# Bandsaw blade sharpening DIY



## woodnthings

Just to see if I could do it and what the performance would be, I got out the Dremel with an 1/8" chainsaw sharpening stone and started in on a 143" 3 TPT 3/4" resaw blade. That's only 429 teeth to sharpen, no jig just eyeball (assisted x 1.5) I had nothing to lose since the blade had lost it's edge anyway. Well, it worked fine and sliced a 6" piece of spalted maple easily. Who knows there may come a day when, after becoming a 3rd world country we will have to recycle our blades.:blink:


----------



## Kudzu

Umm, try 429 teeth. You have more patience than I have!


----------



## woodnthings

*You're right I'll fix it!*



Kudzu said:


> Umm, try 429 teeth. You have more patience than I have!


Thanks,I was just thinking that and was gonna post the correction! I never did know whether to divide or multiply!!!
143 x 3 = 429 :yes: bill


----------



## Barry Ward

*Bandsaw blade sharpining DIY*

Hey thats pretty nice,I have some 73" 3 tpi,do you think that would that work on those ? an what about blades with more teeth,what do you think on that.Just trying to learn,do you know if they make jigs for sharping BS blades? I mean other than what the pro's use.Thanks.


----------



## woodnthings

*This was my first attempt at this*

So, I don't know much, except the sawmill guys have a big machine and setup laying the blade horizontal and all. This was just an experiment on an old blade, but it cut pretty well afterwards. A blade with 3TPI is doable by hand and by eye, however, you don't have a way to put the "set" back in the teeth this way. I don't know if the sawmill guys are able to do that either, maybe some one will respond? The size of the rotary stone will determine the size of the teeth you can sharpen...I think you can get one smaller than 1/8", but then you'll have many more teeth to sharpen....lot's of patience! :thumbsup: bill
Just jump in there and give it a try...watcha gonna lose... an old blade? eh! eh!


----------



## bikeshooter

It looks like you are holding the dremel at 90 degrees on that tooth. Would the same angle be used on all teeth? Gonna have a go at a 1" x 112 1/2" 3tpi skip.


----------



## woodnthings

*Yup*

Dead thread comes back to life! 😆
Just 90 degrees and I lifted up just bit under each gullet to freshen the cutting edge. No secrets here. 🇳🇴
The next ones I did flat on the bench, off the machine, and they were easier. 143 x 3 equals 429 teeth, x 3 secs per tooth, = 1287 secs, divided by 60 = 22 minutes? Possibly worth it, I donno? If the performance is better, then definitely!


----------



## bikeshooter

woodnthings said:


> Dead thread comes back to life! :laughing:
> Just 90 degrees and I lifted up just bit under each gullet to freshen the cutting edge. No secrets here. :no:
> The next ones I did flat on the bench, off the machine, and they were easier. 112 x 3 equals 336 teeth, 5 secs per tooth, 336 x 5 = 1680 secs, divided by 60 = 28 minutes? Possibly worth it, I donno?
> :blink: bill


Info is appreciated :thumbsup:. Kinda short on funds so it'll be worth a try anyway. I'll post up my results.


----------



## bikeshooter

Yep, it took about 30 minutes to hit all the teeth. I used a 5/32 dremel chainsaw sharpener. Pushed a 7" thick piece of green red maple about 10" and could tell a big difference so it's definitely worth spending the time to resharpen for me.
On the downside, I stopped at 10" in to take care of something and pulled the piece out. When I restarted the saw the blade shifted forward as I didn't lock the track wheel. The blade lost the argument and I continue to learn this new to me machine.


----------



## Kenbo

Nice job Bill! I never realized that you were so young


----------



## woodnthings

Kenbo said:


> Nice job Bill! I never realized that you were so young


So young? Not feelin' it....
I have a 16 yr old son, so I get no rest. Let's see I get to shovel snow, rake leaves, saw trees, split wood, fix the vehicles, and oh yah, woodworking in between. He will mow the lawn...takes him 10 minutes. He actually will help me do anything I ask, I just have to ask. Volunteer/offer is just not in his vocabulary. 🇳🇴 Go figure.


----------



## bikeshooter

thanx pal, turned 69 in June


what day?


----------



## woodnthings

bikeshooter said:


> thanx pal, turned 69 in June
> 
> 
> what day?


A Monday .....whistling2:🛴:drink::happybday:


----------



## rrich

woodnthings said:


> 16th:whistling2::scooter::drink::happybday:


69 on July 4 here.

You had me going there for a bit. Then I thought of my blade guy. In June I bought a 1" x 143" blade, 3 TPI for $20. Cuts through white oak like a hot knife through butter.

