suppose you can soon go through a few blades in timber that is contaminated with gremlins.

Would any of you guys refuse to cut the lumber or ask for reimbursment of every blade ruined in the process.

If we hit metal, no matter what destruction it does we charge for a new blade. It is told to the customer up front what to expect if the log is from a place where contamination of metal is possible.
We hit a rock right smack dab in the middle of a big White oak last year; after looking it over, it once had been the shape of an ax with a tether groove in the middle. We later found arrow heads and a complete rock ax on a mound by the creek where the log was from.:greenchainsaw: :blob6:

 

[burlman]

ya that's all you can do tell them any foreign material that causes blade damage is an automatic new blade charge. I keep some worn down blades aside incase a suspicious log makes it way to the deck, I use these blades up there, doesn't hurt as much as a new one when you hear that awful scream of bandsaw and steel collide. In my mueseam of tree shrapnal, besides bullets ,fences and nails, I have an aluminum no tresspassing sign, a porcelain hydro insulater, a glass telephone insulater, a brass belt buckle form a horse collar, and a 2in rock that we figured must got shoved into the tree by the snowplow years ago and the big pine grew around it.

 

[urbanlumberinc]

I'll charge accordingly for any metal I hit. If it's just a small nail and all I have to do is re-sharpen the blade/chain, then they're paying by the hour for the time spent re sharpening (with the Lucas, sharpening only takes 5 minutes), however if a blade needs re-tipped or a chain is ruined, I charge for the re-tip job or the price of the chain. I tell customers this up front, and put it in writing. I hit metal in 10-15% of the logs I saw, In 6 months I've had to retip 3x, not too bad considering.

 

[aquan8tor]

Anybody in central VA want to help a fellow miller out looking for the source of metal stains in a couple red oak logs???? Anybody have a metal detector?? Thanks in advance.

 

[2dogs]

I searched first. Where do you guys send your Lucas blades for re-tipping?






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[MJR]

I use a Garrett model 1165180 “SUPER SCANNER” metal detector on all my logs. It doesn’t work great, but it does work. Last summer I logged Ash and Norway’s from my hedge rows. Old fence was everywhere. I didn’t hit any metal (one bullet).Last weekend milling some residential cedar I hit a huge piece of blade killing stuff. It took out the sawmill blade and one chainsaw blade. It was in the middle of the log and the detector could not read it. I plan to dig it out this weekend. So what I am trying to say is, a metal detector will not save you from all evils in logs. Ceramic insulators make nice sawmill art. Ask for a blade deposit, you break it – you buy it.

 

[Matildasmate]

One of the blokes over here slugs $70au a pop per nail , I am assuming this means per blade damaged . Cheers MM

 

[big daddio]

90% of the time it's my own logs [gathered from different sources] that i find metal in. just have to kick myself. sawed a large locust once that had been used for target practice. the lead sawed pretty easy and didn't seem to hurt the band. interesting lookin' though.

 

[slabmaster]

Not too much trouble with my csm.Bullets don't bother it and most the time it just cuts through the nails.Did take a top plate out on a nail once though,but still could use the chain.Band mills aren't as good when hitting nails.To costly for me.I love my csm,i can sharpen the chain right on the mill.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Not too much trouble with my csm.Bullets don't bother it and most the time it just cuts through the nails.Did take a top plate out on a nail once though,but still could use the chain.Band mills aren't as good when hitting nails.To costly for me.I love my csm,i can sharpen the chain right on the mill.

Bandsaw bands aren't ruined every time you hit a nail... Even if you loose a tooth or two, you can still resharpen it and use it. I've hit nails many times, and sometimes you don't even loose any teeth.

As for too costly??? Heck, with a bandmill every 5th board is FREE, and when i sell all of those FREE boards, i can buy a LOT of bands!!

Rob

 

[BlueRider]

Lucas retip near Santa Cruz

I searched first. Where do you guys send your Lucas blades for re-tipping?


Acme saw service on W. Julian in San Jose is a top notch sharpening shop. You may want to ask them if they have the teeth on hand as they are an odd size. also take all the blade geometry specs to them. If they have never done a Lucas blade I would still not hesitate to use them as they do top quality work. I have had them make bandsaw blades, retip and resharpen table saw blades as well as make custom router bits.



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