Band Saw blade have to be brand new to resaw straight?

[Nick Sorenson]

I have a Grizzly 18" bandsaw (an older one from the late 90's I believe), and I'm resawing fingerboards and headstocks. I've noticed that I'm getting crooked cuts as my 3/4" Timberwolf blade gets older (probably 500-750 linear feet of hardwood cutting and half of that resawing).

During yesterday's workday we spent around 20 minutes tuning the saw (blade tension plenty tight, guides with the dollar bill, only the teeth extending past the guides) and it still won't cut straight. I have the drift in my fence (Kreg) maxed out which is about 15* right and that's still not enough.

Last time this happened I put a new blade on and problem solved. This saw requires lots of adjusting to keep the guides set right for different heights on the blade guide/guard but we keep up with it pretty religiously. I'd really like to get a better bandsaw at some point, but this one is the one for now.

But, from what I just said, would others agree that the blade is the problem? Should I be getting more than what I'm getting out of blade use?

[John Coloccia]

500 to 750 feet, depending on the kinds of woods you're processing is reasonable IMHO. If you're doing fingerboards and headstock veneers, you're doing a lot of ebony, rosewoods, maybe pau ferro, maples etc. All very hard, and the exotics may have high abrasive mineral content. I think you're doing fine and just need to replace your blades more often :) 500 is a bit on the low side but you're cutting some really hard stuff. If you were slicing spruce for flattops, you would probably get 800+. I just happen to know a couple of sharpeners and this is what they tell me their customers get. 700 feet.....900 feet.... Something like that.

[Thomas S Stockton]

Nick
If your cutting fingerboards I'm assuming it is ebony or some sort of rosewood, both of these woods can be hard on blades especially the rosewoods. I think your blade is probably dull. I would switch over to a bi-metal blade they stay sharp for a long time and are much cheaper than carbide. I resawed some elm once that I could not get through a single cut with out destroying a normal blade, I picked up a bi-metal blade and it cut like a champ. I use lennox brand blades and they work well for me but most manufacturers have a version of it.
Tom

[Myk Rian]

Last time this happened I put a new blade on and problem solved.
Seems to me you answered your own question.

[glenn bradley]

Don't sell your bandsaw short. 500-750 lineal feet? That blades done. At $20 each, 500 ft out of a silicon steel blade is acceptable. Since you do more than just resaw you may want to consider a bi-metal or carbide blade reserved for this task and keep the Timberwolfs around for everything else.

I use TW for all tasks; I keep 2 (or more) of each of my most used blades and toss them when the performance becomes questionable. They are inexpensive enough to use that way IMHO. It doesn't take too much wasted rosewood or ebony to pay for that replacement blade. Not to mention the lost time that a failed cut can cost you depending when it happens ;-)

[Phil Thien]

Once a new blade has gotten to the point where it doesn't cut well any longer, I use a vice to squish the set out of the teeth (don't worry, you don't lose all the set as they spring back) and then sharpen the teeth with a diamond bur on a rotary tool. These become bands I use for resawing and when I'm done they cut better and faster than new.

[Nick Sorenson]

Ok that confirms that the blade is probably just worn out. what always surprises me though is that the teeth feel very sharp. I kind of wonder if maybe pitch buildup could be causing problems.


By the way yes I am cutting abrasive woods (rosewoods) and very hard woods (hard maple).

I'll check out the bimetal blades and see how they do. The Timberwolf blades are nice when they're fresh out of the box. They slice right through and make a very nice resaw.

[Terry Beadle]

I use the wood slicer from Highland Hardware. They are a bi-metal blade 3 tpi. They last me about 2 ~ 3 years ( hobby-ist ). Still, when they are about at their last goody, what I find is that I have to go much slower in the cut than when they are new. I put a light behind the table top. The light lets me know right away if the piece stray's from the square narrow pivot. I use a free handed shop made square pivot in my left hand and use my right to adjust the blade cut as defined by the grain direction changes of the piece being cut. The slowness of the cut keeps the kurf dead vertical and it doesn't follow the gain. By useing a free handed square narrow pivot, the blade can be controlled to deal with the grain direction changes all pieces will have and are unique. I don't recommend a fixed fence setup for hard grained hardwood resaw cutting.

