Sharpening/Setting procedures

[Kirk Allen]

Depends on what type of sharpener your using. 

Its a pain in the arse but you could do one tooth at a time and manualy advance the blade to the next tooth.   Grind the stone to match the new profile and that will get you going for now, but again, one tooth manualy at a time can take some time! 

[HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader]

 Howdy
 Ya got me cornfuzed. 

 How long have you been using 3/4 blades ?  I was certain we had taught you on 7/8 blades ??

 Near as I know, about everybody uses 7/8 blades ??

 You have to adjust the push bar to change the amount of movement of the blade for every time the wheel drops down the tooth. Also, 3/4 blades will take less of a cut per tooth ??  Let me clear that up. Say a 3/4 blade moves the tooth about 3/4 of an inch, for each tooth to be cut.  The 7/8 takes a little more movement to get that same tooth cut. You have to slowly run the sharpener, WITHOUT dropping the wheel down each time, and keep adjusting until you get the proper amount of travel of the blade, OR, you will start grinding the tops off of the teeth and making the whole blade unusable. !!!!!!!

  Whatever you do, check out any clients blades before you start sharpening. You don't want to be buying new blades for your clients. 

 As I said earlier, ya got me bumfuzzled

3/4 blades are more for resaws I believe. ??

 UHHHHHHH  This ain't April 1st is it

[Aunt B]

No sir...it ain't April 1st and we've been using 3/4" blades.  I think.  LOL Now you gonna get me bumfuzzled!  I'll have to check.  Yes, if I drop the stone down too far, I'm taking way too much off the top (back) of the next tooth.  I started out real slow and started with arm adjustments.  Just never could get the grind stone adjustment to get the gullet.  Tooth back is getting most of the grind.  Willie says that these blades are cutting fine but, of course, my worry is that they will break faster if I'm not getting cracks out of the gullet. 

Also, something I'm noticing on these blades (as I continue to write I'll try to recollect what brand they are)....on almost all blades, where the weld is, the tooth space is almost half what it is the rest of the blade.  I've never seen this on any other blades.  I know it's from putting the blade together but the on other blades, the only way to tell where blade was put together was the weld...not limited tooth spacing with the weld.  I always start a couple teeth before the weld in sharpening and have everything set to sharpen within about 5 teeth after weld.  On these blades...you CANNOT sharpen that tooth/gullet on the weld because the gullet/spacing is so small.  I had fallen behind on sharpening and Willie came to sharpen one himself.  I had pointed this little idiosyncrasy out on another blade but apparently he wasn't payin' me no 'tention.  ;-)  He almost messed up my stone by not starting his grind at the weld (in which case he'd have noticed right away) and almost let the stone grind that space.  But...he caught it in time to stop grind and skip over that tooth.  "Hey Bonnie?  Did you know....."  Yes, Sherlock...I noticed that AND told you about it yesterday.  tee hee 

At any rate, today I will check my receipts to see what blades I have been using.  Will get back at y'all later. 

Willie's actually getting to work today.  Been raining and he hasn't worked in almost 2 weeks.  But...I'm NOT complaining!  Rain is good and a gift from God.  God knows what we have need of, when we need it and how much we need.  We're all trusting in His will and praisin' Him anyhow!  :-D  Not driving skidder has given him a chance to catch up on mill orders.  Is even breaking in a new mill hand:  DeAnna's new boyfriend!  lol  I think Poppa spends more time with the young man than De does!  ;-)

[HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader]

 That small spacing in the weld area is just lazy operator stuff.

 You should be able to get that wheel to drop down and get the gullet, and, NOT change the height of the top-back of the teeth. You don't change the amount of drop in the adjustments. You change that by grinding the cam just a little at a time, so IT allows the wheel to drop down.

 I will draw out what you need to do, later today, and post a photo.

 I am changing out my non-running Honda engine, for an electric motor on my Peterson Swing Blade mill. Been gathering dead logs by myself, from off hillsides. Broke my wooden loader arm, so, had to make adjustments. 

 I sent a bunch of photos for y'all to see, about the time you went off line, a while back. Did you get them ??

[Wudkutter]

The more you dress the stone on the lead side, the deeper you can go in the gullet, to a point.  If the cam  is designed to cut the profile, then there should be a point where the stone can be shaped to follow the profile.  Taking more out of the back  of the tooth, making a steeper slope, will allow the teeth to penetrate easier, thus feed rate can increase as well.  However the length of the gullet and the shape of the back of the tooth are more tied to the cam configuration.

