Bandsaw Blade Issues when Resawing

[james glenn]

Well, I finally found some time to finish setting up my Jet 14" bandsaw this weekend (link belt, fence, resaw fence) and built a resaw sled to cut all the small "kentucky coffee bean firewood" I rescued from the waste simply being burnt. I put the 1/2" Woodslicer Resaw blade on it tensioned
it as called for, and it tracked great.

It worked awesom, at first, I squared up two sides no issues, then starting slicing off 5/4" boards cutting like butter. The chunk was about 11" diameter to start and 16"+/- long. But after about 3 boards, the blade starting getting harder to push and then began wandering. Thickness started to vary down to 1". I rechecked tension, all seemed right. I wasn't feeding fast at all, but tried super slow and still poor results.

My conclusion is that the blade has already dulled and thus causing it to drift. The wood has been cut for over a year into chunks, but still fairly 'green' inside. I brushed the wood off before sawing, and didn't see and dirt or anything underneath the bark. But it may be possible there was some worm/grub/bug debris under the bark I did not see.

So after all that, my question is:

Is this simply the blade going dull quickly causing the drift? Do these Woodslicer blades tend to dull this quickly or could it be a bad blade?

It's my first attempt at resawing but somewhat disappointing. I do also have an Olson 1/2" blade to try out tonight.

Any and all input would be helpful at this point, I seem to learn quite a bit from you guys and ladies.....

[Mike Cutler]

Clean the gullets behind the teeth,and let the blade cool off. Depending on the width of your resawn pieces, you may have too many teeth involved and there is heat developing. Milling/resawing from live logs is a low TPI application. You may want to consider the Lennox 2-3 TPI, Bi-metallic blade if you think you'll be doing a of of your own milling.
You may have accelerated the dulling process if the bark was still on the logs. There is a lot of grit and dirt in bark and it can wear a blade quickly.

[glenn bradley]

Agree that the Woodslicer is a blade fro resawing properly dried lumber. Green material is a different animal that will benefit from a more appropriate blade. An alternate tooth set is common for green material but, some of our turners who mill green blanks can probably give more detailed info. You may want to try a separate thread in the turner's section speciofically asing about blades for green wood.

From the Suffolk Machinery site:

"THE AS (Alternate Set): These blades are only available in 3/8″ x 3tpi, 1/2″x 3tpi and 1/2″ x 2tpi. These blades are unique in their body thickness, set, and rake angle. They are .032 thick, have a full alternate set, a unique rake angle of 8.5° and also incorporate the unique geometry of our PC tooth design. These blades are primarily used by wood-turners and wood-carvers when roughing out blanks from burls and logs. Their performance is excellent if the thickness of your material exceeds 6 to 8 inches These blades are not meant to be used on three wheel band saws or any saw with less than a 90″ blade length or a wheel diameter of less than 14″"

[Peter Quinn]

My guess, the green log choked the blade with gummy dust, heated it up, and dulled it that quick. That wood slicer is only meant for dry stock, it has almost no set at all. Which gives you the ultra thin kerf for slicing veneers, not the best thing for slicing planks from green logs. Check with Suffolk machine, they have a timber wolf blade made for turners that is designed to slice green lumber. It has the correct tooth geometry and significantly more set. A few other makers IIR make similar blades, so seek one out for your saw mill operations. And lose the bark if you can.

[james glenn]

So it sounds like a lesson learned with the blade.
Thanks for all the information guys.


I honestly thought the wood was much dryer inside that it was. I figured on some moisture obviously, but this stuff was almost damp to the touch. And it has been sitting inside a garage for nearly a year after being cut into chunks.

[james glenn]

Another question then, can these blades be sharpened?

And would anyone know a place that does in the Albany, NY area????

Much appreciated.

[Mike Cutler]

Blades can be sharpened with a Dremel tool, actually it's more of a honing process, and there are You Tube videos that show the technique, and some members here also touch up their blades.
The problem is that the set of the teeth has a huge impact on how the blade tracks through material. If the set is fine, than a light touchup may restore the blade. You'd actually be surprised at what a good cleaning can do for a bandsaw blade. I personally use a petrochemical product like Kerosene, lacquer thinner, turpentine, etc.

[Peter Quinn]

So it sounds like a lesson learned with the blade.
Thanks for all the information guys.


I honestly thought the wood was much dryer inside that it was. I figured on some moisture obviously, but this stuff was almost damp to the touch. And it has been sitting inside a garage for nearly a year after being cut into chunks.

Rule of thumb is one year of air drying per inch of thickness, to a point, then it goes up. It can take 7-8 years to air dry 12/4 white oak for instance. I would have been very surprised if it wer at all dry much past the 1" depth at it's core.

[glenn bradley]

You must have my luck; Highland's free shipping offer ended yesterday ;-(

[Don Morris]

Another reason to bite the bullet and get a decent moisture meter. Bite the bullet because if you haven't priced on recently...grit your teeth before you look at the price of a quality meter. If you're going to invest time and money in significant projects, in the long run it's worth it.

[Van Huskey]

Glenn got it right, Woodslicer or the other "meat" industry based hardened spring steel blade plus green wood = dulled blade FAST. Not enough set in the teeth. Further, as I mentioned those blades are hardened sping steel which means they have a rather short life anyway. There is some basic bandsaw blade info in this thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149862-Lets-talk-bandsaw-blades!&highlight=lets+talk+bandsaw

[Phil Thien]

Most any bandsaw blade can be sharpened with a dremel and diamond burr.

Don't worry about the set, unless the set is too wide. If the set is too wide (certainly not the case on a WoodSlicer), you can squeeze the teeth in a smooth-jawed vise (they will spring back about half when you release the jaws).

I use primarily the .025" thick bimetal blades (1/2", 3-TPI) for resawing. The first thing I do with BRAND NEW blades (believe it or not) is squish the set (the the vise), then sharpen the blade with the diamond burr. When I'm done the blades cut very fast, and leave a very nice surface (a few swipes with a hand plane is all that would be necessary to clean up the saw marks).