Whether you’re cutting hard or softwood, a sharp bandsaw blade is essential to produce high-quality lumber on your portable sawmill. A sharp blade cuts with less effort meaning less strain for you and your sawmill’s engine. A dull blade may rub against the material instead of cutting it cleanly, decreasing sawing efficiency, causing blade wander and producing poor quality cuts. Continued milling with a dull bandsaw blade increases the risk of overheating, binding, and blade breakage, compromising both operator safety and lumber quality.

For optimal performance of a standard carbon blade, it's recommended to sharpen the blade profile approximately every two hours of cutting time. We advise honing the blade tips to maintain their sharpness rather than grinding a dull blade to reshape the edge.

Wear and tear resulting from regular use is a natural part of the life span of a band blade, which are subject to high physical loads on a daily basis. Visually inspect a blade for signs of stress, cracks in the metal, heavy wear, or damage to determine if it is safe to put back on the sawmill. When the metal gets fatigued and visible cracks are seen in the gullet, this is a serious sign to retire the blade. Tooth breakage can happen at any point in the blade’s life as a result from striking a foreign object such as a rock or nail and will quickly put an unnatural end to a band blade.

Sawyers who don’t use a sharpener are most likely using a new blade to replace their dull blade every time, which is wasteful and unnecessary since most blades can be sharpened multiple times over their lifespan. There are also sharpening services where you can send your blades to have them sharpened and reset for less than it costs to purchase a new blade, however, not every community has these services.