Saw blade will last 2-3 times longer
For a band saw, the saw blade is a consumable. Such tapes are different in quality and purpose. When they become dull, they naturally begin to cut worse, and if this is not the case on curved cuts noticeable, then when sawing blanks into thin boards, a sharp saw blade is necessary condition.
For my band saw for such tasks, I bought a saw band specifically.
I talked about this tape here.
She is 0.5 mm. thick, I used it only for sawing dry oak boards and until the moment when the tape became dull, I sawed through it about 150 m / p.
It is easy to understand that it has become blunt, when sawing oak boards into thinner cuts, it began to divert to the side and the thickness begins to walk. On pine boards, this blunt tape still continues to work well.
There are three solutions: buy a new one (such a tape costs more than 2000 rubles for my machine), find a sharpening workshop and sharpen it from them, or sharpen the tape yourself.
In the second and third solutions, the service life of the saw blade can be extended by at least two to three times.
I chose the third option and decided to sharpen the tape myself.
I made a simple tool for this. Got the idea from this one guitar maker video (Niho Guitar Workshop)
My fixture is made from a pair of scraps of a 20 mm board and a bar.
I fixed the grinder to the boards with a screw screwed in instead of a removable handle.
A cut was made in the support bar for the grinding disk, and the bar itself is screwed to the base with a pair of self-tapping screws.
The bar is slightly rounded on top so that the saw blade lies freely on it. Also, a pair of cloves are driven in on top of the bar, which serve as a support during sharpening and are placed taking into account the pitch of the teeth of the tape.
When sharpening, the tape with one tooth rests on one carnation and is brought to the second. At the same time, both the sharpening angle and the depth are maintained.
As a grinding disc, I used a cutting disc for a grinder.
For sharpening a tape 2240 mm long. spent about 30 minutes.
Immediately after sharpening, I tested the tape on a small oak bar. The result is excellent.
At the moment I sawed through about 25 meters of oak boards with a width of 110 mm. The cut goes like clockwork, the sawn parts are even and of the same thickness.
Thank you for reading. I will be glad for your support in the form of a like and a subscription to the channel. And see other posts on the channel.
Alexander.
P.S. I also invite you to your website.