making a sawblade sharp

[Ihorse]

I just finished restoring a Lane shingle mill--I had to replace the blade--it was way to small--anyhow-the blade I have on it now--cuts crappy--can anyone out there give me a decent tutorial or a place to get good info on sharpening a large blade.
thanks d,j,

[Dail R H]

IHorse,
I'm new here,so take it easy on me till I learn the ropes please. Compare the shape of the teeth on the two blades,you may have put a cutoff saw on instead of a rip blade.While I have tons of sawmill experience,this is a bit technical for a quick easy answer. Some of the guys over at www.foresryforum.com should be able to help. Also a sawshop that specilises in sawmill equipment could help.

[Ralph Leonard]

Welcome aboard Dail, this is a great place to be

[Ken Majeski]

Well.... Most Shingle mill blades are Very Thin and have a lot of draw to the teeth as they have to cut into the side of the block. So unless you have replaced it with a shingle mill blade performance will be less that spectacular.

I have seen lots of shingle mills at shows and the ones with ordinary blades don't work worth a Hoot... I know because that what used to be on mine...

Finally I found an Old Gent with a real shingle mill blade he had saved from a mill he had sold and it made all the difference in the world... And it wasnt Cheep....

[Ihorse]

Most likely I could use a real shingle mill blade--has someone got one or info where can get one,
d,j,

[Don C. Wiley]

Ihorse;

I have two suggestions:

1. Is if you are going to saw airomatic red cedar, I would suggest getting carbide tips on your blade, because of the knots in cedar. They wreck havoic on a tool steel blade, no mater how sharp you make them.

2. Be sure your saw is sharpened to "rip saw". I am including a crude sketch of the difference in the three ways to sharpen the blades.

The cross cut blade has the pointed teeth to sever the annual growth rings "across" them and the rip saw cuts the growth rings end ways.

With out going into great detail on how all this is done, I will just give you the "two bit" tour.

I have been sawing with this old Belsaw for 20 years and I have learned a good bit of information from the school of hard knocks.

I started with the original blade that came with the saw in 1934. It started out at 40" and when I got the insert tooth blade, the old one was about 39". I had sharpened it that much and reshaped the gulets with a Diston gumming machine, several times. [it's for sale] The gumming machine.

Your saw is too thin to use insert teeth, so the best solution for you, is to get carbide teeth put in and the person who does that, should know how to sharpen it.

Good luck with your project and now you will need to make a small hand operated baler to bale the long strips of wood that come off, if it is sharpened correctly.

"DELCO DON" Southern Illinois

[Ken Majeski]

Yup, if your Shingle mill blade is working Right it will actually make stuff kinda like Spagetti.... Not like the smoke and sawdust that some do

Many saw blades have been sharpened by someone in a Hurry and are actually backfiled so bad that the teeth are actually pushed back out of the log. This makes for Very Hard feeding. Shingle mills need a lot of hook or draw to the teeth so they will actually be sort of self feeding like a Mill saw.

I have never sawed with a sawmill and a solid tooth saw... Thats what is nice about the insert teeth... You can just change them and your right back to new specs.

Don: I enjoyed the pics of your Bellsaw. I have had a RR Howell no O mill since the early 70's... It's always Fun to saw lumber and I still get a Kick out of it...

[Ihorse]

I took another look at the blade---the teeth are cut right straight in--no gullet-and they are flat accross--no V shaped parts-looks like when you look at the teeth--kinda like a Vee cut out of the blade, with a little clearance for the tooth to hook into the wood-I will try to get a decent pic-
thanks d,j,

[Colin Rush]

If you are working with hand saws, two-man crosscut saws, and the like, you need to get in touch with this company:

Crosscut Saw Company

They have a catalogue. Get it. In it you will find all of the proper tools you need to keep your straight saw or axe or woodcutting tool sharp. Many of them have not been available for years. They also have several books and reprints of sharpening guides that were printed by saw companies and the US Forest Service. And they even have NOS saws, if you really want them.

I ordered their catalogue years ago, and loved to look at it. I got several tools from them, including a file gauge, saw vise, new handles for my two-man and one-man crosscut saws, and the special bolts used to hold handles on saw blades. (Think of the little brass bolts with the medallions like Disston used to make.) They are a great resource.

If you are into old sawmills, then you should visit this place:

Seneca Saw Works

This place is like the first, but devoted to circular saws instead. Again, tools, instruction book reprints, and so on.

I wonder what it is about New York that both of these old saw suppliers are located there? I would have expected them to be in a more recent logging state, such as Oregon or Washington.