By the way, when I say slower cutting, I do mean dead slow. Let the kurf cutting dictate the speed of cut and not your wanting to go fast or even moderately. Slow means let the blade cut the kurf dead square to your marking line. Back out the cutting piece to make sure your kurf cutting is matching on your marking line on the bottom as well as the top. If you keep this technique right, you will have a nearly dead flat result that will make the next finishing steps a lot easier.

[Burt Alcantara]

The majority of my bandsaw use is cutting logs into small boards and turning blanks. I've had no good luck with TW blads of any size. Great out of the box but dull after a short while. I now have a G0514X2 and use a 1" Woodmaster. I've used it to cut as thin as 1/50" of silver maple. For straight cutting, it is my best blade. For other cuts I use a 1/2" bimetal from Lennox.

[Cody Colston]

With 500 to 700 lineal ft on a TW blade, I can guarantee it's dull. In fact, it's been dull for a while if it's the low-tension "Swedish steel" they tout.

For a re-saw blade, I'd recommend at least a bi-metal blade. It will retain it's sharpness many times longer than the carbon steel blades do. Of course the ultimate in resawing is a carbide tipped blade.

With a sharp blade and a well-tuned saw, blade drift should be negligible if present at all.

[Phil Thien]

I use the wood slicer from Highland Hardware. They are a bi-metal blade 3 tpi. They last me about 2 ~ 3 years ( hobby-ist ).

The Wood Slicer is a repackaged meat cutting blade made from spring steel stock manufactured by Atlanta Sharptech. While they are great blades (outstanding initial sharpness), they aren't going to last anywhere near as long as a bimetal blade.

[Van Huskey]

Don't sell your bandsaw short. 500-750 lineal feet? That blades done. At $20 each, 500 ft out of a silicon steel blade is acceptable. Since you do more than just resaw you may want to consider a bi-metal or carbide blade reserved for this task and keep the Timberwolfs around for everything else.

I use TW for all tasks; I keep 2 (or more) of each of my most used blades and toss them when the performance becomes questionable. They are inexpensive enough to use that way IMHO. It doesn't take too much wasted rosewood or ebony to pay for that replacement blade. Not to mention the lost time that a failed cut can cost you depending when it happens ;-)


Yep. Silicon steel blades like the TW will only last about half the time a standards carbon blade will but are sharper initially. You really should consider bi-metal blades they will outlast the TW blades MANY times over and much more cost effective.

You can get a little more blade info here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149862-Lets-talk-bandsaw-blades!&highlight=bandsaw

[Keith Hankins]

Like my timberwolfe blades as well especially the 3tp for resawing. I have the 17"HD from Grizzly. They are reasonably cheap at about 15-20 bucks depending on the blade and give decent results. Like others have said that's not too bad. However since I've switched to my Laguna carbide blade no comparison. The laguna cuts like butter and it can be resharpened. Now do the math however. That blades is a couple hundred bucks.

[glenn bradley]

what always surprises me though is that the teeth feel very sharp.

They do still feel sharp to the touch don't they. Not to be a smarty but, the end of a paperclip feels sharp to the finger but, I wouldn't want to drill a hole with it. These types of blades are wear parts; they don't wear out as fast as sandpaper but they do wear out faster than the brakes on your car :D:D:D

[ken gibbs]

Gentlemen,

Yesterday I installed a 1/2" wide 93 1/2" Timberwolf 3 tpi blade on my new Grizzley G0555X. It resawed hardwoods perfectly right out of the package. Beautiful cuts with very little rough surfaces in the cut. One trip through the surface planner yielded nice stuff 1/4" thick.