Taking Care Of Your Sawmill Blades

Sawmill blades might at first seem scary, but wait until you take them for a spin. The sawmill has a rich history in the United States, going back to the start of the 20th century. If you've ever seen one of those early sawmills, such as the Simmons Sawmill in the Pacific Northwest, you might suddenly have a desire to cut some lumber, even if you've never sawed a thing in your life.

  • Sawmills manufacture lumber for most industries that would use lumber in their manufacturing process.

  • These places are furniture manufacturers, flooring manufacturers and even for the manufacturing of trusses.

  • These mills use large saws, as they need to cut up logs of different diameters.

  • It is therefore important for the sawmill blades to be as sharp as possible.

Understand this fact

If you really care about your sawmill, you care about your blades. And if you care about your blades, you take care of them.

Hence, the sawmill blades need to be replaced if they seem to be blunt. It is especially the circular blades, which need replacement more often, as they use these to cut the logs. However, these blades can be sharpened as well. The bandsaw in the sawmill will do the refining work as in cutting shapes and curves in lumber, but can be used to produce straight cuts as well.

The Blades

Saw mills generally use quite large circular blades. These could be smaller ones of about 40 inch up to an astounding 9 feet in diameter. These large blades have a fuse hole plus an axis. The axis also acts as a safety device, because if the saw gets overloaded, the axle will stop freely turning.

It's important that the circular saw at the sawmill is tensioned to properly run. This is especially true of those with larger blades. When the saw gets up to speed, its rim will stretch more than at the saw's center, thanks to centrifugal force. An untensioned saw is floppy and loose when it gets up to speed. As a result, it tends to wander out of the place being cut, and to overheat.

The best way to deal with your sawmill blades is to look at what you need it for. You may want to buy both your circular blade and your bandsaw blade, for example, for extremely hard wood.

Tensioning The Blade

1. Tensioning the blade is done by a process known as "hammering." Specifically, the operator places the saw on an anvil and then mounts it on a hammering horse. He then applies controlled blows to adjust the tension. This hammering is done equally to both of the saw's sides.

2. After the sawmill blades are properly tensioned, the next step is to remove any lumps in the plate. Again, this is done on an anvil padded with thin leather. The saw must not have any shiny spots after being used for some time. A saw that has been well-tensioned should stand up to the cut, even if its bits are a bit dull. A saw blade that needs work, however, tends to wander out of this cut. The result will be poorly cut lumber.

The Bandsaw Blade For Your Sawmill

One of the sawmill blades are quite important when it comes to refining the lumber that you are manufacturing for the trade. The bandsaw blades come with the following characteristics:

  • They are made of high-grade steel, which makes the cutting of lumber fast and smooth.

  • It has the ability to cut either hard or soft wood.

  • There are also those that are meant for all applications. That is, it can cut both hard and soft wood without having to be interchanged.

  • When you buy the blades, you should look at the price differences as well.

  • These blades are particularly used for cutting curves and shapes.

The Circular Sawmill Blade For Your Sawmill

Another type of sawmill blade is the circular blade. This is the first blade that would cut the logs into lumber. Therefore, they need to have specific characteristics as well. These are:

  • That the blade would fit any type of machine

  • It needs to have the correct tension. The faster the saw needs to run, the more tension it would need.

  • That the blade has to be able to cut any type of wood (hard or soft).

  • You do, however need the wood circular sawmill blade, if you are going to cut lumber.

  • The reason for the use of the circular saw is that it is stronger and faster than any other way of sawing.

  • It assists with cutting your lumber in straight cuts as well.

  • The circular saw needs less maintenance than any other saw as well.

It is important to use the right blade for the right job as well as the right machine. In recent years, many people have opted for portable sawmills. These mills can be transported to the logs as opposed to the logs to the mills. However, these are for smaller quantities only.

The main purpose of the sawmill blade is to turn logs into lumber. This makes the choice of the blade vital.

Inserted Tooth Blades

Sawmills have for many decades used inserted tooth blades. This is because they are easily repaired if, during sawing, you hit hard spots in the logs. These inserted tooth blades also decrease a need to regrind gullets. Be sure to check these on a daily basis. In fact, it's a good practice before finishing up each day to check all blades and all sawmill parts.

Checking The Blades

And along those lines, if you have someone else working with you in the sawmill, a second pair of eyes never hurts. As much as you might love your business and the sawmill and your blades, remember that they have the potential of being dangerous. So when you finish for the day, it's just smart to have at least two of you examining the blades to make sure they're in shape. Because sharp and straight circular sawmill blades are happy blades.