Bandsaw Blades

[Harry Niemann]

What's the best bandsaw blade to avoid burning on cherry?

[Jim Rimmer]

What's the best bandsaw blade to avoid burning on cherry?
I bought some Timberwolf blades based on some comments here but was sadly disappointed with them (I have a Grizzly G0555X). After posting that here I got a lot of responses that TW blades were not so hot and then some other recommendations.

I just got a 3 TPI WoodSlicer and, man, is it a great blade. I resawed some cherry and no burning and it was so smooth it barely needed planing. It is light years better than TW.

[Van Huskey]

What's the best bandsaw blade to avoid burning on cherry?


First is this an thoeretical question or a practical one. If it is theory just get the proper blade for the actual cut see: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=149862&highlight=bandsaw

for some basic bandsaw blade info. Bandsaws don't present the burning issues like a table saw so in general you shouldn't have a problem if you are using the correct blade, it is sharp and your feedrate is near correct.

If you actually have had burning make sure you have the proper blade for the task, it is of good quality and is sharp. If this is all the case move to a higher tooth density blade with the accompying increase in gullet size and increase your feedrate.

The above mentioned Woodslicer is a hardened spring steel blade (also marketed as the Kerfmaster, Bladerunner and Shear Force by others (the Kerfmaster being the cheapest by a good margin (much more info in the thread I mentioned). It can be a good resaw blade for particular saws (those with limited tensioning ability) and for waste savings. It is however a very poor choice for contour cutting, the minamal set will cause binding and potentially make burning worse. If you are resawing and getting burning in the cherry I don't know if these blades would be my first choice since the minamal set could also increase the chance of burning even in resawing BUT I think your burning issues if you have actually produced it are likely a result of a dull blade and/or too high a tooth density along with too slow a feed rate.