Inspecting, Repairing and Using a Saw Blade After Saw Stop Activation

[onocoffee]

I attended a demo of the SawStop hot dog this past weekend and I was surprised that the instructor said that now Saw Stop no longer recommends you trash the blade after activation. He said that there are services who can inspect the blade and make tooth repairs to return the blade to service.

Who does this service and what would I expect to pay? To note: I have not (yet) experienced an activation.

Thanks!

 

[ChuckM]

Do you have any local saw blade sharpening service? Check with them.

Forrest is one company that provides sharpening and repairs:
https://www.forrestblades.com/forrest-factory-carbide-saw-blade-sharpening/

 

[Crazyraceguy]

If you are in or near a big city, there is likely a local sharpening service. They can do this for you. Cost, probably depends on the city too.
Also, like Chuck said, there are mail-in services too. The real consideration is the quality of the blade, in the first place. The typical cheap blades don't really have enough carbide to even bother with sharpening, much less replacing teeth. You can spot a decent blade pretty easily that way. The teeth are much more robust.

Most of the demos I have seen lately, they use an all-steel blade. It's expensive enough to set those things off and damaging a good blade too is just not smart.

 

[Bill Zickel]

As a saw shop owner, we do get the occasional customer walking in with a saw blade and brake in hand. We do our best to extricate the saw blade from the brake without damage. Unfortunately there is usually a few tips damaged while inspecting the blade. Also the shoulder of the blade can also be bent from the impact. Like Crazyraceguy said, depending on the quality of the saw blade it might not be worth repairing it.

If you have a local saw shop let them take a look. If you have to send it out, probably not worth the expense.

Bill
festoolsharpen.com

 

[onocoffee]

Thanks guys. If I were to be specific - the blade is a SawStop 40T Combination blade - about $50. I don't even know how good these blades are or whether they can take a resharpening or if it's worth it.

 

[peter halle]

[member=82312]onocoffee[/member] , please do not take what I write here as anything against you or what you heard.  I totally believe you heard what you wrote.  But when I read what you wrote it struck me as odd whereas most companies are very risk adverse here in our litigious society.  So I went to the Sawstop website and looked up to see if they had a written statement.  Here is what I found:

"Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will sometimes damage one or more teeth on the blade. Some users discard and replace the blade, while others choose to have their blades inspected/repaired by a qualified specialist."

That is different from what your were told and wrote.  Sawstop is actually not making a recommendation at all.

I will write to Sawstop today and ask for clarification - not because of what you wrote - but rather what you were told.  Not to try and get someone in trouble, but rather to let Sawstop know what is being translated out in the wild.  This kind of stuff happens all the time and we have read similar stuff before.

I will post here or invite them to post here a response.  They will be informed in my correspondence why I am concerned and will ask permission to post their response portion.

Peter

 

[jeffinsgf]

I wouldn't do it no matter what quality blade it is. Watch some of the ultra high-speed camera video of a brake engagement and consider the shock the plate and teeth take when stopped instantly. I have my accidental activation (aluminum back fence improperly adjusted) hanging on the wall right in my sightline from the table saw. Reminds me to double-check everything.

 

[semenza]

I attended a demo of the SawStop hot dog this past weekend and I was surprised that the instructor said that now Saw Stop no longer recommends you trash the blade after activation. He said that there are services who can inspect the blade and make tooth repairs to return the blade to service.

Who does this service and what would I expect to pay? To note: I have not (yet) experienced an activation.

Thanks!

Personally I'd just  get a new blade.

Depending on tooth count just sharpening will be something like $10 give or take. Add on some missing tooth replacement and you will only be saving maybe $30.  Doesn't seem like it is worth chancing even if the service inspection passes the blade. 

It might be perfectly fine to have the blade inspected, repaired, and reused. But for $30? I mean you paid extra to get a SawStop to enhance your safety soooo ...................... ???

Seth

 

[jeh]

Thanks guys. If I were to be specific - the blade is a SawStop 40T Combination blade - about $50. I don't even know how good these blades are or whether they can take a resharpening or if it's worth it.

A $50 blade is probably not worth resharpening unless you possibly have a local vendor. With two-way shipping getting a single blade sharpened is a non-starter. The place I use in NC has a $100 minimum so I always send several blades at once. The place I use even does drill bits though they are not cost effective unless it is an expensive bit.

