Thread: First attempt at sharpening

I had a bandsaw blade sharpened recently for $9. At that price, I figure that it would not be worth my while trying to do it myself. As a bonus, it was done while I waited - actually I went to Timbecon while they did it.

For carbide tipped blades, there was an article in Australian Wood Review a couple of issues ago about a jig for this - by Darren Oates I think. He made a carrier for a one of those diamond card sharpeners so that the blade stayed on the bandsaw, allowing the teeth to be sharpened individually at the correct angle while indexing the teeth by hand. I had a quick look but couldn't find it - maybe someone else remembers?

Using a bench grinder, I can sharpen a 3tpi carbon steel blade for a 14" bandsaw in about 12 minutes with excellent results.

When doing the same with a carbide tipped blade I didn't do so well - lack of attention and average eyesight, the carbide tipped blade has a convex
tooth back, and I didn't hit every one of the blade tips. It's easily do-able, but you just need to be attentive.

To explain if you're not sure what I mean, to sharpen the blade on a bench grinder, you need to touch the back of each tooth very, very briefly
to the grinder wheel. The results are great!

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

For carbide tipped blades, there was an article in Australian Wood Review a couple of issues ago about a jig for this - by Darren Oates I think. He made a carrier for a one of those diamond card sharpeners so that the blade stayed on the bandsaw, allowing the teeth to be sharpened individually at the correct angle while indexing the teeth by hand. I had a quick look but couldn't find it - maybe someone else remembers?

Thanks Mr B, I have all the issues back that far so I will hunt that lead down

Originally Posted by Jeffen

To explain if you're not sure what I mean, to sharpen the blade on a bench grinder, you need to touch the back of each tooth very, very briefly
to the grinder wheel. The results are great!

Thanks Jeffen, I saw the YouTube on, I think a Derek Cohen post, about doing it with a bench grinder so understand what you are saying. The question though is what is the appropriate wheel for carbide.

HPF,

you just need to hit the back of the tooth so a fine wheel on your average grinder will do the work.
It's not on there long enough to heat up enough to do any damage. Given you are working with a very expensive blade,
why not buy a cheap blade to get the practice with?

Hope this helps, Jeff

The Resaw King is carbide tipped. The only thing that will sharpen this is diamond. I would use a diamond disk on my Dremel. A bench grinder with vitreous wheels will not do it. You need to send it to the agents to sharpen. It is too expensive to muck up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Australian Wood Review, Issue 96 Pg 72 - by Darren Oates......

Bothered me that I couldn't find it, thought I might be going mad(der), so went looking to hunt it down.

Darren's method looks like it allows you to remove minimal material accurately, i.e. retaining the tooth geometry. With diamond as the abrasive, you'd only need to remove a tiny amount of material to bring a carbide tooth back to scary sharp.

Frankly, if it's good enough for him, it would be good enough for me.

Can you send it back where it was made for sharpening?

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

I think that the distributor where I bought the saw (interstate) might offer a sharpening service but I will investigate the DIY option before making a decision

I sharpened my Woodmaster carbide bandsaw blade yesterday, and it came out perfectly. However the Resaw King has differently designed teeth, and they need to be sharpened by the agent if you are not experienced in this area. The RK is expensive and not a blade to learn on!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Give the blade a good cleaning first. It is amazing how much resin and gunk builds up on carbide.