Was the blade under tension when you were sharpening?


----------



## woodnthings

*Yes, on the first blade it was under some tension. On the second ones, no, flat on the bench. * I have the same 19" saw you do I think. Where do you get blades that cut like butter for $20.00. You should know that you just can't "talk" about a good deal here 🇳🇴 We need photos or links. :yes: bill


----------



## Bob Willing

You just gave me an idea to use my $19.95 HF power chain saw sharpener on. I have a number of blades that need sharpening. The sharpener jig can go left and right 30 degrees and "O" as well, and anything in between. I'll just need to work out how to hold the blade similar to the CSS. If it works I will post some pics. The HF sharpener was $49.95 on sale.


----------



## woodnthings

*YUP I also thought about using mine*

I have the same HF sharpener and seriously looked at how to set it up for bandsaw blades. I gav,ce it a shot then resorted to using the Dremel for the short term. If you figure it out that would be great! :blink: bill


----------



## DST

rrich said:


> 69 on July 4 here.
> 
> You had me going there for a bit. Then I thought of my blade guy. In June I bought a 1" x 142" blade, 3 TPI for $20. Cuts through white oak like a hot knife through butter.
> 
> Was the blade under tension when you were sharpening?


Yes!!! Without hijacking the quote. My saw is also 142" blades. I am happy with what I use but for $20 I'll branch out


----------



## bikeshooter

Maybe a shim on both sides of the blade would hold it in the jig. It's on sale now for $25 close to the price of a new blade. Should be worth a shot.


----------



## rrich

woodnthings said:


> Where do you get blades that cut like butter for $20.00. You should know that you just can't "talk" about a good deal here :no:


Bill check your PM.


----------



## djg

bikeshooter said:


> Maybe a shim on both sides of the blade would hold it in the jig. It's on sale now for $25 close to the price of a new blade. Should be worth a shot.


How is the motor on that Chicago Electric (HF) grinder? After burning up the motors on two angle grinders from HF, I'm really leary about HFs electric motors.

P.S. The photo of the grinder didn't move along with the quote. See photo above.


----------



## bikeshooter

djg said:


> How is the motor on that Chicago Electric (HF) grinder? After burning up the motors on two angle grinders from HF, I'm really leary about HFs electric motors.
> 
> P.S. The photo of the grinder didn't move along with the quote. See photo above.


I picked up the sharpener (@$25) from HF on Sat and a 1" wide blade will just barely fit in the guide. Anything wider will not fit. It was late when I tried this and haven't gotten any further but it looks promising. If I can resharpen just 2 blades I have paid for the tool. After I crown some bandsaw tires I'll have a go resharpening a 1" blade and post the results.


----------



## bikeshooter

It works.

I destroyed a new 1" blade while learning a new to me band saw. I installed new tires but did not crown them. On the second cut the blade lunged forward about 1/2" or so into the cast iron housing. It's a 16" Walker-Turner from about 1945.


The hf sharpener will just barely hold a 1" wide band saw blade. I set the blade at 90 degrees to the grinding wheel and just went by eye. The blade had to be turned inside out to put the teeth at the correct angle also. Also, the depth stop bolt is too short for a band saw blade. A suitable replacement should be available. The chain stop gauge could not be used either because of the frequency of teeth band saw blade. I wore a cotton glove to advance the blade.

After the blade was resharpened I tested it on some 6" oak and it was like a hot knife through butter. I used it the rest of the day on 5 - 8" magnolia and it is just now started to dull somewhat. I also used PAM every 3 to 5 minutes.

It took about 45 minutes to resharpen a 112" ,3tpi blade that cost me about $25. All in all I'm happy with the results and the price of the sharpener.


----------



## Streamwinner

Good thread.

I've researched this quite a bit in the past but just got a dremel a month ago. Most of what I've read said to sharpen the top edge of the tooth, and do the gullet only if you want to be extra thorough.

Has anyone compared blade performance between 1.) top-only sharpened, 2.) gullet-only sharpened, and 3.) both?


----------



## BWSmith

Nice saw Bike!

When we cut fibre glass in building bows(archery)as part of the process......being too cheap to invest in diamond blades......"dulling" a blade is inevitable,duh.And it happens rather quickly.We use 14" BS's for this cause.....well we're cheap,the 14's being cheaper to trash.

We never use fancy sharpening equip.Either a handsaw sharpening vise or lengths of steel used in bench vise......both work about the same.There was a learning curve,and this is/wasn't a very scientific approach cause,the blades gonna get trashed again.We just take a cheapo die grinder with whizz-wheels and have at it.With the teeth pointing away,IOWs you stand/grind pulling back twds yourself,blade runnin at at right angle.Once you get a feel for letting the wheel just "ride" the teeth,the process goes pretty quick.

