Silky Bladez

Viking

Viking

Location
Columbus Ohio
How long does a zubat or sugoi blade last you before needing replaced? Im think about picking up a feather file and trying my hand at sharpening my old sugoi.
 
Mine is over a year. Then again its on and off use with most of the cutting happening in the summer. Still dont't feel like it needs to be replaced.
 
I do mainly pruning, using my zubat for most of it. I can get about 3-6 months out of a blade before I feel the need to replace. this varies depending on what I'm doing--one big cut through dead, dry live oak does as much damage as several ash reductions.
 
Viking...did you know that the St. Paul, MN was first called 'Pig's Eye Landing'? Hence...the folksy name for the beer :)

My blades last a long time. I started to put dates on them and keep records but I didn't keep it up.

I tried sharpening a Silky one time. After seeing the [poor] results and time involved I knew that it was considerably cheaper to buy blades.

No one would use dull files to sharpen dull chain. The performance of a proper edge is so cost effective.
 
the manufacturer suggests that a blade will last for 7 to 9 months of daily professional use, but, again, it depends on what you run it though.

zubat is impulse hardened, can't be sharpened. I think the sugoi can. However, it ain't easy. There is a Japanese hand tool shop over in berkeley and they do the sharpenings. And sell the files - these are no cheaper than the blades! (well , not by much). SHarpening yourself = hard.

Last time my blade was done, I bought another zubat for the blade and scabbard. Not really that much more money. I'll use it all up at some point anythow. Now i have a beater blade for tough spots. I'll let other people (non-arborists) use the old one and they think it is pretty funny that i consider that to be the dull blade.

I used to rotate the old zubat hand blade to the zubat pole saw because the life of a pole saw is so hard. Now i have a fresh blade for the pole saw which runs so much more smoothly (and i haven't bent it yet!!...shouldn'ta said that...).

(as to the derail - my friends' had/have? a band called Pig's Eye Landing - now I know why, those crafty Minnesotans with their old time tunes and delicious strudels...)
 
I'm glad you started this.

makes me talk about something i have been wanting to post.

it seems, since the season on 2010, our silky blades have not been lasting long.

For many years, it seems I would keep a blade for almost a year.

then starting last year, after 2 weeks, it seemed like the blade wasn't very sharp anymore.

I have bought numerous blades, like every 6 months. It really seems, like after 2 weeks, the blades suck, but I just deal with them.

I buy them for my coworker climber at the same time and have asked him if he thinks it gets dull fast.

he thinks so too.

Is this true? I'm not sure.

It makes me wonder if the steel was changed in 2009 or something, because they don't seem very good anymore.

anyone else have these thoughts lately?

co-worker says, maybe we just need to clean the sap off the side of the blade.
 
hmmmmmm.

If a whole lot more people post that they have had this same thought, we might be on to something...

And office people that occasionally climb here and there; need not post. Your saws can last one to two years.

I want to see people that have been climbing for years, using a silky blade almost every day for years and still climb almost every day. What have you thought about the saw blades since 2009? It seemed like right around the time silky made some changes to distributors, the saw blade quality went down.

NOT the new climber, not the semi retired climber. But lets hear from the people climbing all the time, using them all the time.
 
I think the same thing can be said for chipper blades and bed knifes.
What are we buying. Anyone test the steel see what hardness it really is?
I got my chipper blades custom made, just weren't lasting long enough.

Like anything in life, if you want to make it work for you, good on you.

I decided I will sharpen my manual saws and learned how to do it effeciently and then shared with you.
Honestly I save alot of money and plus soon as my saw is unacceptable i can touch it up to as good as new. And at 42 yrs I need sharp tools to keep my elbows and shoulders happy.

I was surprised that not many do sharpen.

To each his own.
smile.gif
 
ropeshield,

to clarify, i think it was great you shared how to sharpen these saws, (I know you and I tend to clash a bit).

I think you should link that thread here.

I just said, for $35, I'll just buy a new saw blade because i have no time in life anymore.

but... maybe that's what the manufacturer is counting on. Make them with lesser steel, let them wear out faster and the arborist will just buy more of them.

however, if i find that many people think the steel has changed and gotten less quality, that might piss me off enough to use American saws again and/or sharpen them.
 
Thats cool X.
Clash is good. Shows heart and humanity, exactly what we need after a day in the trees. Eh!
The world keeps pushing disposable junk on us.
I like to push it back if I can.

Saving money, saving time, have stuff that works. Man, are work is hard enough, let alone to have to deal with junk.
mad.gif
 
X i've been climbing/cutting less since 2008 but still notice the blades get dull quicker. at ~30 hrs a week i hope that still counts. Some of this might be impatience/expectations/paying more attention.

thanks for the vids; keeping blade clean of dry sap etc does come first.

some are saying a blade cannot be sharpened if it is impulse hardened. is this true? does that mean the metal is harder than the metal in the file?
 
I agree with you X. I remember when I used to get a year out of a Zubat blade. My last 2 blades I have noticed a real drop in cutting quality after 2-3 months. It's become really frustrating and I'm glad you opened the dialogue on the subject.
 
I'm with tr33climb3r. I get a year or better out of a blade with daily use. But, I notice a new blade will replace the chainsaw for pruning more often for cuts within the 1st 2-3 weeks of use. I don't see it as an issue of quality, but an issue of experience with the product.

Joe
 
i was thinking about getting a zubat or a sugoi but after hearing these results ill just stick with the fanno pony saw .... thats what they issue us at work... cheapest of the cheap
 
Silky handsaws are great. I'd probably cry if I couldn't have a Zubat for pruning after using them for several years. Judge the Silky handsaws through the experience from using them. If you can afford 1, you won't regret the investment.

Joe
 
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