Bone dust buildup on my band saw blade cost me 45 minutes yesterday

I was breaking down a side of beef and the blade started smoking after maybe 20 cuts. Stupid me forgot to scrape the bone dust off the drive wheel between sides. Took me forever to figure out why it was slipping because I kept checking the tension and guide blocks. Had to pull the whole blade off, clean the wheels with a wire brush, and reset everything. Anyone else deal with this on high volume days or is it just me being careless?

3 comments

3 Comments

schmidt.blake14d ago

Yeah but I scrape mine every 10 cuts so this just seems like skipping basic maintenance.

wendy_clark14d ago

Oh man, @schmidt.blake I totally get that! I used to scrape my edges every single time too, almost like a ritual. But honestly, with the way this stuff clogs up after just a few cuts (especially if you're working with anything tacky or thick), I've found that a quick scrape after a batch is way more forgiving than I thought. It's less of a "skip the basics" thing and more of a "let the tool do its job for a bit before you mess with it" approach.

thomas_johnson3514d ago

Funny enough I used to never scrape at all with my old setup and just let it ride until the cut quality dropped off. Then one day I got lazy and went like 40 cuts without touching it and the blade practically welded itself to the mat. Now I'm somewhere in between you two, just scrape when I remember which is probably not often enough.