[Aunt B]

Yes sir, Mr. Harold!  I got your pics...and then the next day computer went down!  lol  Got it back and promptly and very rudely forgot to answer you back on them pictures.  Willie had a good time looking through them, too. 

Wudkutter...I actually did think about dressing the stone.  Or...putting that new one on that I've had for quite awhile, needing to install it.  I'm pretty sure it's the cam, though. 

Thank you, Harold, your efforts in education me!  I always give all of you credit when I'm talking to someone and they brag on my amt of knowledge as compared to my time actually doing this.  You're all a God-send!

[HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader]

 I have drawn that cam several times, and, just can not get it so you can understand what I'm trying to say.

 Anyway, take the sharpener, and start it up without a blade. Then run it as slow as you can. Watch the cam as it lowers the wheel down, and, imagine the blade gullet as the wheel stops dropping.

 NOW, just stop the sharpener at that very spot. You may have to run it a few times to get what I am saying.

 JUST as the wheel is about to hit the lowest part of the drop, make a chalk or soapstone mark on the cam, right where the roller is sitting. Mark the side of the cam.

 NOW, turn the machine by hand, NOT by power. As soon as the wheel is about to start rising, make another mark on the cam, same side.

 This area between the 2 marks, is where you need to grind a LITTLE bit off the cam, so it allows the roller to drop the wheel a little further down to get the gullet. DO NOT take off a lot, A little bit will allow that wheel to drop down quite a bit. I did ours right on the machine. Keep the curves smooth, so you don't get any bumpy jerky shapes in the gullet. You are going to take off less than 1/16" of an inch off that cam. Remember, that area is not very long on the cam, so, a little at a time. !!!!!

 DO NOT change anything else. The profile will remain the same, just changes the drop of the wheel, into the gullet. IF you grind off too much, now you have a problem with taking out too much gullet, and, need to change the profile shape on the rest of the cam.

 GO SLOW, PAY ATTENTION, CHECK AFTER EACH GRIND. REPORT BACK HERE.    I got lots of faith in y'all doing this correctly. You have caught on so well, with everything else, you can do this, too. Chase all the kids and distractions off, then, go for it. 

 Changing the wheel should be done, OR, shaping the wheel should be done, before you attempt the gullet drop grinding. Once you have this all working correctly, all you do is adjust the whole motor assembly as the wheel gets smaller. Nothing else needs to be done.

 I would definitely talk to whomever you buy blades from, and get them to weld the blades correctly, or, go to another supplier. Did you ever contact Kennesaw, to buy Munks blades ??

 If y'all would like to see more photos, just say so. I thought the kids would like them.

[Kirk Allen]

Damn Harold, Great job! Even I understood that awesome explanation! 

[HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader]

 If only you knew how long it took me to figure out how to do it, in the first place. 

 I have taken the flat gullet out of WM blades, and they worked much better, on OUR mill. Still can't beat them Munks blades, though. I love them things. 

[Aunt B]

Harold, you teach me...you make me laugh...what a good friend! 

Ok.  I totally understand grinding the cam!  I even read it to the kids and they get it.  They did take slight offense to the "running off the kids" comments.     Either Marcus or Gracie are always helping me clean the blades. 

Anyhow, Willie said for me to just sharpen the best I can with what I've got and we'll be getting 4, 3/4" toothed blades here pretty soon.  I will read this post to him and see if he'll let me give it a try.  I really wanna do this now...just to see if I can.  And say I did if I do it right!  LOL  Hmmm...will have to be Thursday after work before I can give it a try.  I have....ummm...court Wednesday.  Last July I got busted in a TABC sting at the store where I work.  Yeah...I didn't ID the young man who came in and bought beer.     I thought about it but figured he was old enough.  I have NEVER agreed with this type of operation.  I agree with it even less now.  I promise ya one thing...I sure ID anyone that looks under 30 now!!  Pray I can keep a civil and logical tongue in my head tomorrow!  Have to talk to Cty Attorney first to see what they decide to do: drop case or charge.  If they decide to go with it, then I'll go before the Judge.     I have "opinions" on such things and it might be best if I keep my opinions to myself.   

I'll let ya know how everything goes, Harold.  Again...thank you for your help and your confidence in me!