Why The Tooth Face Of A Portable Sawmill Blade Is So Important

As a portable sawmill owner or a person who wants to get into the portable sawmill business, you may have heard a lot about different types of bandsaw blades.  One of the phrases being bandied about a lot in the world of bandsaw blades is “tooth face”.  What is a tooth face and why is it important.

A tooth face is, to put it simply, the leading edge of a bandsaw blade tooth.  It's the part of the blade tooth that actually slices into the lumber.  That makes it one of the absolute most important bandsaw blade components.

The tooth face needs to be sharp, if you want the lumber to get cut properly and quickly.  That's why it's a good idea to invest in a blade sharpener and use it to keep your blades operating in top condition.  The easiest way to tell if a blade tooth needs to be sharpened is that dull tooth faces will have shiny spots.

Just be sure that you are primarily sharpening the tooth faces, not the gullets.  The gullets are the valleys between each pair of teeth on the blade.  Over-sharpening the gullets can wear out a portable sawmill blade prematurely.  Since gullets aren't responsible for the actual cutting, they don't tend to wear down anywhere near as fast as tooth faces.

Once your tooth faces are properly sharpened, don't stop there.  There are a lot of other things that you can do to ensure that your blades are working as well as possible.  Would you like to learn what those things are?  If so, visit www.cookssaw.com to learn more about keeping your blades sharp.