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Post by opalpyrexia on Jan 17, 2023 12:18:43 GMT -5
I was about to toss the very tired 5" notched blade in my Ameritool trim saw and put in a new one. Recalling the video, I decided to give his life-extending technique a go. Here are the steps that I followed: 1. Marked a starting spot on the blade with a marker. 2. Clamped it between two boards in a vise, leaving only about 1.25" of edge length exposed just above the wood. 3. Grabbed a small file with a relatively sharp edge (a triangular file, but a half-round might be better). 4. Started rapidly tapping (one of the the file's edges against the exposed blade rim — travelling back and forth several times on the exposed segment. 5. Loosened the vise, rotated the blade to expose another section of rim, and tighted the vise. 6. Continued the process until the entire rim was treated this way. Bottom line: It works! I was surprised at how well the blade cut! Was it as good as new? Seemed like it was. If not, it was mighty close to new performance. This will now be SOP for me. I have a 10" notched blade in my slabbing saw that will get the treatment when eventually needed. Do check out the video. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Jan 17, 2023 16:17:29 GMT -5
I have been swaging blades since I found out about it from an old timer years ago. The goal is to "mushroom" and flatten the edge of a blade so the kerf is thickest at the edge and does all the cutting. Blades tend to round at the edge and get wedge shaped, causing the side of the blade to cut and get wedged into the cut. It also can make the blade more prone to get dished.
I usually just use a hammer, I have holes in my wooden bench top that I can drop a pin with a socket into to hold the center of the blade with the edge hanging off the bench. when hammering I do just enough to make the rounded OD turn flat, then repeat all the way around to the starter mark. I recently tried a file with a problematic 12" blade of unknown origin and it really brought it back to life so I may do that more often. I do it every oil change and with the old style continuous blades I usually reverse rotation, but not with the newer ones that have the rotation direction marked on them.
The HP video on that suggests doing it in the saw, I advise strongly against it as it could shorten bearing life or knock the arbor out of alignment.
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Post by Rockoonz on Jan 17, 2023 16:19:44 GMT -5
Currently rockhounding is a favorite, he is a great teacher and communicator.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Jan 17, 2023 16:42:50 GMT -5
I have been swaging blades since I found out about it from an old timer years ago. The goal is to "mushroom" and flatten the edge of a blade ...
Thanks, Lee. That;s some great advice!
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Post by aDave on Jan 17, 2023 18:37:42 GMT -5
I was about to toss the very tired 5" notched blade in my Ameritool trim saw and put in a new one. Recalling the video, I decided to give his life-extending technique a go. Here are the steps that I followed: 1. Marked a starting spot on the blade with a marker. 2. Clamped it between two boards in a vise, leaving only about 1.25" of edge length exposed just above the wood. 3. Grabbed a small file with a relatively sharp edge (a triangular file, but a half-round might be better). 4. Started rapidly tapping (one of the the file's edges against the exposed blade rim — travelling back and forth several times on the exposed segment. 5. Loosened the vise, rotated the blade to expose another section of rim, and tighted the vise. 6. Continued the process until the entire rim was treated this way. Bottom line: It works! I was surprised at how well the blade cut! Was it as good as new? Seemed like it was. If not, it was mighty close to new performance. This will now be SOP for me. I have a 10" notched blade in my slabbing saw that will get the treatment when eventually needed. Do check out the video. I have also been doing this for some time, and it does work. Now, I haven't used the board sandwich technique that you did, but I really like the idea instead of laying the blade flat on a bench and over-hanging. I also use a ball peen hammer as opposed to a file. With only having a tile saw and cutting hard rocks, I've done my share of swaging as well as cutting into tile abrasive stones to expose more diamond. It was written about in a saw care article posted here: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/52499/general-lapidary-info |
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Post by opalpyrexia on Jan 17, 2023 22:02:44 GMT -5
I have also been doing this for some time, and it does work. Now, I haven't used the board sandwich technique that you did, but I really like the idea instead of laying the blade flat on a bench and over-hanging. I also use a ball peen hammer as opposed to a file. With only having a tile saw and cutting hard rocks, I've done my share of swaging as well as cutting into tile abrasive stones to expose more diamond. It was written about in a saw care article posted here: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/52499/general-lapidary-infoThanks for the link! |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 17, 2023 22:59:57 GMT -5
Gary, thanks for posing this link! I actually watched the whole thing! LOL - Apparently I didn't watch it when Perk linked to it! Sorry Perk!
