Thread: bandsawn vs chainsaw slabbed

Originally Posted by Sigidi

I heard Lucas and my name mentioned... what?.. hey???

Yeah look, I've on occasion had a debate similar to how many can you get when comparing the two.

I've no experience with wide band slabbing, so for 'real kerf' figures we'll have to get them from the guys that do it, but for chainsaw slabbing like Bob said about 7mm kerf with .404 chain and less than 1mm lost to removing the chain marks (take a look at the "ammamoor Slabs" thread for proof) so 8mm total kerf.

If the bandsaw has a kerf of 1mm on the band what does that equate to actual kerf in the timber and does it need a similar amount to remove saw marks (around 1mm for my slabber)

So I put the figure at around 9 slabs needed on a bandsaw slabber before gaining 1 slab over doing the same log with my lucas slabber. Having said this after talking to a fella who cleans and dresses slabs he advised me if I was bringing more slabs to him to cut them at 65mm not 50mm as he felt over the face of most slabs it doesn't take very much to require a heap to be taken off before you get 'clean board and then you are left with a 38mm slab more often than not. So using 65mm (although you didn't ask for it) it would mean 11 slabs on a bandsaw before it could gain 1 over a chainsaw.

The worst thing I reckon is a heck of a lot depends on the operator, I've seen (and cut a very small amount) slabs with 6-8mm washboard from the chain across the face obviously bringing the number down closer to 5 slabs before gaining 1.

If your bandsaw operator pushes their band too far before replacing or sharpening, then I'd expect you'd get similar losses.

So it's easy to say lets forget about everything else and just do a direct comparison, but it just doesn't work that way.

Looking forward to hearing about the bandsaw side of things.

Hi, see previous notes re bandsaw.

Before I purchased my rather expensive and sofisticated saw, I did a lot of research, to the point I bought a detailed survey by the VIC forestry who trialed Lucas circular, woodmizer band and Laidlaw band. All saws surveyed lost accuracy and depth and the bands being 32-50mm wide tended to wave under pressure. The article also showed labour, maintenance, production of sawn and waste timber. I also examined , Lucas slabber, lewis, Kara, Knokabout, Mahoe, Rimue,Petersen, Mcquarie etc. Some won't cut with accuracy, too much waste, sml sizes blanks and resaw billetts, hairy oak (sand,silica content), resin build up etc. Therefore I found the SERRA mill virtually does the lot be it 6 tonne mill logs and smaller, resaw of sleepers, blanks/billetts 300X200X600 to 4000mm. Some green/immature timbers have too much resin/sap e.g. pine, ironbark and spotted gum. The hard stuff, Gidyea, Boree, ooline, budgeroo, ironwood, hairyoak easy to cut, the older the better. I cut red cedar at AGshow Toowoomba 2006, 4metersx250x150mm, 28mm boards, 28mm at start, 28mm in the middle at 28mm at finish, customer very very happy.

Welcome John, got any pictures of your setup? Not heard of the mill you are referring to before.

Originally Posted by STEJOH0008

Hi, see previous notes re bandsaw.

Before I purchased my rather expensive and sofisticated saw, I did a lot of research, to the point I bought a detailed survey by the VIC forestry who trialed Lucas circular, woodmizer band and Laidlaw band. All saws surveyed lost accuracy and depth and the bands being 32-50mm wide tended to wave under pressure.

I'd like to see what they classed as 'lost accuracy' with respect to a Lucas?? My individual point of view is the accuracy is only limited to how the operator runs the mill and from the sentence I interpret that it says over time the saw lost accuracy?? If the operator is particular with adjusting the saw properly, sets the mill up right and mills properly the saw is very accurate. As an example, I've cut internal lining as an experiment and cut 150mmx5mm boards, not very efficient use of log volume and slow going when trying to get volume under your belt, but my Lucas did the job??

Originally Posted by nifty

nice rig stopper, here comes a woodmizer owner to explain bansaw blade wander. If you own a bandsaw and you are getting wander then stop and take a real good look at how you are sharpening you blades. Depending on what you are cutting you have to set up your blades to suit. For example if the timber or log is hard you set them up with more pitch, less tooth face angle and plenty of set as this will ge knocked off pretty quick. The most important thing is to ensure that your tooth gullet is carrying all of the sawdust out and not letting it release out of the gullet early. This is the biggest cause of walking as i call it. And be patient with feed rate, a log will tell you how fast to travel. This all takes time to learn with a bandsaw as i believe it would with setting up a chainsaw to slab as well. When it comes to bandsaw operating, the most important part is sharpening so learn to do it yourself or get to know a real good saw doc. The best one i ever met lives in qld and we spend alot of time on the phone as i only see him once a year but he helps me to keep the big girl singing. Iff anyone is game ill cut anyones timber all day into 2mm veneers with no wander as for seeing my mill in action burnsy, this big minesite clearance starts in 2 weeks so there will be heaps of pics.

thank you bob