According to Oklahoma State University, the rule of thumb is to swage the blade to twice the thickness of the plate, and to add one gauge when cutting through green, or undried, lumber. After swaging, band saw blades are then sharpened by grinding, often with an abrasive aluminum oxide wheel and sharpening machine.

You will need to sharpen your blade about every 400 board feet or every cubic metre of sawn timber, or a bit earlier on grit or sandy bark. You should take the top off the log first (with all the grit in it), and then sharpen your blade once you start to get into clean timber.

To give the quick version, when sharpening your sawmill blade, the grinding head on your sharpener contacts the face and of each tooth on the blade, following it along the length of the gullet before coming out of contact. The sharpener will then advance the blade to sharpen the next tooth.