1" Carbide Tipped Timberwolf Blade

[David Romano]

Is anyone using the 1" carbide tipped blade from Suffolk? How does it cut? What did you pay for it?

thanks
David

[doug faist]

David - I'm curious what you will be resawing with the blade. A 1" carbide blade is a very expensive, heavy duty blade and requires a substantial band saw to tension it. I have an Aggazani 18", I use a 1/2" blade and it gives me excellent results in stuff up to about 12' wide.

Your cost is going to depend on the length you need; the folks at Suffolk can tell you with just a phone call.

Doug

[David Romano]

I have an 18" Rikon and I'm considering resawing Ipe for a coffe table project. I also like to work with Jatoba and Hard Maple. I've read alot about various carbide tip blades over the past couple of years, so I'm familiar with their cost, why someone would need one, and what's needed to tension one.

My standard blade is a 3/4" 4/6 pitch Starrett Bi-Metal Blade, and it really rocks, but but I can't resaw much more than a couple of inches with it. While not on their website, Suffolk has a 3/4" 2/3 pitch Bi-Metal blade, which I'm also considering. I learned about it over the phone talking with them last year. I really would like to avoid 1" blades if possible and think the 3/4" is the sweet spot for blade width. I wish there were a 2/3 pitch carbide tip blade in that width instead.

David

[Chuck Saunders]

Did you check Laguna? I got a couple of their 3/4" carbide blades but I don't remember the TPI

[David Romano]

Thanks for the tip on the ReSaw King. I'd forgotten about that one. The pitch is 2/3, so it seems perfect. I can't remember why I'd written it off. My blade would be $245. I wonder if they'll have another sweet SMC deal like they did this past spring. I'm still curious about the Timberwolf carbide though.

[Van Huskey]

I have not used the TW carbide blade but the 2 carbide resaw blades that get the most love by most members in online forums are the Lenox TriMaster and Laguna Resaw King, both of which I have and can recommend. Unless I got an uber deal on a TW carbide blade OR find near the level of excitement the other two blades share I would gravitate toward them. One thing to point out is carbide tipped blades are notoriously difficult to weld correctly, much harder than silicon or carbon steel, you may want to search Timber Wolf and weld to see if anything you read interests you.

[Jamie Buxton]

The Resaw King is not really a carbide-tipped blade. The Laguna folks describe it as a carbide alloy, with as much carbide in it as their production process can handle. It certainly stays sharp longer than a standard steel blade, but not as long as a true carbide blade like the ones from Lennox. In my shop (I do a lot of resawing for veneers) the Resaw King goes 3-4 months before it needs sharpening. Under the same conditions, the Lennox Woodmaster CT goes a year and a half or so.

Here's a thread I posted with more detail: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=85218&highlight=resaw+king+woodmaster

[David Romano]

That sounds familiar and I think it's why I wrote them off, considering the price. I had always considered the WoodMaster CT, for the value. I'll give Suffolk a call this week. Any opinions on how long a Bi-Metal blade would last on Ipe?

David

[Van Huskey]

It certainly stays sharp longer than a standard steel blade, but not as long as a true carbide blade like the ones from Lennox.

This hasn't been my experience, my Trimaster and WM CT blades last marginally longer and are less cost effective when you consider resharpening which does not exist commercially for the Lenox blades. I have a hunch the RK is stellite but it is just a hunch.

I have found the WM CT is a GREAT blade in the VP wide configuration (2") but find the narrow WM CT doesn't produce the quality of cut that the TM and RK do. This certainly will vary from user to user, saw to saw and wood to wood.

To the OPs question regarding bi-metal longevity, expect 8-10 times the wear compared to a carbon blade more than that compared to a silicon steel blade like the Timber Wolf blades, though initially the bi-metal blades will not be as sharp. Bi-metal blades are often the most cost effective bandsaw blades for woodwork in the long run.

[Jamie Buxton]

... I have a hunch the RK is stellite but it is just a hunch....

This is a common rumor on the web, but it doesn't seem to be true. On Laguna's web site there is a video in which the owner hosts a tour of the factory where they make the Resaw King. He says that the tooth is an alloy with as much carbide in it as they can manage while being compatible with their welding process. That is, the tooth does have carbide in it, but it is not completely carbide like the Lennox blades. Stellite does not have carbide in it.

[Keith Hankins]

Thanks for the tip on the ReSaw King. I'd forgotten about that one. The pitch is 2/3, so it seems perfect. I can't remember why I'd written it off. My blade would be $245. I wonder if they'll have another sweet SMC deal like they did this past spring. I'm still curious about the Timberwolf carbide though.

Give them a call I just bought one for my Grizzly 17" and they gave me a 25% discound for being a sawmill creek member. I ended up paying (i think) about 182 for a 131.5" blade. That is the best dang blade i've ever used. cuts like butter and smooth as a baby's bottom.

(be sure to mention the discount its a whopper) I'd love to have one of their bandsaws to go with it.

[David Romano]

I decided to buy a Bi-metal blade from Suffolk. It's not explicitly listed on their website, but the regular steel version is. It's a 3/4" VPC (variable positive claw) with a 2/3 pitch, .035" thick. It cost me $68 with shipping.

