Raise the blade in front of you, with the teeth pointed upward. (About 1/3 to 1/4 of the blade should be between your hands.) Hold your hands about shoulder-width apart. Place your thumbs on the outside of the blade and your fingers on the inside of the blade. Squeeze the blade inward, making it oval-shaped.

Take the three-loop coil in your right hand. Place the band against your palm with the blade teeth pointing outward toward your fingers. Slide the top loop off and let drop.



Keeping the blade in its crossed position, take hold of the side crossed UNDER with your other hand. Use your right (or left) hand to hold only the side crossed OVER. Place your thumbs on the top side of the blade. Put your fingers on the underneath side of the blade.


Hold the blade out and away from you. Slowly move your hands apart while rotating your forearms down and outward.

Our Resharp blade technicians have spent years evaluating blades sent to us by our customers. The advice provided in these sections can help you avoid common mistakes and maximize sawing performance and blade life.

Following is a list of some of the most common preventable causes of premature blade breakage:

Action	Result	Solution
Sawing too long with a dull or damaged blade	Stress in the band	Change the blade at regular intervals
		Change the blade immediately after striking a foreign object or material.
Flat spots worn on blade guide roller surface	Vibration and heat in blade	Replace blade guide rollers as necessary.
Grooves in blade guide roller flange	Damage to back edge of blade	Replace blade guide rollers as necessary. Adjust for proper clearance between flange and blade.
Frozen or worn blade guide roller bearings	Heat buidup	Lubricate or rebuild roller bearings as necessary.
Chipped/broken blade guide wear pads	Damage to blade surface	Hone or replace wear pads as necessary.
Misaligned blade guides	Damage to blade surface	Check blade guide alignment at regular intervals and adjust as necessary.
Blade guide wear pads adjusted too close to blade	Heat on blade surface	Adjust wear pads for proper clearance.
Worn blade wheel belts	Heat caused by blade contacting blade wheel	Replace blade wheel belts
Loose or damaged drive belts	Vibration	Adjust or replace drive belts
Sawdust between blade wheel and blade wheel belts	Vibration, blade slippage	Inspect blade wheels for sawdust at regular intervals and remove as necessary.
Improper blade tension	Stress in band	Regularly check blade tension while sawing and adjust to recommended range as necessary.
Dropping a tensioned blade down on a log or cant	Kinks	Replace the blade
Excessive sap buildup on blade or blade wheel belts	Heat buildup	Use waterlube to prevent buildup. Remove blade and clean if necessary. Scrape buildup from belts.
Ramming blade into end of log or other stationary objects	Kinks in blade	Replace the blade.
Excessive pitch buildup on sides of the teeth	Heat, wavy cuts	Clean or replace blade.
Burning gullet of blade during sharpening	Breakage point	Use coolant during grinding. Use multiple passes through sharpener, removing smaller amounts of material each pass.
Large burrs created during sharpening	Breakage point	Use coolant during grinding. Use multiple passes through sharpener, removing smaller amounts of material each pass.
Too much or too little hook angle in tooth	Vibration and/or stress in the blade and slow cutting speed	Adjust sharpener to provide proper hook angle for material to be sawn.
Incomplete sharpening of tooth profile	Dull blade, breakage point	Sharpen complete profile.
Missing the outside corners (cutting tip) of set teeth	Dull blade	Sharpen complete profile.
Removing too little material from gullet	Fails to remove stress fractures	Adjust sharpener to take more material from gullet of blade.
Worn grinding wheel	Steel buildup in wheel reduces its grinding ability	Replace grinding wheel.
Incorrect grinding wheel shape	Redress grinding wheel with proper profile.
Too much or too little set in blade	Vibration and/or stress in the blade and slow cutting speed	Adjust toothsetter to provide proper set for material to be sawn.
Toothsetter setting point strikes tooth too low	Distorts blade body, creating a place for fractures to occur	Adjust toothsetter so setting point contacts tooth properly.
Stored blades allowed to rust		Wipe blades dry before storing.
Storing blades without removing sawdust/sap residue	Oxides and acids can cause mircroscopic damage to the blade surface	Clean blade before storing.