 

[ChuckM]

[member=82312]onocoffee[/member] , please do not take what I write here as anything against you or what you heard.  I totally believe you heard what you wrote.  But when I read what you wrote it struck me as odd whereas most companies are very risk adverse here in our litigious society.  So I went to the Sawstop website and looked up to see if they had a written statement.  Here is what I found:

"Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will sometimes damage one or more teeth on the blade. Some users discard and replace the blade, while others choose to have their blades inspected/repaired by a qualified specialist."

That is different from what your were told and wrote.  Sawstop is actually not making a recommendation at all.

I will write to Sawstop today and ask for clarification - not because of what you wrote - but rather what you were told.  Not to try and get someone in trouble, but rather to let Sawstop know what is being translated out in the wild.  This kind of stuff happens all the time and we have read similar stuff before.

I will post here or invite them to post here a response.  They will be informed in my correspondence why I am concerned and will ask permission to post their response portion.

Peter

Peter,

SawStop did recommend, based on my sometimes faulty memory, in its old FAQ that blades should not be reused after the brake was activated. The current version does not say that, leaving the impression to those of us who are familiar with its old advice that reusing the blade after the brake activation could be an option. (Does anyone have the ability to retrieve the older version of FAQ from the Internet?)

I look forward to seeing what SawStop says when it responds to your inquiry.

 

[onocoffee]

[member=82312]onocoffee[/member] , please do not take what I write here as anything against you or what you heard.  I totally believe you heard what you wrote.  But when I read what you wrote it struck me as odd whereas most companies are very risk adverse here in our litigious society.  So I went to the Sawstop website and looked up to see if they had a written statement.  Here is what I found:

"Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will sometimes damage one or more teeth on the blade. Some users discard and replace the blade, while others choose to have their blades inspected/repaired by a qualified specialist."

That is different from what your were told and wrote.  Sawstop is actually not making a recommendation at all.

I will write to Sawstop today and ask for clarification - not because of what you wrote - but rather what you were told.  Not to try and get someone in trouble, but rather to let Sawstop know what is being translated out in the wild.  This kind of stuff happens all the time and we have read similar stuff before.

I will post here or invite them to post here a response.  They will be informed in my correspondence why I am concerned and will ask permission to post their response portion.

Peter

Peter, I appreciate your concern. I too was a bit surprised to hear the person giving the demonstration saying this. The person was clear that, at one time, SawStop's position was that the blade should not be used under any circumstance after activation. However, I guess times change and perhaps it stems from people complaining about losing their blades, but evidently, the current stance is that SawStop does not hold that strong stance and, if the blade is inspected and deemed usable, that should be okay.

I don't know whether or not I would trust a blade that has experienced the trauma of being braked which is why I turned to the experience here.

 

[peter halle]

[member=82312]onocoffee[/member] , please do not take what I write here as anything against you or what you heard.  I totally believe you heard what you wrote.  But when I read what you wrote it struck me as odd whereas most companies are very risk adverse here in our litigious society.  So I went to the Sawstop website and looked up to see if they had a written statement.  Here is what I found:

"Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will sometimes damage one or more teeth on the blade. Some users discard and replace the blade, while others choose to have their blades inspected/repaired by a qualified specialist."

That is different from what your were told and wrote.  Sawstop is actually not making a recommendation at all.

I will write to Sawstop today and ask for clarification - not because of what you wrote - but rather what you were told.  Not to try and get someone in trouble, but rather to let Sawstop know what is being translated out in the wild.  This kind of stuff happens all the time and we have read similar stuff before.

I will post here or invite them to post here a response.  They will be informed in my correspondence why I am concerned and will ask permission to post their response portion.

Peter

Peter, I appreciate your concern. I too was a bit surprised to hear the person giving the demonstration saying this. The person was clear that, at one time, SawStop's position was that the blade should not be used under any circumstance after activation. However, I guess times change and perhaps it stems from people complaining about losing their blades, but evidently, the current stance is that SawStop does not hold that strong stance and, if the blade is inspected and deemed usable, that should be okay.

I don't know whether or not I would trust a blade that has experienced the trauma of being braked which is why I turned to the experience here.

I truly appreciate your understanding in this.  Please be patient in waiting for a response / update.  I have initiated my inquiry and it might take a few days to post further based on their their schedules and mine.

 

[squall_line]

(Does anyone have the ability to retrieve the older version of FAQ from the Internet?)

January 19, 2019 FAQ matches the current wording around blade replacement.

This is the wording from the oldest version of the FAQ available on the Wayback Machine on November 19, 2013:

Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will often damage one to two teeth on the blade. It is usually cost-effective to have high-quality blades repaired by a qualified blade sharpening service. However, less expensive blades should be discarded.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I have my accidental activation (aluminum back fence improperly adjusted) hanging on the wall right in my sightline from the table saw. Reminds me to double-check everything.

