Slowing down bandsaw gumming

[RichardG]

I've been cutting up some green Ash and I've never known such bad gumming up of the bandsaw blade, tyres and guides. After a cutting a single log I'm having to scrape the blade, scrape and clean the tyres and then remove and clean the guide bearings. I've had a search on here and elsewhere and seen people adding all sorts onto the blade, carnauba wax, silicone (no way), oil, wd40 etc. but I'm not sure I can bring myself to risk contamination of the tyres?

Just wanted to get the latest thoughts on this? What about using some spring steel and making a blade scraper to keep it clean? My last bandsaw had the older design block guides which I think actually kept the blade cleaner by acting as scrapers than the more modern bearing style?

 

[Linus]

I had a similar problem when cutting green timber into planks and while scraping helped it doesn't clear the teeth. What helped me was I took the saw off, folded up and dunked in hot soapy water for a 5 minutes. This soaked most gunk off and a stiff brush got the rest. Dry and put back on and Robert is your mother's brother. Laborious but it works.