Resaw King or Woodmaster CT ?

[dirk martin]

I just got off the phone with Lenox. Their sales force said the Trimaster could not be resharpened. Shocked, I then spoke to their tech support dept, and they too confirmed it could not be resharpened "properly". They said some will try, but that it shouldn't be trusted. If Lenox says "no", then "no" it is.

That clearly makes the RK the smarter choice, ....by far.

[Erik Loza]

I just got off the phone with Lenox. Their sales force said the Trimaster could not be resharpened. Shocked, I then spoke to their tech support dept, and they too confirmed it could not be resharpened "properly". They said some will try, but that it shouldn't be trusted. If Lenox says "no", then "no" it is.

That clearly makes the RK the smarter choice, ....by far.

I'm going to float this out there as food for thought and again, I am neither a blade expert nor do I sell blades, so it doesn't matter to me who a person buys blades from.

First, Lenox is probably saying what they say because it's the company line. Their blades are pretty much the benchmark for quality and I'm sure that from a legal as well as sales standpoint, they will probably tell you to buy a new blade because that's the only way they feel confident in delivering on their performance claims and also, well, they want you to buy more of their blades. I suspect their blades could be sharpened just like any other bandsaw blade that has brazed-on teeth but also, I suspect that no matter which blade it is, if you resharpen one say 3-4 times, I cannot believe that the life and quality is the same for each sharpening. Those teeth are tiny and have not a lot of meat on them and I wonder how much you lose during each re-grinding? So, my question is, "Sure, such-and-such blade could be re-sharpened but in doing so, is that any guarantee that you are getting the same quality and lifespan each time?". That seems like the real question to me.

Next, what does is the total cost of ownership even with re-sharpening? If it's $45 each time you need that and it can be done 3-4 times per blade, your $300 RK just turned into a $480 blade. And that's not factoring in lost time, only dollars. By comparison, I just went onto Spectrum Supply's page and a 1.0" Woodmaster CT for the MM24 is about $156. So, you could actually get three BRAND NEW Woodmaster CT's for the price of one RK + resharpening 4X.

Again, buy whatever you like but from a dollars and cents standpoint, where is the real value?

Erik Loza
Minimax

[David Kumm]

Give the RK a try and see how the sharpening works. I've heard of a few who get a Trimaster sharpened once as well as the RK. I've also read a bunch of posts about bands breaking after resharpening. Stress cracks develop along the gullet. It would be good to hear an opinion as to the number of times and quality of cut. Dave

[dirk martin]

I just ran the numbers on my end, from Spectrum.

Lenox CT $146.17 x 5 = $730
Laguna RK = $316 + ($45 x 4) = $496

That's a significant savings with the RK....I feel. I ran these numbers based on resharpening 4 times. Laguna says they can do 4 or 5.
We are running CT's on our 2 saws right now, so when the RK's come in, I'll put them on, and hang the CT's up, to be brought back into use when the RK's are out being sharpened.

[dirk martin]

Just got off the phone with Laguna.
Since I'm buying 2 Resaw Kings, they gave me the 2nd, at 1/2 off.
That really makes going with the RK, over the Lenox, a no brainer (assuming all goes well with resharpening).
Laguna told me they have a new CNC in place now, too, so their resharpening is more accurate than ever, and their turn-around time is better.

I'll report back here with more info after we load them up, and make some sawdust.

Lenox CT on two saws = $146.17 x 10 (I go thru about 5 per year on each saw) = $1,461.70
Laguna RK on two saws = $316 + $158 (1/2 off) + (8 x $45) = $834

[Peter Aeschliman]

Very cool, and thanks for "showing your work" on the math. Reminds me of high school!

[dirk martin]

We loaded up the two Resaw Kings today. One on a MM24, and one on Grizzly's 24" bandsaw.
First impression is the noticeably thinner blade.
Both are cutting nice and straight....with less kerf, which is nice.

I'll try and report back, after our first resharpening.

[ian maybury]

'RK is coming in around $304. The Woodmaster CT, about $205, and the Lenox Trimaster about $274.' I've not looked recently, but that seems very expensive for a Woodmaster CT...

[dirk martin]

See post #20.

[ian maybury]

Missed that...

[dirk martin]

Ok, well, we've been running the two Resaw Kings for a bit now.
The one on the Minimax has gotten dull, so I sent it out for resharpening. It's been at least 10 days, so I'm expecting it back any time now.

The other Resaw King is on our 24" Grizzly bandsaw. We don't resaw as much on that machine, so it's still sharp.
Last week I resawed a board just fine, then stepped over to grab another board. While my back was turned away from the saw, "BANG"!!
The darn blade broke. Unreal. For no known reason.
Took it off, and looked closely, and it DID NOT break at the weld.
However as I looked around the band, I could see several stress fractures. So that blade was due to break at one, of many places, at any time.

Strange thing is, we untension that blade after every use, because it's so easy to untension blades with the Grizzly.
The blades on the Minimax, we leave at full tension, all the time.

So, having a Resaw King blade bust, well ahead of it's time, is a major financial kink.
I haven't called Laguna yet. I'm not sure what their reply will be.

[David Kumm]

Dirk, where do the stress cracks occur? I've heard that sharpening carbide blades can cause stress at the gullets and lead to failure. I've always questioned whether blades could really be resharpened more than once if that. What is your take? Dave

[Scott T Smith]

Dirk, I use a 30 hp 16" horizontal resaw to saw veneer from boards. I started off with the Trimasters, and then based upon advice from another member on SMC I tried RK's. My first experiences with the RK's was horrible! Poor accuracy, large kerf marks - I was stunned to say the least. After expressing my dissatisfaction to Laguna, they asked me to return the bands for them to sharpen. They would return them, and if I still didn't like them they would refund my entire purchase amount (close to a grand).

Since I had nothing to lose I agreed, and I am glad that I did! The resharpend bands cut like a dream! With Trimasters, I had to sand close to .030 per side to remove the kerf marks. With the RK's, less than half that and usually less than .010. I don't know how many thousands of linear feet that I have cut with the RK's, but it's equal to or better than the Trimasters. They are a thinner kerf than the TM's and my veneer yield per board increased 20% when I switched over to them.

Laguna's sales rep told me that there had been a bad batch of coil stock delivered to the US that a lot of the bands had been made from (improperly sharpened and set by the manufacturer), and that was the root cause of my problem. I think that this may have been the root cause of others who complained about the RK's.

Hands down I think that the RK's are an excellent band to use for resawing. If you try them and are not satisfied, talk to Laguna about resharpening them.

Hope this helps.

Scott

[dirk martin]

Dirk, where do the stress cracks occur? I've heard that sharpening carbide blades can cause stress at the gullets and lead to failure. I've always questioned whether blades could really be resharpened more than once if that. What is your take? Dave

You misunderstood.
This is a new blade. We bought it with the intent of getting several resharpenings out of it. Laguna states such.
It has never been resharpened.

[dirk martin]

Scott, I'll reach out to Laguna Monday, and see what they say.