Thread: All gunked up

Real easy, just use water, takes some time, and then you dry it and apply some anti rust compound of your choice,
On my old 600mm Robinson, I run a spray of water continuously when cutting to stop sap build up, works real well.
regards,
Crocy

If I have build up on the blade I (in the past) have used a bit of a stick and carefully held the square end of the stick square onto the blade and scraped the crap off, gets most of it off, I have now put some rubber scrapers that touch the blade so it now continuously gets scraped


Pete

I use diesel. But I take off the blade and wrap it into its usual coil and use a spray bottle full of diesel and wet it down and leave it overnight. I then wipe off any excess and put it back on the BS and cut a piece of scrap and it all comes off.

If the diesel was left on, would it affect the BS tyres? (I'm sure petrol would.)

Diesel can be quit amazing. I was replacing the head on a van of ours - it had sat with coolant/water in two cylinders for several months, so the cylinders looked like death.
Our mechanic - from a nearby industrial unit - told me to fill the cylinders with diesel and let it sit for a day. It was shocking to see how well they cleaned up after that - as clean as you could ask.

Paul McGee

The diesel sounds like it is worth a try. I will do it off the saw and let you know how it goes.
Regards
John

Hi,
here is another way for cleaning gunk off bandsaw blades. I cut up some sappy pinus radiata at the weekend and at the end my blade had gunk hard crusted around the teeth and on the inside.
I took the blade off the bandsaw. I then put a brass wire brush wheel (50mm diameter) into my cordless drill, set the speed low and proceeded to wirebrush all the gunk off the blade as it lay along a 400mm piece of 100x50 in the vice.
The rotation was set so the wire brush went from the back of the blade to the front. Worked fine and took off all the gunk in under five minutes.
Someone else may have experience cleaning bandsaw blades in this way, so they could let us know if there are any downsides to this approach.
Paul

Paul,
I have been pondering all kinds of options. One thing I was thinking was to cut into a block of wood then clamp that block so tips of the teeth are protected in the cut. Then running the saw hold a wire brush or a scouring pad against the blade. I still like the diesel thing too and cleaning off the machine keeps all the crap away from the rubber on the wheels. Anyhoo work and other stuff are keeping me away from the shed for now. Other option is have a blade just for cutting green timber and just learn to live with a bit of gunk on it.
Regards
John

John,
The best way is to do it when it is still wet. As I said earlier I run a water spray on mine, you only need a cheap spray bottle from the supermarket, not a huge amount needed. Sometimes the wood I am cutting is really sappy, so I carefulluy use a standard wire brush, like welders use, or a piece of 25 by 6 hardwood against the side of the blade, or if its real bad, an old 300mm steel rule. Be careful not to hit the teeth, and both of these methods keep you pinkies clear of the blade, as I run a 1 tpi blade on the Robinson. Do it often, preferably before it dries.
hope this helps.
regards,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by Old Croc

John,
The best way is to do it when it is still wet. As I said earlier I run a water spray on mine, you only need a cheap spray bottle from the supermarket, not a huge amount needed. Sometimes the wood I am cutting is really sappy, so I carefulluy use a standard wire brush, like welders use, or a piece of 25 by 6 hardwood against the side of the blade, or if its real bad, an old 300mm steel rule. Be careful not to hit the teeth, and both of these methods keep you pinkies clear of the blade, as I run a 1 tpi blade on the Robinson. Do it often, preferably before it dries.
hope this helps.
regards,
Crocy.

Yep as Crocy suggests, I have found when cutting green as the gunk builds up on the blade, a vibration (hamonic) is setup leaving a very coarse finish that looks like bands of waves, not a drama for bowl blanks so much but thin veneers no good .


Pete

Originally Posted by pmcgee

If the diesel was left on, would it affect the BS tyres? (I'm sure petrol would.)

Sorry I only just checked back on this thread. Yeah I take the blade off the BS before applying the diesel.

On chainsaw chains some people use oven cleaner, oand believe it or not some use a strong stewed coffee, and apparently is just as effective and course is not as toxic. I have tried it on chainsaw chains and it does work. I just took a couple of handfuls of ground coffee in 2L of water and boiled it up in a saucepan for 20 minutes and then ran the brew through one of those paper filters. The coffee also would be unlikely to affect a BS wheel tyre so it could also be applied while the blade is on the saw.