I put it on my 18" saw and fed a 6" piece of hard maple into it. It cut so fast it actually startled me. I'm used to a 4/6 pitch with a lot smaller gullet. It's a Starrett Gladiator that I really like, but it's obviously for much thinner stock. I normally don't saw more than 2" thick with it, but the feed rate even at 1" thick is definitely slower. With the Timberwolf 2/3, I find that I have to consciously slow my feed rate down to get a smooth cut, because it will cut pretty much as fast as I can push the wood through.

David

[Bernhard Lampert]

I have this blade on my bandsaw (Felder FB640). It will cut everything you can throw at it. Makes a nice clean and smooth cut. Mainly ise it to cut white oak. You ought to call Suffolk, they are very nice, knowlegable and helpful and will point you in the right direction.
Cheers,
Bernhard

[Van Huskey]

This is a common rumor on the web, but it doesn't seem to be true. On Laguna's web site there is a video in which the owner hosts a tour of the factory where they make the Resaw King. He says that the tooth is an alloy with as much carbide in it as they can manage while being compatible with their welding process. That is, the tooth does have carbide in it, but it is not completely carbide like the Lennox blades. Stellite does not have carbide in it.

I assume you know the Lenox teeth are not 100% Tungsten carbide either, it is an alloy. The problem is decerning exactly what alloy is near impossible. Even if the manufacturer give a "C" category for the alloy in modern usage the C category and ISO standards vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, it merely means that a C-4 alloy will do C-4 categoried work. There are literally 1,000s of different grades of tungsten carbide and almost all of them will perform differently in specific applications. The reality is we are probably never going to know the exact formulations for the carbide alloys in most teeth, if for no other reason than some idiot like me will make an unscientific assumption that one is better than the other when in fact there are so many factors even the tooling R&D people have a hard time looking at the alloys and predicting exactly how they will perfoem for a specific application. In the end personal experience probably helps us more than anything and though I find there is a difference between the Lenox TM, Lenow WM and Laguna RK I wouldn't bother to change from one to the other on my BS for any cut that I make. I have found that the resharpening ability of the RK makes them more economical long term for ME but have TMs and WMs as well because they are great blades, they are still around since they last so long but I will probably only buy RKs in the future.

[Scot Ferraro]

The Resaw King is not really a carbide-tipped blade. The Laguna folks describe it as a carbide alloy, with as much carbide in it as their production process can handle. It certainly stays sharp longer than a standard steel blade, but not as long as a true carbide blade like the ones from Lennox. In my shop (I do a lot of resawing for veneers) the Resaw King goes 3-4 months before it needs sharpening. Under the same conditions, the Lennox Woodmaster CT goes a year and a half or so.

Here's a thread I posted with more detail: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=85218&highlight=resaw+king+woodmaster


I checked with Laguna a couple of weeks ago on this exact question and they told me that the Resaw King is indeed a true carbide blade with made with C4. They perfected the welding of the blade this year and starting selling the C4 blades in January. Previous versions had a C8 alloy.

Scot

[Van Huskey]

I checked with Laguna a couple of weeks ago on this exact question and they told me that the Resaw King is indeed a true carbide blade with made with C4. They perfected the welding of the blade this year and starting selling the C4 blades in January. Previous versions had a C8 alloy.

Scot

That is funny, since C-8 is for percision work in "steel and steel alloys these grades resist pitting and deformation". C-4 is for precision work in "cast iron, non-ferrous and non-metallic materials". In a VERY general sense and does not always hold true C-8 usually has LESS cobalt or other binders than C-4. C-8 and C-4 are both grades of Tungsten Carbide but different alloys designed for differnt functions. This is what I was talking about, manufacturers tend to be pretty closed lipped about the actual alloy going into their teeth, in this case if correct they merely changed alloys for what they feel is a better alloy for the work the blade will do (or for any number of other reasons) and did not change to a "true" carbide tooth since if they were indeed using a C-8 alloy it was also a true carbide tooth. One just can't get hung up on this because of the number of alloys out there, you just have to try the product for YOUR purpose and decide how it performs for you, whether it is a C-4, C-8 or C-19.

[Scot Ferraro]

That is funny, since C-8 is for percision work in "steel and steel alloys these grades resist pitting and deformation". C-4 is for precision work in "cast iron, non-ferrous and non-metallic materials". In a VERY general sense and does not always hold true C-8 usually has LESS cobalt or other binders than C-4. C-8 and C-4 are both grades of Tungsten Carbide but different alloys designed for differnt functions. This is what I was talking about, manufacturers tend to be pretty closed lipped about the actual alloy going into their teeth, in this case if correct they merely changed alloys for what they feel is a better alloy for the work the blade will do (or for any number of other reasons) and did not change to a "true" carbide tooth since if they were indeed using a C-8 alloy it was also a true carbide tooth. One just can't get hung up on this because of the number of alloys out there, you just have to try the product for YOUR purpose and decide how it performs for you, whether it is a C-4, C-8 or C-19.

Well said...they told me that with the new C-4 that the blades stay sharp longer, which I guess is all that really matters anyway.

Scot