Needle teeth...perhaps not

I think most of us are fairly parsimonious with tool sharpening, which of necessity need to be in tip top condition all the time. Perhaps we let gunk build up on the tablesaw blade and can't be bothered to remove it...we might take a few shavings too many and not give the blade a quick tickle to refresh it or maybe a favourite router cutter begins to smoke when a while ago it seemed to cut so sweetly...

Been there? Most woodworkers have and I'm no exception.

I have a decent enough 4 tpi skip tooth bandsaw blade in use at the moment...or at least it was decent until I decided to produce some oak veneers for the media unit. I knew it was fairly good as just before I fitted it I ran my fingers across the points and the sharp intake of breath combined with the 'sucking of the teeth' was enough to convince me that it was up to the job.

And so it proved, but disappointingly, not for very long. After passing a few lumps of oak through it, I could start to feel the inevitable build up of pressure to get the same quality of cut. By the last piece, I knew that the blade had given up the ghost and it was fit only for more mundane stuff, but even that was a bit of an effort.

It's a great temptation to think..."I'll just get one more cut and that's it, finished" but you eventually realize that the "one more cut" is actually going to compromise the timber and could go horribly wrong. It didn't happen on this occasion, but as you're well aware...

...my track record in these affairs isn't above reproach!