Thread: Sharpening bandsaw blades??

A few threads in here.

Hi scooter. That link doesn't work for me.

Hello Scott,
I sharpened a 1"/1.6tpi 3 times recently. Just a touch on the back of the tooth (square across) with an angle grinder with the blade in the saw. Leave the gullet alone. The blade cut better than new each time and sharpening took less than 10 minutes. I marked with a white pencil as I went.
Don't know that I would want to sharpen anything finer but I will have a go at a blunt 1/2"/3tpi when I need it.
You could sharpen finer blades with a file but I doubt that the expenditure of time would make it worthwhile. Somewhere I read to mount the blade inside out when sharpening with a file so that any resultant burr is not cutting the tyres when in use.

Wonder how one of those chainsaw sharpener machines would work?

Anyone tried that?

Sharpening canm be done but its tedious.
Easiest tool is the rotary diamond file (for chainsaws) driven by a cordless drill

Then if you need to set them, did I say sharpening is tedious, well setting a b/s blade is the ultimate pita.

But if yer stuck on a weekend and have a few hours to kill - go for it.

Tedious? You have the gift of understatement, Bob... it makes tedious jobs look positively exciting! I'd almost rather paint the house & fences... almost.

I do believe that hand filed/set blades cut better than those run through an automated machine, but I'm not sure that the improvement is enough to make me deprive my blade sharpening service of a few quid...

We have a commercial sharpener, story & picture here .

Have now tried the smaller 2" (50mm) bi-metal blade from Henry Bros 5 sharpens so far and half the cost.

What Wizened said. I put a angle grinder blade in the 6" grinder and and go to it - about half hour and you have a good sharp blade again.

Sometime back I acquired a small hand operated setting machine. It takes 11 minutes to set a 4930mm long blade. The sharpening machine is powered and takes 15 minutes to sharpen the same blade. The blades I sharpen are old standard blades. Most bandsaw blades now have hardened teeth and cannot be sharpened using a standard file. Both machines were acquired on this board.
Jim

Thanks very much boys. I will give the angle grinder a go.

use a cutoff disc

I saw an idea once about 15 years ago...
The bloke pulled his blade off the saw, flicked it inside out & put it back on again so the teeth were upside down.
He then turned it on & pushed a sharpening stone up against it for about 3 seconds & turned it off & flipped it over again.
(I have never tried it myself so I can't vouch for it BUT, I watched him do it & the bloody thing did seem to cut better afterwards.)

Can't say I'd recommend that 'un, Cliff...

...but on thinking about it, it'd be one way to extend the life of a bi-metallic blade after it's been resharpened enough that you can't safely deepen the gullets anymore. (And yes... I'm stingy enough to try it. )

It was just a light touch, he did end up with sharp(er) points on the teeth but the tops were a bit flat so my guess is that it would run hotter.

I used to sharpen my own hand saws so I have files and a good saw set.

Would the saw set be ok to use on a bandsaw blade and what setting would I use for a 10mm 4tpi blade