My blade feasco back then turned out to be a set problem the guy that I had sharpening back then will Never sharpen for me again!He lied and put me thru a month of BS doubting my mill Doubting everything!The guy I use now if I see the hook going away I say somthing he fixes it no charge If they dont cut right first pass or two he checks and fixes it!26 is the recomended set for Fir I have him set 30 cause I bought a just rite sharpener So I can sharpen and clean the gulet but I can not set! so I can sharpen twice before they need setting!I know Tim is a very smart guy and knows more about wood than I will ever know!But he is also in business to sell stuff blade rollers yada yada.
I have cooks guides on my mill they are exellant But .you CAN't cure everything with a band roller That was his big push back then! The blade is 40 bucks up here the band roller nudging 1000 bucks I can buy and throu away alot of blades for that kind of money The problem with the blades IS and was the set was TOO low for what I was cutting Right out of the box!
22 thou is too low for fir it cuts cedar fine it cuts maple fine but not fir.
I found this out from Roy at Sulfolk saws in oregon After I was told by one of the people here to phone him!He shoots straight from the hip not only sharpens but has sawed!And sawed Fir.Tim also is Held by his convictions and tests But is in business to sell saws and parts!Cooks blades also are second to none But are sharpen diffrently and you need to buy there sharpener or you can not maintain the gullet!Anyway just rambling and in no way putting Cooks down they are great people to deal with and Highly recomend there products if you an afford them!
Fred,
I know exactly how you feel. When blades are going all over the place, and you can't figure out why, it will make you wish you had never seen a band saw.
I have been using Timberwolf blades (and still am untill they are all worn out). But lately I've only been getting 3 maybe 4 sharpenings out of them before they just wouldn't cut straight anymore. Maybe just a bad batch of material in the blade's. Anyway, I was really frusterated, I had a pile of blades sitting in a heap in the yard to be thrown away, that should have had a lot of life left in them.
I didn't much believe all that band roller stuff, but being desperate I went ahead and bought one. The blade I used in this thread had been thrown in the pile after the 4th sharpening. I dug it and 9 other blades out of the heap, cleaned them up, set and sharpened them. It really does do what they say. I had thrown those blades away because they wouldn't cut straight. They are on their 4th sharpening since being rolled and cutting at least as good as they did when they were new. Today I dug out 8 more blades out of the trash and cleaned them up, rolled, set, and sharpened them.
I couldn't afford the band roller, but I couldn't afford to keep throwing good money after bad buying new blades every 3 or 4 sharpening's. Someone I know told me that the roller really worked, so I went for it.
Timberwolf blades only cost me a little over 30 bucks each delivered so I'll use that figure.
The roller cost 900 bucks + shipping so about 1000 bucks.
I have doubled the life of 18 blades so at 30 bucks each that's $540.00, if I can roll them again and get another 4 sharpenings out of them, then the blade roller has paid for itself with the first batch of blades I salvaged.
Just food for thought, it really does work.
Andy
It's at about 7000' elevation, so I had to go down the hill a little ways to get there.
