Thread: Twisted saw

will it hammer out?

Frank and Ernest, sorry to hear of your blade mishap. Personally I would scrap the blade if there is any hint of cracking when you straighten it out. The few blade breaks I have experienced have been okay - contained inside the covers of the machine, but it only takes that 1 in a 100 chance to give you a bad cut, and $37 is not worth that. Play it safe if you have any doubt.

Frank, I had the same thing happen with a 1" blade on my Leda. I tried to fix it and ran it for a while longer.

I got quite a fright when a 1" blade under heavy tension broke .

My 2c - toss the blade and make marking knives out of it, it's not worth the dry cleaning.

bin it.

Thanks guys. $37 is a cheap price for a good safety lesson.

Second question, though. Is it likely that anything else has been compromised?

It should not have damaged anything else, although you will need to check the guides are still tight and in place, particularly the back bearing guide.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Thanks guys. $37 is a cheap price for a good safety lesson.

Second question, though. Is it likely that anything else has been compromised?

doubtful. Check if the rubber on the tyres is still in good shape and check out your guide system. Make sure it still runs true when you raise and lower it.

Put a 1/4" blade on it and check it still runs like it should....before switching it on.

Now that you have stop shaking and changed your pants, have you worked out why it happened? Did the log roll on you why you were cutting? If so what were you using to support the log or were you just freehanding it into the blade?

Actually, no shaking or pant wetting, and I know exactly the mechanics of what happened. I am just not embarrassing myself telling everybody how reckless I was... You have already worked it out anyway.

Thanks all for your advice, I'll check what you said.

PS: Fencepost2, I just noticed you are local. Would you have any advice where best to buy/ resharpen blades? Otherwise I'll go straight back to Leda.

Frank,

Try Queenstown Saw Works, 1 - 3 Athol St, Athol Park
8341 1788
They can supply what you need.

Pedro

Thanks Pedro, much appreciated. They are even close by.

Frank and Ernest, sorry I don't know any reliable local blade makers, the last ones I got were from C and S in Victoria. I appreciate the advice given by Pedro about the place at Athol. When I got my Leda saw a few years ago they did not supply blades, I must check them out again. Incidentally, the Leda manual was hopelessly out when it came to specification of blade length so measure something that fits rather than rely on the nominally stated length.

Bin the blade!

And don't sweat it. You'll have a 1in break in the machine one day when you are doing nothing wrong, and then you WILL poop your pants. Aside from one hell of a bang, and horrible sounding scraping noises that's about all that should happen. It'll scare you sh*tless and you'll jump to turn the power off so quick that nothing damage-wise is likely to happen. It won't be the last time.

As the guys said, put a smaller blade on, wind it around by hand, and make sure all guides etc a. don't need adjusting, or b. haven't come loose.

don't try to repair the blade. any bend that remains will cause more wear on guides than you want, and will end up costing more than a new blade anyways.

Oh yeah, and chocks clamped/screwed to the round log will prevent a repeat of that misfortune (as you've no doubt worked out (we've all been there, done that )

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Actually, no shaking or pant wetting, and I know exactly the mechanics of what happened. I am just not embarrassing myself telling everybody how reckless I was... You have already worked it out anyway.

Well, how about you just explain it hypothetically so newbies like me can know what not to do? Sounds exactly like what I'll end up doing with the new saw I'm getting next week. The 12 inch one I have is too small to go near with a big log.