Sharpening Bandsaw Blades

I think it is a losing proposition unless you are sharpening something like a spring steel blade. Carbon blades maybe but I think it’s iffy. Any blade with hardened teeth would just ruin your files like a Timberwolf. I’ve tried and failed miserably.

-- Tom - Measure twice cut once. Then measure again. Curse. Fudge.

I lean towards it being a waste.

It usd to be that BC Saw and Tool would sharpen bandsaw blades. However with shipping, a new blade is cheaper.

The ‘resharpened’ blades would leave less of a kerf. so if you got a 1/2 inch blade sharpened, you could not turn as sharp anymore. But this is a positive feature, for smooth resawing and/or cutting tennons on the bandsaw.

-- “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain

How much does a replacement blade cost? How much does it cost to resharpen the blade? How much is your time worth?

-- Bruce, Boise, ID

Depends on the cost of a new blade, the tpi and how the length. My bigger bandsaw takes 13’ blades and anything over 4 tpi isn’t worth sharpening. The thicker resaw blades I have are, at 1.3tpi there’s around 120 teeth and the guy that does it for me has a dedicated band blade sharpener that takes around 1 second per tooth once set up. The initial cost due to the steel content also adds to the justification of having this done rather than considering these blades as disposable.

-- "Lack of effort will result in failure with amazing predictability" - Me

I think so. Lower tpi blades can be inverted on the saw
and the gullets round with a moto-tool in a cradle. It
doesn’t take long.

I buy and solder blade coil stock now. Personally I get
sticker shock when I look at band saw blade prices.

I am retired so time is not much of an issue with me. I use high quality blades (Starrett Woodpecker blades). They cost me around $22 + shipping. I sharpen my own circular saw blades with a professional carbide sharpening machine, but that goes pretty fast. Maybe I’ll try a bandsaw blade and see how well it can be done and how long it takes. I am only considering re-saw blades with 3 or 4 TPI.

Mathias (woodgears.ca) has a page about sharpening BS blades along with a video… might want to check it out.

Cheers,
Brad

-- Brad in FL - In Dog I trust... everything else is questionable

I actually have a machine that sharpens bandsaw blades, but it hasn’t been used in over 20 years and has a lot of rust on it, so I would have to drag it out, clean it up and remember how to set it up. It was really meant to sharpen really large blades as used in a saw mill and not the flame hardened blades that require grinding to sharpen. The video gave me something to think about, but sharpening by hand is pretty imprecise when trying to maintain set and tooth height. It’s getting to look lmpractical.

Well, with say a 1/2” 3 tpi blade, it starts to lead a bit
much and burn so you grind the gullets, re-adjust
for lead and work with it for awhile. Sure, the set
can get a bit off and you might not want to try to
cut veneers or guitar plates with anything but a
professionally sharpened and set blade, but for everyday
furniture work on the saw the approach works fine.

”I think so. Lower tpi blades can be inverted on the saw and the gullets round with a moto-tool in a cradle. It doesn’t take long.”

Loren, that’s the best tip I’ve seen in a long time! Gotta try it. : )

Planeman

-- Always remember: It is a mathematical certainty that half the people in this country are below average in intelligence!

I have sharpened a few 93.5 long BS blades ,doesn’t take much set up,very easy to do,there’s nothing wrong with spending 10-15 minutes to sharpen a blade,although they don’t cost much new but why have a pile of dull blades when they can be as sharp as new with not much skill/time.

-- Ken from Ontario, Canada

I resharpened my 2 dull blades for $4.

-- "someone has to be wounded for others to be saved, someone has to sacrifice for others to feel happiness, someone has to die so others could live"

I buy 105” x 1/2” carbide re-saw blades for $25 that last me a loooong time so I vote ….no it does not pay to sharpen them.

-- No PHD just a DD214 Lubbock Texas

Woodmizer has a sharpening service where I get all my bandmill blades resharpened (well worth the $7 each) but I think resetting teeth is also very important to prevent drift.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm