Thread: Beginner vs. Hardwood (guess who lost!)

Head back on down to carbatec and grab yourself a metal detector, belt sander/power planer will only help you find metal at surface level.
After denailing your timber give it a scrub with a powered wire brush then use a hand held wire brush along the grain and a blow off with high pressure air, "it is advisable to wear a respirator and glasses".

This will get rid of the majority of dirt entrapped in the grain which is whats bluntening your blades so quickly.

I agree - dirt and/or paint are the quickest way to dull jointer blades. A belt sander loaded with 80 grit is a good way to remove the surface layer with dirt in it, and you also need to check very carefully for nails, etc. I used to work at a place where the boss would let one of his mates put recycled timber across the jointer as a favour, and just about every time he trashed the blades due to nails, etc. Yes, I was the poor bugger who had to fit and align a new set of blades after every visit the guy made....

Your depth of cut doesn't sound excessive, but it depends on how much grunt the machine has and the width of the boards being put through. Of course, if the blades aren't set up level with the outfeed table you might be taking a deeper cut than you think.

You shouldn't need TCT blades. Provided the timber is clean, standard blades should give an adequate service life. Better to spend the money on a spare set of HSS blades so that you can send one set away for sharpening when the need arises.

Thanks Harry. I thought I'd done the right thing by removing most of the paint with 36grit discs on the angle grinder. On reflection it was a bit of a rush job. And I hadn't paid any attention to dirt. I will definitely do so next time.

Should I persevere with the stocked HSS blades from CarbaTec? Or should I try and track down TCT ones? And was 0.5mm depth of cut too ambitious?

Thanks Mr Brush for the vote of confidence in the HSS blades.

The width of the boards was 80mm. I think I'll recheck the level of the blades with the outfeed table. I walked away in disgust when it actually happened but have now cooled down enough to revisit the machine.

In hindsight I probably could have tightened the bolts holding down the blades a bit tighter as they were certainly a bugger to get undone. I won't be surprised if they've slipped. Oh well, these are all lessons learned, I just wish it all wasn't so expensive.

I'd stick with the HSS blades. On smaller machines the blades are often double-sided, so you can just swap the cutting edges over. My old JET 6" jointer was like that.

Its always a good idea to set the blades, run the machine for a short while (including a few short test cuts to make sure the stock runs smoothly onto the outfeed table), then re-check blade alignment to make sure nothing has shifted.

To give you some idea, with clean hardwood (even using fairly abrasive species like Brushbox), I get 2 months out of a set of HSS blades before sending them out for sharpening. TCT blades just aren't cost-effective for the average user; the difficulty in finding them just reflects the lack of demand !

I can definitely live with two months, and I'm guessing you'd use yours a bit more than I will be. Looks like I will just have to be more diligent with my checks.

With regards to metal detectors: Is the only metal they find nails? What other metal might they find in reclaimed hardwood? And how do you get it out?

i would stick with hss blades also.
but i would never spend $30 dollars on blades.
you will have to spend a bit more to get some longevity from the blades.

i had a dewalt thicknesser which i run hundreds of metres of timber through it. no problems at all.
i try to start off with a quarter to a third of a millimetre. then slowly make my way up to half a millimetre.

the dirt on the old timber is a big culprit, but buying cheap blades is never going to help either.

regards, justin.

Thanks Justin. Any ideas on where to get better quality blades? The blades for this particular jointer have 4 holes for the hold-down bolts as well as two pairs of slots to allow for height adjustment. When I was looking for TCT options, I didn't find any other blades that even looked close to these ones.

I'd stay with the HSS blades for what u r doing, TCT blades will last longer but if u hit a nail it could shatter, a spare set for sharpening cut both ends off 2 to 3" back to clean wood

Get rid of as much paint as possible I tend to go 36/40 grit, hot air/burn it off can be useful depends on the type of paint, (old dry flaky sand) (soft sticky burn scrape) then pressure wash, metal detect, probe holes, the mud dauber wasps fill up holes with dirt
To remove nails.... u have to get hold of them somehow this means remove wood surrounding the nail, chisel/drill out around the nail depends how big/deep the nail is, a shallow mortise around the nail then grab with vise grips may have put a lever under vise grips to remove, a deep nail I find the most effective to drill down both sides of the nail knock the nail into one of the holes and pull out.
a couple of pics of something in some mango....
something down in there
Attachment 133980

chop/dig out around the offending thing, grab with vise grips, a short bit of nail
Attachment 133981

I'd go for a bit more on the depth of cut u dont want the blades to be cutting paint u want them to be cutting wood so u need to get underneath the paint and 6 to 7 meter/min feed rate or more even, the cutters are taking bigger chips so this means the blades are doing less cutting of wood (last longer) than if u feed slowly

Pete

hi john.
with regards to the purchase of good quality blades.
i dont think you have a choice mate.
as your jointer is a carbatec model. you will have to stick with the carbatec blades.
ask carbatec if they have any blade choices for your jointer.

maybe someone else on the forum knows where to get good blades for these carbatec jointers......

regards, justin.

I had a bit more of a look around and found a couple of posts on Jalor Tools. I am guessing there would be a similar company in Brisbane that could do the same sort of thing? Not sure how I'd go about looking though.

Brisbane Saw Service at Northgate are who I use for all blade and knife supplies and sharpening. Very helpful people, good prices. No connection.

Cheers

Thanks for the tip Enfield Guy.

I am feeling a bit better about the whole recycled hardwood thing and realise I should have spent much more time preparing the timber before running it over the jointer. I still haven't gone and bought a new set of blades and instead have spent the weekend making up a sharpening jig. I feel a bit embarrassed confessing that it has taken the whole weekend to do this but for some strange reason my 4 month old daughter doesn't sleep particularly well when dad is playing around in the workshop. I suspect it might be a conspiracy between her and her mum...

I recently got a second set of blades made up by Henry Bros.Saws in Sydney ( they post nationwide ) for an old 16" thicknesser. If you can supply an old blade to copy, they'll make whatever you want. Mine cost $105.00 each in 18% tungsten (not exactly cheap, but mine are big suckers - 410mm long, 40mm wide, 4mm thick-, with slots machined in them for the clamp bolts). You can call them on 02 9627 5486 or email [email protected]