Some approaches to the determination of saw blade stiffness

In modern sawmill industry a tendency has been observed towards a reduction of the saw blade kerf because of its aiming to increase the utilization of raw material. However, thinner saw blades are much more sensitive to lateral forces and less stable than the thicker ones. Hence, the knowledge about saw blade stiffness is an important factor and may help the user in forecasting the dimensional sawing accuracy. In this paper the basic methodology is shown for the determination of lateral operating tooth tip saw blade stiffness for both frame saw blades and bandsaws. Recommendations are given for choosing an appropriate calculation method versus the saw blade width. Two effective analytical calculation methods for the determination of saw blade stiffness are presented and discussed in details. By these methods stiffness is computed as a function of bending and torsional properties of the saw blade.