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I just put a 1" Woodmaster Ct on my 16MM mini-max bandsaw. At first it worked great, I cut seven slices from a lutzi spruce red bear billet, eight from two sapele billets, 18 from three Panamanian Rosewood billets and then had big time trouble with a cocobolo billet fought my way through both sides and got a crappy two slices and stopped. The blade seems to be dull and is wandering quite a bit. I'll call lenox tomorrow,........ does anyone have any ideas as to what could have happened???
Thanks
Peter L

I'm not familiar with the woodmaster but I had a similar problem with the Laguna resaw king. It just would not cut cocobolo. And that was just 4 1/2 sides. A dull Timberwolf AS-S did a better job but it didn't last long.

My best guess is that the carbide blade just didn't have big enough gullets to clear out the oily sawdust.

There are lots of recommendations for resaw blades in the archives.

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Peter,
Sorry to hear that on the Lenox Woodmaster CT one inch. I have a new one waiting to be used. Matter of fact, it was a compromise as the last carbide I used was the Lenox TriMaster which was one hell of a blade, cut many a billet of hard Bubinga with that, and everything else.

The last box I got in was a carbon steel, a bi-metal steel, and a CT carbide all Lenox, but ranging in price: $18, $48, and $108 if memory serves, at least that's close. When I unboxed them, the mental note I made was how simple the CT looked and very little actual carbide was on the tip. A Trimaster in comparison appears fairly agressive and robust.

I have gotten a bad Timberwolf Carbide out of the box before. The company made it good, turns out it wasn't fully sharpened on one side as they viewed it under a microscope, before giving me credit on the blade.

The fact that it was cutting well, then quit cutting well, may mean that something got to it. I often wonder where all this wood comes from. Imagine a salvage log laying in sandy surf, then billetized and sent into the market. Full of sand grains..... Of course, that would show up under a microscope for sure... and wouldn't be the fault of the manufacture. The cost of these blades require us to use them up to gain their value. I hope you didn't lose an otherwise good blade.

I was able to cut 37 1/2 sets of Claro Walnut using one steel blade that cost $18 and it was too a Lenox, not the smoothest, but well cut on my Laguna 18 inch.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bruce,
I'm thinking you may be right, there may have been some small particles in the end grain sealant. I'll definitely be more careful from now now, I always learn something when it cost me money!!! I'm going to clean up the guides and blade and get some soft test wood and see what happens.
Thanks for the Help
Peter LaMorte

Peter,
Slow down the feed rate when you are cutting the Cocobolo. I have had the same experience with woodmasters. The problem has nothing to do with the blade sharpness, and everything to do with clearing(that darn oily sawdust is tuff to clear). By slowing the feed rate I was able to smoothly slice 10+" Cocobolo smoothly.
I noticed this when I thought the blade was dulling, stopped sawing the Cocobolo, and wanted to saw a handful of Claro Walnut veneers before swapping the blade. The Walnut cut like butter (so I realised the blade must not be the issue). I tried the Cocobolo again slowing the feed rate (listen to the blade, you will hear it if the blade is not clearing the cut properly). Try one more cut making sure it clears, and you will see what I mean.

Rich

Peter I have had the exact experience as Rich using the same blade. It's the sawdust not clearing and pushing the blade sideways.
Try slowing down as Rich suggests.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
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1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Thanks Guys,
Welcomed information indeed. When I get my courage up ,hopefully his weekend, I'll try round 3 and with a slower feed rate and keep an ear out and listen to the blade.
Thanks
Peter

Question....? Would a stream of compressed air aimed at the top of the wood at the blade kerf/blade intersection help move the chips through the kerf? Thanks,

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

I am sure it wouldn't hurt anything, but I doubt it would solve the problem. Things like really good dust collection, brushes for the wheels, cleaning the guides and blade frequently are all very good things and will help keep things working smoothly. Usually less oily woods allow the blade to pull the cut material out fairly easily, and this is not an issue. The trick with oily woods is that they gum up, and are harder to draw out. By slowing down you produce less oily dust per. tooth that is trying to draw it out. This allows the teeth to scrape out that material before it gets beyond the gullet and wedges against the sides of the blade.

The Trimasters I use has a higher TPI (2/3) vs my Woodmasters 1.3 TPI, and this allows it to clear oily wood better (actually the cut almost looks polished most of the time, extreamly smooth and little dust). When cutting softwoods the Woodmasters big gullets and fewer TPI actually does better than the Trimaster (at least for me), because it seems to be able to clean the more furry (maybe a bad description ) material better. Either blade does very well on extramly hard, mildly oily woods (say Ebonies).

Rich

There is a wood store specializing in African Blackwood nearby, Cormark I think is the name, and they have a resaw machine that sprays water on the blade, both for cooling and clearing. Their blade is close to three inches wide.

John