Same reason: miter gauge I should have thought to reconfigure took out the stock blade. Several friends had the same accidental trigger.

Whenever I put a new blade in, I power it up once with the by-pass on then turn it off. If the brake is too close, it'll blink red, indicating that it would have fired.

 

[ChuckM]

(Does anyone have the ability to retrieve the older version of FAQ from the Internet?)

January 19, 2019 FAQ matches the current wording around blade replacement.

This is the wording from the oldest version of the FAQ available on the Wayback Machine on November 19, 2013:

Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will often damage one to two teeth on the blade. It is usually cost-effective to have high-quality blades repaired by a qualified blade sharpening service. However, less expensive blades should be discarded.

Your Wayback Machine attempt reminded me that I could actually try to find an older owner's manual to see what SawStop said about the replacement of blades. The SawStop was released in 2005.

Bingo!https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7301437/page/44/mode/2up

[attachimg=1]

Apparently, SawStop has adjusted its position somewhat over time on whether a blade should be replaced. The current version of owner's manual does include repair of the blade as a possibility.

 

[jeh]

Whenever I put a new blade in, I power it up once with the by-pass on then turn it off. If the brake is too close, it'll blink red, indicating that it would have fired.

I vote you as having the best tip posted this year and it might end up being the tip of the year!

 

[Cheese]

A simple visual identification of potential problem areas is just that...simple & inexpensive, most folks can do that themselves. What's needed is a more robust method to identify any potential future issues.

To simply visually observe and then dimensionally measure a potentially compromised saw blade and predict whether it's still serviceable is a fools errand. The stresses that the saw blade has been subjected to in the past are enormous.

For the automotive/motorcycle industry, those steel engine components that are under severe stress, are regularly Magnafluxed between engine rebuilds to determine if there are cracks or minute fissures that would lead to a catastrophic failure. Typical engine components that are Magnafluxed include crankshafts, con rods, flywheels, engine blocks, crankshaft main bearing caps and sometimes even camshafts. It's a dye/magnetic/light process that is capable of locating extremely small fissures that are not visible using the naked eye.

I'd certainly hope this would be part of the blade inspection regimen although I don't know how the brazed carbide tips would work with the Magnaflux process.

From my vantage point, a visual identification, a dimensional examination and finally a Magnaflux "STYLE" process should determine if the blade is suitable for subsequent reuse. Anything less is just rolling the dice...

And I'd probably start with the Magnaflux "STYLE" first because if it doesn't pass this test...the rest don't matter.  [smile]

 

[Hotwheels]

My Sawstop dates from 2005 and I had my first activation  a few months ago when I forgot to remove the splitter while cutting a zero clearance insert.  After removing the blade (Ridge Carbide rip blade)  from the cartridge it appeared that the teeth were not severely damaged.  I sent the blade to Ride Carbide for examination/repair/sharpening and it was returned fixed and put back into use and it continues to function fine.  That's my experience.

 

[ChuckM]

One firing in almost 20 years. That ain't bad at all.

Btw, by splitter, did you mean riving knife?

 

[peter halle]

Well, I did manage to have a great conversation with Sawstop and followed up with a link to this conversation containing all posts that was current as of about 1:45 PM yesterday (Thursday).  I explained who I was and why I was calling and as I always do, informed them that they could join and post here directly or write to me and I would post what they authorized verbatim.  I never want to translate in instances like this.  Here is a cut and past of their response with quotation marks and italics added:

"Peter,

Once again thank you for bringing this to our attention and your patience while we put together our response. If you could please express the following to your online forum:

Because we weren’t at the referenced demonstration, we can’t speak to exactly what was said, but we can confirm the statement in our FAQ is accurate.  Each activation is unique.  As a result, we are unable to say that a blade will either always need to be replaced or that it will always be able to be reused after having it inspected/repaired by a qualified specialist.  It will depend on the specifics of the situation.

If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a wonderful woodworking day!"

__________________

Just for clarity, and so a reader may not have to scroll up to see what is written in Sawstop FAQ regarding this, here is a cut and paste from earlier in this thread:

"Can the blade be reused if the safety system brake is activated?

When the safety system activates, it will sometimes damage one or more teeth on the blade. Some users discard and replace the blade, while others choose to have their blades inspected/repaired by a qualified specialist."

I hope this helps.

Peter