I have to echo what Lee had to say about him being a great communicator! Great info to know on the blades!
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Post by aDave on Jan 18, 2023 0:33:04 GMT -5
No, thank YOU for the video link. I just had a chance to watch it, and it was very informative. In my case, I use(d) sintered blades in my tile saw. The important thing there is to use the abrasive stone to expose more diamond BEFORE swaging the blade. If that's not done first, and one tried to do this after swaging, any diamonds on the side surfaces of the blade wouldn't be exposed more as the mushroomed kerf would be wider than the thickness of the blade blank, thus not exposing more diamond on those side surfaces. Geez, after rereading, I hope that made sense. I've been able to milk the life out of blades this way. Since a tile saw turns so fast, glazing and wear become somewhat daunting issues. That article really opened my eyes. I'm glad you liked the link, but I obviously can't take credit for it. |
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,664
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Post by victor1941 on Jan 19, 2023 11:22:47 GMT -5
Good video-thanks!
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Post by Rockoonz on Jan 19, 2023 12:39:49 GMT -5
No, thank YOU for the video link. I just had a chance to watch it, and it was very informative. In my case, I use(d) sintered blades in my tile saw. The important thing there is to use the abrasive stone to expose more diamond BEFORE swaging the blade. If that's not done first, and one tried to do this after swaging, any diamonds on the side surfaces of the blade wouldn't be exposed more as the mushroomed kerf would be wider than the thickness of the blade blank, thus not exposing more diamond on those side surfaces. Geez, after rereading, I hope that made sense. I've been able to milk the life out of blades this way. Since a tile saw turns so fast, glazing and wear become somewhat daunting issues. That article really opened my eyes. I'm glad you liked the link, but I obviously can't take credit for it. With a tile saw that makes sense, or even a smaller trim saw, since most of us use the sides of the blade at least a little bit in preforming. With a larger slab saw blade I don't want it to get a narrower kerf at all, the closer it gets to the core width of the blade the more problems arise. No matter how well you align, blades that last a long time usually end up with at least slight dishing, and if the rock starts contacting the core of the blade it's downhill from there. |
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Post by aDave on Jan 19, 2023 16:35:00 GMT -5
No, thank YOU for the video link. I just had a chance to watch it, and it was very informative. In my case, I use(d) sintered blades in my tile saw. The important thing there is to use the abrasive stone to expose more diamond BEFORE swaging the blade. If that's not done first, and one tried to do this after swaging, any diamonds on the side surfaces of the blade wouldn't be exposed more as the mushroomed kerf would be wider than the thickness of the blade blank, thus not exposing more diamond on those side surfaces. Geez, after rereading, I hope that made sense. I've been able to milk the life out of blades this way. Since a tile saw turns so fast, glazing and wear become somewhat daunting issues. That article really opened my eyes. I'm glad you liked the link, but I obviously can't take credit for it. With a tile saw that makes sense, or even a smaller trim saw, since most of us use the sides of the blade at least a little bit in preforming. With a larger slab saw blade I don't want it to get a narrower kerf at all, the closer it gets to the core width of the blade the more problems arise. No matter how well you align, blades that last a long time usually end up with at least slight dishing, and if the rock starts contacting the core of the blade it's downhill from there. Great point, I did not realize that. Thanks for making the distinction. |
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Post by Currently Rockhounding on Jan 25, 2023 8:27:21 GMT -5
I was about to toss the very tired 5" notched blade in my Ameritool trim saw and put in a new one. Recalling the video, I decided to give his life-extending technique a go. Here are the steps that I followed: 1. Marked a starting spot on the blade with a marker. 2. Clamped it between two boards in a vise, leaving only about 1.25" of edge length exposed just above the wood. 3. Grabbed a small file with a relatively sharp edge (a triangular file, but a half-round might be better). 4. Started rapidly tapping (one of the the file's edges against the exposed blade rim — travelling back and forth several times on the exposed segment. 5. Loosened the vise, rotated the blade to expose another section of rim, and tighted the vise. 6. Continued the process until the entire rim was treated this way. Bottom line: It works! I was surprised at how well the blade cut! Was it as good as new? Seemed like it was. If not, it was mighty close to new performance. This will now be SOP for me. I have a 10" notched blade in my slabbing saw that will get the treatment when eventually needed. Do check out the video. I'm glad you found it to be helpful and that it worked for you. |
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Mountain DEW, and Mountain Don't. (sorry-2)
glad someone knows what their doing ...
