Bandsaw blade recomendations

[MICHAEL S HILL]

I need a good blade for resawing, for my new Grizzly 17" bandsaw.

[Larry Browning]

Have you done a search on SMC for recommendations? There are many many threads on this exact subject. I would start there if I were you.

[John Schweikert]

People rave about Highland Wood Slicer blades. It's on my short list to buy once my current blades give out.

[Larry Browning]

I called Iturra Design and actually talked to a very knowledgeable fellow who made recommendations for me. Highly recommended. 904.642.2802
Be sure to request their catalog as well with your order. They do not have a web site, so you have to call and actually talk to a person! My kind of place.

[Jeff Willard]

TriMaster.

[David Kumm]

What Grizzly saw- they make several. Their ultimate will tension a trimaster but I would start out with a steel blade and work my way to a Resaw King first if not the ultimate saw. Very few 17" saws can tension a 3/4" trimaster to its full potential and they are expensive. A Trimaster under 10-15000 lbs tension can do OK but not anything like it will do at 25000. Dave

[John Bailey]

I called Iturra Design and actually talked to a very knowledgeable fellow who made recommendations for me. Highly recommended. 904.642.2802 (tel:904.642.2802)
Be sure to request their catalog as well with your order. They do not have a web site, so you have to call and actually talk to a person! My kind of place.

i buy all my blades from Iturra. That knowledgable fellow was probably Louis Iturra. He always answers the phone when I've called. He walked me through a lot of issues when I was refurbishing my vintage bandsaw.

Second the catalogue. It's a wealth of information.

[MICHAEL S HILL]

It's a GO513x2, one of the units with the cast iron wheels. Can it tension the trimaster? Should I go with a 3/4", or can it tension a 1" blade?

[MICHAEL S HILL]

How good is the Lenox Wood Master vs the Tri Master?

[David Kumm]

It's a GO513x2, one of the units with the cast iron wheels. Can it tension the trimaster? Should I go with a 3/4", or can it tension a 1" blade?

I don't think it can tension a 3/4" trimaster above 15000 lbs. Both the Trimaster and Woodmaster CT run .035" bands in those sizes. The Resaw king runs a .024" band i think. Before spending a 150+ on a carbide blade I'd try a low tension steel blade and see how it works. People have pretty good luck on the smaller saws. Dave

[Joe Angrisani]

It's a GO513x2, one of the units with the cast iron wheels. Can it tension the trimaster? Should I go with a 3/4", or can it tension a 1" blade?

I have the same saw with a brake. I'd go with a 1/2" blade, no more. It's hard to get the proper tension you'd need on a 3/4" blade. My 2 cents votes: 1/2" Woodslicer from Highland Woodworking.

[Jim Matthews]

I third Louis at Iturra designs.

He's the real deal.
Five minutes on the phone with him will get the blade that really works for your application.

There are other suppliers, but it's a false economy if you've bought three blades to find the one that works for you.

[Curt Harms]

Another well thought-of source is woodcraftbands.com. Same deal, call 'em. They have a web site but phone calls work better. A lesser known source is supercutbandsaw.com. They claim to make their own bands and the ones I have - premium gold - seem to stay sharp pretty well. They also sell a couple different resaw blades but I haven't tried those. The one complaint I've heard about the Atlanta Sharptech blades - woodslicer, Iturra's blade runner, kerfmaster etc. is they don't stay sharp very long.

[Gus Dundon]

I've tried Lenox and Haltbar carbon blades for resawing on 14" bandsaw. The whole stuff was tremendous.