Narrow Bandsaw Blade Suggestion for MM-16

[Larry Fox]

I have an MM-16 with a 149" blade length and need to make some fairly tight radius cuts and am wondering with blades others have had success with on the saw. I have Carter guides on it but can switch back to the Euro ones to make these cuts if one set of guides accomodates a narrw blade better than another.

I mostly do resaw work on this saw and not much of this type of work yet.

Thanks in advance for your time . . .

L

[Roy Wall]

Larry -

I've had good success with PS WOOD blades (Timberwolf) on my General 15". It has Carter Guides like you switched to on the MM. I too like these guides better.

A 1/4" wide blade will cut small radii. I think a 4 tpi is actually a good general cutting blade. NO more than 14 tpi for 3/4 thick material. I think I settled on 8-10 tpi to cut a little slower but still leave good finish- and I can use in on 4/4 too. Technically, I believe there is a theory of 4-8 teeth should be cutting (embedded in) the wood at any given time.

Here is a list of different band saw blade widths and the minimum cut radius for each:
Blade Width 1/8" 3/16" 1/4" 3/8" 1/2" 3/4" 1" Min. Radius 3/16" 5/16" 5/8" 1 1/2" 2 1/2" 5 1/2" 7"
My minimum radius for a 1/4" blade is more like 1" (2" dia.) = unskilled:eek:

I keep the 1" Trimaster on my MM. It has the Euro Guides and I'm not too fond of them either.

Give PS Wood a shout. I bet a "1/4-6 tpi RC" blade may be a good choice if your < 1" thick.

[Van Huskey]

I have an MM-16 with a 149" blade length and need to make some fairly tight radius cuts and am wondering with blades others have had success with on the saw. I have Carter guides on it but can switch back to the Euro ones to make these cuts if one set of guides accomodates a narrw blade better than another.

I mostly do resaw work on this saw and not much of this type of work yet.

Thanks in advance for your time . . .

L

I like Lenox Flex back blades for general curve work and they are inexpensive when ordered from a supply house. Not knowing the radius of the curves and the type and thickness of the wood I can't give a specific recommendation but check these blades out:

http://www.spectrumsupply.com/flexback.aspx

[Peter Quinn]

I like Lenox Flex back blades for general curve work and they are inexpensive when ordered from a supply house. Not knowing the radius of the curves and the type and thickness of the wood I can't give a specific recommendation but check these blades out:

http://www.spectrumsupply.com/flexback.aspx

Have you ordered from spectrum Van? I'm having similar questions regarding blades for my Meber, and was looking at Spectrum as a possible source. Do you like them for service?

[Van Huskey]

Have you ordered from spectrum Van? I'm having similar questions regarding blades for my Meber, and was looking at Spectrum as a possible source. Do you like them for service?

I have ordered from them twice and had no issues, but I haven't really used the customer service per se, never ask questions nor had issues to resolve. I ordered the Kerf Master blades from them after someone mentioned they were like the Wood slicer and blade runner bands and are cheaper. I haven't ordered anything else from them but I never back away from recommending Lenox, I have noticed we pay more for our bands if we order from a "woodworking" outlet, the ones with the pre welded blades but the places that sell to the commercial crown and weld there own from stock rolls seem to be much cheaper.

[Greg Portland]

Larry, I use a 1/8" Timberwolf blade on my 18" Laguna. Note that the smaller blades will NOT work with most guide systems found on these larger saws (roller bearings or ceramic guides). What will work is plan old wood guides or "cool blocks". You can buy a whole new guide system but it should be easy to temporarily modify your existing guides. For example, I can swap out my Laguna ceramic blocks with a block of wood when I want to use the narrow blades.

[Peter Quinn]

Not to be a hijacker, but you like the Kerfmaster series then? I was considering one of those from Spectrum for general use.

[Van Huskey]

Not to be a hijacker, but you like the Kerfmaster series then? I was considering one of those from Spectrum for general use.


I do like them but not sure if they are the best general use blade, though I am not sure I suspect they are from band stock made for the meat industry (like the Wood Slicer and Blade Runner) and aren't gonna last as long as the more standard general use blades.

[james bell]

I have a MM16 but the blade length is 156" - maybe a different model? Anyway, I tried a 1/4" on it with the cool blocks they sell and when doing a fairly tight turn it broke. Went and retrieved my old 12" craftsman and now just that for smaller blades and reserve the MM16 for resawing and gentle curves in thick wood.

[Jim Becker]

Larry, I have a 1/8" Timberwolf from Suffolk Machinery that I use on my MM16 when I need tight scrolling. It's worked well for this purpose. One does have to be really careful to not over tension this thin blade, however... ;)

[Greg Portland]

Yes, I forgot to mention that in my previous post. Do not trust the tension meters on the large saws when it comes to these small blades! Tension using the flutter method & then adjust the (wood or cool block) guides appropriately.

[Larry Fox]

Thanks for the posts and time everyone. I definitely have some options. I not that I think it matters all that much but I hae to make these cuts in 8/4 aftican mahogony and 4/4 quarter-sawn hard maple. Timberwolf seems to have gotten good airplay here so I will give them a look.

James - I have a "tweener" MM-a6 with a 14" resaw. I believe they only made it 1 or 2 years.

Greg - I never trust that meter at all but thanks for the reminder.