Hi all, I’m new to the forum. I recently acquired a bandsaw of my own and have been using it daily. It’s great but I milled some green ash with it and the blade is now totally gummed up. Can anyone suggest the best way to clean the blade, it’s pretty new and the rake and set are fine, I don’t need to replace it if i can clean it.
Hello PMEW, If your blade is really gummed up the best product I have found is Trend tool and bit cleaner. Failing that have you tried running some MDF through a few times? That has worked for me before.
Good luck
Simon
Normal bandsaws and blades aren’t really designed to cut green wood as you’ll find that the wet sawdust compacts between the blade and the wheels. The first pass through the wood might be fine, but as the sawdust builds up it will get progressively worse.
The way I’ve cleaned off the wheel and blade is simply to use white spirit and a cloth; it works but it’s fiddly and you won’t want to do it again!
You’re certainly right there! I spent over an hour with a brush and Hoover cleaning between the wheels and books and crannies. My extractor simply couldn’t handle the wet sawdust. White spirit and elbow grease it is then. I wasn’t sure if there was something I could soak the removed and folded blade in that would work well.
I’ll look the trend stuff up mate, the MDF didnt seem to work unfortunately. Thank you nonetheless.
One thing you could try is WD40 - it is quite a good solvent for some things including the glue used for labels. You could try some from an aerosol can but the cheapest way to buy it to use it as a cleaning agent or other purposes is to buy a 5 lt can. I would buy their (hand) sprayer as well if you want a spray as it has a habit of dissolving some types of plastic if left in contact for any length of time. I use it as a lubricant on my oil / diamond stones as well that way the newly sharpened tool does not rust.
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You could soak the blade in washing liquid ie Persil , bold , etc . Softens the gunge and cleans off really easy . 2 hrs or so
Hi Paul, I’m a bit late to the discussion. I clean my blades in the kitchen sink (used to use bath, but don’t have one any more). Just use hot water and washing up liquid and a scrubbing brush. It’s a bit awkward (I have a 111 inch blade) but rotate it through the liquid first and then on second pass scrub it. I get a perfectly clean blade in just a minute or to. Dry it off with tea towel and hang it for a while to make sure it dries completely and quickly. I’ve done this many many times with perfect results.
Regards
Chris
@John_Murrell, @Tungsten2832 and Chris
Thank you very much for your input. I haven’t had the chance to do it yet (work has just gone mental with the restart) but hope to manage in the next day or two.