Resharpened blades seem to have a deminishing return of sorts.Meaning they'll never stay sharp as long as the factory grind.....this reduces everytime its sharpen'd.On a wood only blade,I'd expect maybe 3 resharpens,but thats gonna last a loooong time.We never even bother'd with "set" on the glass blades,just keep touchin them up.BW


----------



## bikeshooter

Streamwinner said:


> Good thread.
> 
> I've researched this quite a bit in the past but just got a dremel a month ago. Most of what I've read said to sharpen the top edge of the tooth, and do the gullet only if you want to be extra thorough.
> 
> Has anyone compared blade performance between 1.) top-only sharpened, 2.) gullet-only sharpened, and 3.) both?


I used a dremel on a 72" blade. For me is was difficult as I have a very short attention span and unsteady hands. Staying at the suggested 90 degree proved to be too much for me so I tried the hf tool.

Now that you mention it, I _did_ touch the top of teeth as well as the gullet. Gullet first (deepened about 1/16") and then lightly roll over the top of the next tooth [edit:] with the side of the grinding wheel. Using left hand to pull the blade. Hope that makes sense...


----------



## bikeshooter

BWSmith said:


> Nice saw Bike!
> 
> When we cut fibre glass in building bows(archery)as part of the process......being too cheap to invest in diamond blades......"dulling" a blade is inevitable,duh.And it happens rather quickly.We use 14" BS's for this cause.....well we're cheap,the 14's being cheaper to trash.
> 
> We never use fancy sharpening equip.Either a handsaw sharpening vise or lengths of steel used in bench vise......both work about the same.There was a learning curve,and this is/wasn't a very scientific approach cause,the blades gonna get trashed again.We just take a cheapo die grinder with whizz-wheels and have at it.With the teeth pointing away,IOWs you stand/grind pulling back twds yourself,blade runnin at at right angle.Once you get a feel for letting the wheel just "ride" the teeth,the process goes pretty quick.
> 
> Resharpened blades seem to have a deminishing return of sorts.Meaning they'll never stay sharp as long as the factory grind.....this reduces everytime its sharpen'd.On a wood only blade,I'd expect maybe 3 resharpens,but thats gonna last a loooong time.We never even bother'd with "set" on the glass blades,just keep touchin them up.BW


Nice saw Bike!
Yeah, I think so too. I'm only the 3rd owner of a 65 year old machine. Both previous owners passed and the wives eventually sold it. The second owner bought it in '75.

3 resharpens per blade is pretty much what I've found from research online and I can sure live with that. I suspect that I'll get faster with the resharpen process with practice too. It'll be interesting to see how the meat blade reacts to being resharpened.


----------



## woodnthings

*hey shooter*

How's 'bout some pictures of the sharpener set up with a blade in it and the before and after on a tooth or two? Do you mount it to a table? Do you support the blade off the table at the height of the holder etc? This is a good idea and as I said earlier it's one I considered but never got around to doing. I have the same sharpener so I'd like to see you approach. Thanks, bill


----------



## bikeshooter

woodnthings said:


> How's 'bout some pictures of the sharpener set up with a blade in it and the before and after on a tooth or two? Do you mount it to a table? Do you support the blade off the table at the height of the holder etc? This is a good idea and as I said earlier it's one I considered but never got around to doing. I have the same sharpener so I'd like to see you approach. Thanks, bill


I going to resharpen a 3/4" blade in the morning - pics will be coming.


----------



## bikeshooter

Well, here's the basics. Admittedly the process needs to be improved for a more consistent tooth shape but the concept works pretty well. I mounted a clip light over my left shoulder for the actual sharpening so I could see what I was doing and knelt on one knee to do the work. 

After deepening the gullet, I lightly advanced the blade to the left to shape the top of the next tooth with the side of the grinding wheel.

The three teeth underlined with chalk are what I have done so far.


----------



## BuiltToLast

I sharpen my blades this way all the time. Learned from an incredible Aussie furniture maker. 
So there's two ways to do it with a dremel. First is with a cut off wheel... You aproach the bottom if the tooth squarely with the face of the cutoff wheel. This only sharpens the face of the tooth. The second and I feel most effective is to use a chainsaw stone. Find the dive stone that is the closest match to the radius of your gullets. Hold the dremel perpendicular to the blade and parallel with the table. Grind the face of the toothe lightly pull down grinding the gullet and top of the tooth. Be cafeful that you don't grind down the top of the tooth and let the dremel grind over the tip as this rounds the tip and makes for more grinding on the face of the next tooth. 
Using this method I can sharpen a 159" 3-4 tooth blade in about 10 minutes. Takes a lil practice at first. You don't need to be overly OCD about it either. 
I've found that grinding the face and top of the tooth produces a better cut. 
If you take the time to do this you will be rewarded with a screaming sharp blade. I actually feel that blades sharpened like this are often better than factory(except really premium blades). 
Like said before. What do you have to loose. A dull as old blade that's not worth sending out. Give it a shot it's quite easy.


