My name is Robert Milton, owner of Hobby Hardwood Alabama, a multi-million dollar, hardwood sawmill company that is ranked the highest grade lumber producer in the state for two years running. We are a Mom and Pop operation, I'm a retired Rocket and Missile Propulsion Engineer, my wife is retired NASA Engineer and we use our technical knowledge and skills to produce and sell some of the best lumber in the country. We are not a video company that happens to have just bought a shiny new sawmill, we are a sawmill operation that happens to make How-To videos to educate new sawmillers and show some of our secrets to help them along. Come visit our webpage, hobbyhardwoodalabma@gmail.com
Do you think jet fuel would work similarly (I might have access to it for free)? It is closer to kerosene since it doesn’t have as much additives in it as diesel. I understand we are talking in the PPM quantities, so I have to imagine it would be at least very similar.
Safety is paramount. Found it interesting you were talking the nasa museum. ROTC at my high school in Marietta took us up there as field trip in the early 70s. Such a great place. Thanks again for these videos. My son and I are will put them to use
Some times my Cat powered LT40, will leave a washboard for the first foot of cuts working down a pine or cedar cant.. My mill has 8000 hours but I keep it well adjusted and in good shape. It is on a slab under cover. Double hard 1 1/4 .040. 10 degree. I use a CBN profile wheel.
That is a common problem, and due to band resonance or "band bounce" when the band is not in the cut and unloaded. For some reason, your band is bouncing very rapidly up and down when engaged at cutting speed but not in a log. If you put a camera on to in slow motion, you can see it. So when you put the band in a soft wood, especially an new sharp band, and is still bouncing up and down in the cut causing the washboard effect, until the "bounce" or resonance settles and disappears when you increase feed speed further in the cut and load up the band. Faster sawing increases load on the band and decreases washboard, up to a point. It's easy to check, when you see washboard, saw faster and see if it reduces and then feed slow and see if it reappears. You can do it one cut, and you will know what it is. Finding the reason for the band bounce is another thing, and would make a good video,.
Thanks so much for all your videos. I have learned so much from watching them over the last couple of years. I’ll have to go out to my sawmill and feel the back of the blade and see where my roller guide if running to make sure all is where it should be. I wanted to let you know I appreciate what you are doing.
I know filming can be a bloody mess at times. Been there, done that. However, it would be rather interesting to see a super slow motion of closeup band flexing done on a high speed camera. On RU-vid, Jonathan Kat-Moses has had some very informative router and table saw closeups. And another Alabama engineer, Dustin at Smarter Every Day, has done some very good slow-mo videos with many subjects.
Robert, you never cease to amaze, with subjects that are not in the handbook. The world is a better place because of engineers.😁 (I was an AERO major also)
Yes, they are OK, but in my opinion, the teeth have too much back angle, making the tips weak, and the beam strength is a little off, also. Decent, but not the best I've used. Good question.
I gotta admit, I found out about you from OTW Nathan. Between the two of you I am slowly becoming more confident in the small fortune I am about to spend on a Woodmizer mill, and many other Woodmizer products! I sincerely appreciate your informative videos, as I have a lot to learn.... than you sir!!
you may have said this on another video, and i just didnt see it, but what size log is a waste of your time. and where do you say yes its big enough to cut? thanks
I charge by the hour for this very reason. Was making garbage cuts for "less than knowledgeable customers", so hourly rates solved the problem. A few years ago Wood-Mizer put out a blurb that said sawyer rates ranged from $65 - $105 hourly.
It depends on the species, but I typically won't do anything under 14 inches and much prefer 20 to 30 inches. Doyle scale actually penalizes loggers for smaller logs.
great info i am always trying to pick up tid bits of info on milling and blades and set up or just all things sawmill. it beets the school of hard knox which is where i seem to learn a lot of my limited knowledge.
I am new to sawmilling first year with it and only 15 hrs on it. So love and appreciate all your knowledge. So my question is when i get down to say 4" of log left and i try and make two 8/4 boards my logdogs will raise the board off the bunks, (frustrating) any help or ideas would be awesome. HD36V2
Im still struggling with heavy head shake under certain conditions and species of wood. Big oach Logs eh ... no matter what i do, no matter which band, tension, feed rate, alignment, ... ... ..., sometimes it starts shaking like hell. I almost accepted it and tried to live with it, but the little nerd in me tells me, i won't rest until i know why this bloody saw is doing it - if i know , most likely i stop sawing. :-) Question: What are the most common reasons for head shake? I was running 7-9-9'isch-11 degree blades, i set up the mill as good and accurate as possible according to manual. And i know this is an old topic but it realy bothers me... If i know whats wrong, i could throw the saw away and buy a new one - other brand - but what if the same thing happens at the new sawmill as well because i didn't understand where it is coming from - that would be stupid - isn't it?
Since I don’t know the mill brand or make, it’s difficult to answer the question. However head shake is caused by uneven feeding, or uneven cutting, for whatever reason. it could be you feed motor is jerking, your feed belt is slipping, your follower bearings are skidding or grabbing under load, you main drive belt is slipping, or quite a few things, but generally is not alignment related. Blades can do it, even new ones, if they have mis set teeth or aren’t ground all the same.
You crack me up, Robert! 😂 Once I found your channel, I default to your information completely. I remember one sawyer channel that used carbide-tipped bands because their long life far outweighed their cost. I'm not going to believe that until you tell us differently. Thanks for the education AND the laughs!
