Gummed-up bandsaw from goofy peach or something-or-other


kipnflip

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Yesterday, I attempted to resaw an approximately 4x4x12 inch chunk of wood that was labeled, rightly or wrongly, "peach." This was one of many pieces of lumber, small and large, that were collected (and sometimes labeled) by my father, many years ago, mostly from my grandfather's old property. This piece was very heavy and hard, and somewhat of an orange color, so "peach" doesn't seem out of the question, although I haven't used peach wood before and don't know directly how it looks and feels. All this wood is nice and dry; it has been sitting indoors since the 1970s or 80s.

The blade began to bog down and wander during the second cut. That hasn't happened here in years, as I'm familiar with tuning-up bandsaws and with correct blade choice. Soon, it was clear that something wasn't right, and I stopped the saw.

The blade, the rubber on the wheels, and all the guides and the areas around them were totally gummed up with gunk! In fact, the entire blade (a 105", 5/8" wide 3 TPI blade that I use for light resawing) was *completely* covered in gunk, like I'd never seen before. Seriously, not a single spot of metal was visible. It's like the blade was made of orange plastic. 100% pasted with gunk. I really should have taken a picture, but didn't.

I had to hand-turn the blade, holding a sharp chisel just behind the teeth, taking many turns, just to remove gunk from the sides of the blade. Some small implements and lots of work removed gunk from the teeth. An intentionally not-too-sharp putty knife and lots of turns finally got gunk off the wheels. The areas all around the guides, and throughout the saw, had to be cleaned up. I had to remove the guide bearings completely, and painstakingly clean them up. One of them had to be disassembled, getting inside to where the ring of ball bearings separate the inner and outer cylinders. That one no longer turns so well, and will probably need to be replaced.

From cutting this wood, the whole shop now has a very strong and sort of funny (strange-funny, not funny-funny) sweet smell. Neither particularly good-sweet nor bad-sweet; just generic sweet. As for the saw and blade, cleaning them up took all afternoon, but the blade doesn't seem too much worse for wear.

I've never encountered this sort of thing before. It's as if the entire block of wood was infused with some sort of goopy, oily stuff. Normal fruitwood surely can't be like that, can it? Has anyone here had this sort of experience?

 

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I had the same happen to me when resawing old growth pine. I coiled the blade up and soaked it Simple Green concentrate  and water . Same with the bearings. Obviously rinsing and blow drying the bearing and re-lubing them. I sprayed the tires with just the concentrate to minimize the mess. Coupled with a little brass brush and all was good. 

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The pine I used to make a bed frame came off of an old barn that was estimated to be a hundred yo. It was a little over 5/4 and if I remember correctly, I counted a little over 90 rings on an approx 18” wide board. It was some fine smelling boards when cut. 

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1 hour ago, Mick S said:

That looks like osage orange to me, still.

I think you're right. It looks like the wood in the picture you posted before, and like other photos of osage orange that I saw online. Definitely some unusual stuff, at least in comparison with other woods I've used.

 

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4 hours ago, Tpt life said:

I have seen hickory like that. Also no known gumminess. I wonder if you cut that wound crotch side first and got someone’s home remedy on the blade. Out of curiosity, is it just dust in the circle? 

19313CEA-833E-45F5-8694-5CF646868D2B.jpeg

Yes, that's just some dust that I hadn't wiped off yet when I took the photos.

Occasionally, I'll put some Pam cooking spray on a blade, to help lubricate it a bit. Doing so has actually been suggested in the instructions of some of the blades I've bought. I wonder if that stuff could somehow have reacted in an unusual way with whatever chemicals are in Osage Orange. Seems like a stretch, but I'm not a chemist and really don't know.

 

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Food oils will get very gummy and black when heated to high temperature, as well used cook ware will attest. 

If you are in the habit of frequently lubricating the blade the oil will build up and might spread to the guides and other components.  Then a very heavy sawing job creates high teperature and sawdust to mix with the gummed oils.

That's my theory.

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12 hours ago, Mark J said:

Food oils will get very gummy and black when heated to high temperature, as well used cook ware will attest. 

If you are in the habit of frequently lubricating the blade the oil will build up and might spread to the guides and other components.  Then a very heavy sawing job creates high teperature and sawdust to mix with the gummed oils.

That's my theory.

Very plausible. I'd just applied some oil to the blade before cutting up the stuff, hoping to make the job go more...smoothly. :-/ I hadn't had a problem with the cooking spray before. Maybe it causes problems only on woods like this.

 

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5 hours ago, Bankstick said:

I have some bois d'arc and am warily anticipating turning it into something. Will let you know what I find.

I'd suggest first applying some cooking-spray "lubricant" to the blade, as I did, to see if you get the same results I did. But, I don't really want to suggest that.

 

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