After a break (I went to see the Olympic mountain biking at Hadleigh Farm), I finished the turning of my latest batch of cord pulls. Three kinds of wood, plum, teak and oak, all a similar shape but different detailing and diameters. Their first coat of finish has now been applied.
My next job was to move my giant chess pawn globe stands along a bit. Their finish is proving difficult, with lots of coats and cutting back needed. But little by little they are nearing completion.
I was down to just one sharp blade for my Startrite bandsaw. Sharpening bandsaw blades is quite easy to do, and a few minutes work saves the cost of a new blade. I can often get two or more sharpenings from each one. I lay the blade out on a workbench and use a grinding point in a Dremel tool to freshen up each tooth. As long as the grinding point is the right diameter to fit the hollow of the tooth it only takes a second or two to do each one. Just as well as the blades are 112 inches long with 3 teeth per inch. Finer-toothed blades are not worth sharpening, but I rarely use those. Today I used a chainsaw sharpening stone, but sometimes I use inexpensive diamond points from Ebay. If you want to buy points for this purpose I recommend getting a pack of assorted diameters so you can find one that fits the tooth. The best size is a little bigger than the curve of the tooth hook so it cuts back to remove the blunt tooth tip without excessively deepening the hook. Then the blade will cut like new, though repeated sharpening makes it lose its set. Some people sharpen the tip of each tooth from its back, and don’t touch the internal hook. I think either way works, but it seems to me that taking metal off the tip might lead to problems getting the teeth equal.