----------



## victory12

Bob Willing said:


> You just gave me an idea to use my $19.95 HF power chain saw sharpener on. I have a number of blades that need sharpening. The sharpener jig can go left and right 30 degrees and "O" as well, and anything in between. I'll just need to work out how to hold the blade similar to the CSS. If it works I will post some pics. The HF sharpener was $49.95 on sale.


I have the same HF sharpener and seriously looked at how to set it up for bandsaw blades. I gav,ce it a shot then resorted to using the Dremel for the short term. If you figure it out that would be great! :blink: bill


----------



## LTRR-CB

Posted from the "life of a blade thread:

Thanks for the link to your thread. I like the Dremel by hand idea - just don't count the teeth (well, till after the job is done  ). And yes, no way to set them. The outfit in town had a machine that would sharpen and set but couldn't make money with it - blades were a little cheaper then, but labor is higher now. I think we were paying $12/blade, 141" 3T 3/4". They are ~$20 US now. Just bought 20 of them from Starrett. Mostly it wouldn't pay to do it by hand except in a pinch if there wasn't a new one handy. Main thing is to sharpen each tooth the same amount - so they stay the same length/height and all do the same work.

I visited a machine shop in Fresno some years back where a guy was doing circular saw blades by hand. I asked why they didn't use a machine and he replied that the result wasn't as good - machine leaves a ragged edge, not like hand filing - clean and sharp. File, file, file, tap, turn, file, file, file... he was very fast with it, perfect job in a few minutes. They probably had a machine to set the teeth - didn't ask though. A lost art now I think, around here anyway.

When a blade breaks on the 20" saw it makes a very loud bang - gets your heart going. Sometimes we cut round things. Round objects like to roll into the blade and bind it. Saw has a 3 phase 5hp motor - it doesn't stop, so the blade breaks after embedding itself in the work. I visited a sawmill in Alpine Arizona once. They had a bandsaw - 20' loop maybe? Operator sat next to the work in a cab with plexiglass windows. I think the idler wheel was mostly upstairs. They did the sharpening up there. Outside in the yard there was a piece of timber with a bit of one of those blades embedded in it. Clearly that blade had broken during a cutting operation. I wonder what it sounded like? I wonder if the operator had to go home and change his shorts and take the rest of the day off after...

I've sharpened a two person crosscut saw, set the teeth and swedged the rakers - satisfying to use the tool after when the job is well done. Those teeth are big though, relatively.


----------



## LTRR-CB

Having now read the second page of the thread 

I think the 'three sharpen limit' has to do with the set - as the tooth is sharpened it gets shorter and the set diminishes. They used to make hand tools to do this - don't know if they did for the tooth size and style discussed here though. It may be be that the commercial blades are set and then hardened making the operation difficult after the fact. I suspect that one could get quite a bit of life out of a 1" blade if you could set the teeth as well as sharpen. Then it would be general metal fatigue limiting the blade life. If one had access to a blade welder a clean break could be repaired...

Probably worth looking at a new blade carefully with a hand lens before trying this all. People like me would probably need to work with one of those big table stand magnifiers with a light in front of the work too.


----------



## LTRR-CB

For portable mill blades - nice tool. Still requires some 'art' to use properly. While this thread discusses smaller blades, all the discussion in the video applies.


----------



## LTRR-CB

And now the DIYS version if you have the machine tools to make it - or access to them. Lots of info for the portable mills and larger saws.


----------



## trentwilson43056

woodnthings said:


> Just to see if I could do it and what the performance would be, I got out the Dremel with an 1/8" chainsaw sharpening stone and started in on a 143" 3 TPT 3/4" resaw blade. That's only 429 teeth to sharpen, no jig just eyeball (assisted x 1.5) I had nothing to lose since the blade had lost it's edge anyway. Well, it worked fine and sliced a 6" piece of spalted maple easily. Who knows there may come a day when, after becoming a 3rd world country we will have to recycle our blades and we'll envy the Mexicans someday.:blink:
> Off topic, Sorry! :no: bill


 Awesome bro.I just bought a Timberwolf low tension blade.I'll be trying this when it's time.You know bro,it could get worse than that.Third world and Socialist.


----------