I have new carbide bands hanging on the wall, and if I thought they were better, I would use them. They actually cut slower per hp than conventional bands because of their wider saw kerf. They also can't be readily resharpened, and yes, nails are attracted to carbide. They do have a few specialty uses, such as skimming one edge of a live edge slab, but in reality, their cost and reduced performance does not justify their cost. For some extremely abrasive exotic woods they are also useful. In summary, I'm not overly impressed with them. They are like a specialty tool that only comes out of the toolbox every now and then, mostly never.
This is never addressed as most mills cut 90 degrees to the log length but I will site two exceptions. One is a youtuber using a chain saw to 'split' a short log. Instead of cutting across the end face of the log (which every chainsaw mill does) he cut through one bark side to the other bark side avoiding any knots along the way. This produces long strings of waste and seemed quicker while cutting across the face makes small chips and is harder on the saw and chain. This method could be applied to a long bar Alaskan style chain saw mill. Second is E Z Boardwalk saws which have angled their mills at 15 degrees to the log face. It should extend the life of the blades and reduce normal wear on the mill. While cutting, the blade pulls the saw head through the cuts due to the angle. Now, my idea is to get mill manufactures to create a new style of mill that pivots the whole band saw head perhaps up to 89 - 90 degrees. Of course this will reduce the width of cut but any angle would be better than no angle (the 90 degree cuts would only happen at the end of a skim cut so you could technically cut a longer log than your mill would normally hold by a few inches). Since the mill you use only has one side attached to the deck it would be the easiest to adapt.
Thanks so much for running through this information. That is going to be very helpful. New mill sowing up the 22nd. Can’t wait. Son and I will have something else we can do together
Hello Mr. Milton. First whats going on with the set gopher trap on the work bench. You explained very well the complexity involved in manufacturing saw blades.As consumers we are at the mercy of manufacturers as far as products engineered at an acceptable and affordable cost. You have demonstrated the value of the blades available . You have jumped way ahead with factors combined to make a good saw blade that cuts good. I feel a blade setting and conditioning video in the future. I guess until blades stay sharper and last longer between sharpening we will depend on you to come up with practical innovative ways to get the most out of our work and hobbies. Thank you Mr. Milton. I enjoyed your video.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama They will make "Precious Memories" when they go off. So be careful if they contact a "spandex bandit" in your shop. A spark can be produced and cause heavy damage. Sorry. couldn't help myself. I'll hush.. Thanks Mr. Milton
Thanks for the video, I will be checking the back side of my band. I did not know about loosing the set on one side, will be checking for this also. Love sawing and learning.
Yeah, loosing set on one side instantly screws up a band, and is not overly well known. I've done it myself and should always keep it in the back of your mind when you push a band hard and scrub it on the back shoulder, I always take the next cut slow at first to see if the proper set is till there on the roller side.
It was great meeting you Saturday. I appreciate you taking time and talking with me. This was a very informative video. I never thought about the possibility of your roller taking out your set as your blade gets narrow. I sharpen my blades and this has been very helpful. Thanks so much.
They are welded when produced. I think they laser weld, or some other uncommon (for a hobbiest) method, so probably not something a person can easily diy unless they happen to have specialty equipment. You would also need to do a post-weld annealing or the fatigue life will be very short.
Sure, they are generally contact arc welded like a metal cutting bandsaw, and the real key is getting the tooth spacing exactly correct for resharpening, getting the weld annealed properly and then grinding the weld perfectly flat. Lots of ways to do it wrong, only a few to do it right.
It's OK for some specialty stuff, but actually cuts slower than conventional bands per hp because the kerf is so wide. I've got some, if they were better for day to day sawing, I would be using them. They do stay sharp for a long time, but they also cost 3X as much and I can't resharpen them. Just another specialty screwdriver that has it's place but rarely gets used.
Im a sawfiler in a large scale production hardwood sawmill. We do 60,000 board foot a day. I file/tension both resaw and double cut saws everyday. What info can you give me that i may not already know? Im 33 yo and ive been doing it for going on 6 years now. Legit just curious what a professional such as yourself can teach me that i dont already know. Absolutely love your content and your knowledge. Keep up the flawless work 💪
Hard to do that, I'm not sure how much of we know overlaps, but I will say that the times I've had companies who do production band sharpening sharpen my bands, they seem to take way too much metal off in one pass, or otherwise heat up the edges of the gullet and martensite the alloy, making increased fatigue a sure thing. They also are generally sloppier about their set, at the cost of loosing horsepower and cutting waves. I'm also a big fan of grind then set for several reasons, vs set then grind, and I can say that when I get wood from big mills, whether using a circular or bandsaw, I can not get the wood to clean up with my normal 1/16" hit or miss plane process. I do remember I got in an argument with a saw filer one day when they had mis ground some of my teeth, and the guy said "What, do you expect, every single one to be right?" and I said "As long as I'm paying, yes!". I think the biggest takeaway would be "quality control" and since you are asking it sounds like you are doing well. Thanks for commenting.
Great info! I get 3 to 4 sharpening per blade What breaks my blades most times is fence staples and 1 Pole insulator. I use the double hard due to not having de-barker. I will be watching the back of the blades now when I sharpen them. Hope my info on finding cotton picker lube helped. My distributor advised they got a lot of orders all of a sudden! Cheers!
One measures the set of a tooth on the left side of the band, the other measures the set of a different sequential tooth on the right side of the band, and so since they are measuring different teeth, on different ides of the band, they will measure at different times. However, they are both measuring the same amount of set.
