Bandsaw Box - Questions on Technique

[Steve Walls]

Trying my 1st bandsaw box and I was getting a bit more burning with some of the tighter corner cuts than I was expecting. Hopefully someone can offer some improvement suggestions to my technique.

I was using a Timberwolf 3/16" blade with Carter guides. I was trying to use a feed rate on the slower side.

I then tried an Olson 1/8" blade with the Carter stabilizer, that seemed to do better as far as burning.

This burning was mostly when I was cutting the insides of the drawers when I was into the corners.

Looking for recommendations for cutting the insides of the drawers.
1- Should I use the regular Carter guides or the stabilizer?
2 - 1/8 or 3/16 blade any particular brand?
3 - feed rate?

Any other suggestions/tricks would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

[Lance Norris]

Steve... depending on the wood type, some burning will happen. if you are using the Stabilizer(which I recommend you use) you can slightly push the blade to the inside or outside of the cut. This allows tighter radius cuts and will reduce burning. You can also use a stone on the back edges of the blade to round over the edge. Use a sharpening stone or one of the stones on a stick made for rounding the back edge of bandsaw blades. With the saw running, lightly touch the back corners of the blade, thus rounding off the backside of the blade. This allows tighter turns and reduces burning. I use a 1/8"~14tooth blade for my bandsawn boxes. Make sure the teeth are clean. They load up quickly if you are cutting dense, oily wood. Clogged teeth also cause burning. Hope that helps some. Post some pics of your boxes when you get them done. Also look at my posts, I have a tutorial on a simple box and some pics of the finished ones.

[Jeff Mohr]

I use the Carter stabilizer and love it! 3/16 timberwolf here as well. Make sure you've got the tension right as a wobbly blade will give you bad cuts and I've noticed a little more burning that way too.

Also, grab some scrap and cut away...curves, straight lines, swirls, circles, etc....anything that looks fun. This will give you a good idea on what your blade can do and how tight a corner and how fast you need to feed it. Otherwise, you are practicing on a "nice" piece of wood and worried about it all so you won't experiment as much...

[Steve Walls]

Thanks for the responses, sounds like I just need to spend some time practicing, do some fine tuning and possibly lower my expectations a bit. When using the stabilizer and cutting a thick piece, the cut wasn't very close to straight up and down, I assume I was feeding it too fast. Is a slower feed rate needed with thick pieces and the stabilizer? I'm using Canarywood for the first time, maybe that has something to do with it.

[Jeff Mohr]

Thanks for the responses, sounds like I just need to spend some time practicing, do some fine tuning and possibly lower my expectations a bit. When using the stabilizer and cutting a thick piece, the cut wasn't very close to straight up and down, I assume I was feeding it too fast. Is a slower feed rate needed with thick pieces and the stabilizer? I'm using Canarywood for the first time, maybe that has something to do with it.

Might be more of a blade tension problem. Tighten up the thing a little and see if your cut is straighter. Seriously, I grabbed some 2 X 4's and cut away practicing all kinds of curves...gave me some confidence to go for the walnut, cherry, burls, etc...