Resaw blade recommendation?

[Joe Shinall]

I have a 19" Grizzly 3HP bandsaw with 12" resaw capacity. I have some pecan, cherry, and cedar I need to resaw ranging from 3" to 11". Does anyone have a resaw blade recommendation? I have looked at Timberwolf blades and Wood Slicer but I don't know much about resaw blades. Anyone have luck with these 2 or any others in a good price range? 30-100 dollar range?

Also, is it a wider the blade the better for resaw? The wood slicer is a 1/2" and the timberwolf blades recommended by their sales guy is 3/4".

[Tai Fu]

I heard Woodmaster CT is quite good and makes a very smooth cut. It's a minimum of 1" though.

[Kevin Groenke]

I would suggest just biting the bullet and buying a TriMaster, Resaw King or other carbide tipped band. It will cost 3x more but will last 10x longer and cuts 2 better. Generally a wider blade can take more tension and thus be less susceptible to deflection and make more planer cuts. I think the benefit of this diminishes somewhat when you get over 3/4". I recently got a 1/2"x.025 TriMaster for my 1-1/2 hp grizzly 17" and I'm quite impressed by the quality of cut and the efficiency of this blade (.025 thickness presumably requiring 2/3 or less of the power of a .035 blade).

-kg

[David Kumm]

Keep in mind there is a difference between the best resaw blade and the best blade for your saw. If you decide to go the carbide route with a medium duty saw you are taking less risk with the big $$ if you go with either the Resaw King 3/4" with a .024" band or the Trimaster 1/2" with the .025" band. A carbide blade likes high tension and a smaller thinner band tensioned higher will outperform a wider thicker blade at low tension. Dave

[Tai Fu]

Keep in mind that the woodmaster CT costs 50% less than the trimaster or resaw king, so its a good deal when your saw can handle it. It also lasts longer than resaw king before sharpening but it cant be resharpened...

[Andrew Hughes]

Daley saw service can sharpen the woodmaster ct.I think it cost me about 2.40 per ft.The finish on the cut was not as smooth as new. But okay

[Chris Padilla]

On my MM20, I had poor results with the WoodmasterCT so it hangs on my wall unused. I like the Lenox TriMaster a lot but if you want to go with a cheaper one that I also like, give the Lenox Diemaster2 (bimetal) a shot. I've used their 6 tpi, hook style version and it is comparable to the TriMaster at 20% the cost. It DOES leave a rougher cut but it is a smaller kerf than the TriMaster so it may depend on what you want at the end. Near as I can tell, the Diemaster2 blade I use is very likely the same blade David Marks used on his big bandsaw for sawing veneers.

[Joe Shinall]

I was looking for cheaper until I get good with resawing. I know a good blade can make a difference but I didn't want to drop 250 bucks on a blade being that I have only resawed before with a 3/4 HP 14" bandsaw with a height adapter giving me 12" of resaw height. It was ok for up to 7 or 8 inches but so slow which is why I upgraded to this one.

Should I just bite it and buy the expensive one? Or should I go with a cheaper more cost efficient blade until I get use to the machine?

[Larry Fox]

My top three in order of preference for Resaw: TrimMaster, TriMaster and Trimaster

[Myk Rian]

Many here, and elsewhere, don't like the TW blades. But I've never had a bad re-saw with the TW 1/2" 3-4tpi.
This is on a vintage Delta 14" w/riser, and a previous Delta 14" w/riser I owned.

[Jim Rimmer]

Highland Wood Slicer

[Gus Dundon]

On a 14" band saw ,best resaw blade would be 1/2" 3-4 tpi band saw blade. I have lenox,timberwolf,haltbar and I think woodslicer . too. Try reading this threads : http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?152759-band-saw-blade-width-for-resawing
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149862-Lets-talk-bandsaw-blades!&highlight=bandsaw

[Joe Shinall]

Well as to not confuse anyone with my last post. I "use to have" a 14" bandsaw. Mine now is a 19" 3HP.

[Curt Harms]

Based on what Chris and others have said, a bimetal blade like the DieMaster sounds like a sweet spot. I'm sure carbide toothed blades like the trimaster are the best but at considerably increased cost. A DieMaster won't break the bank.

[Peter Froh]

I was looking for cheaper until I get good with resawing. I know a good blade can make a difference but I didn't want to drop 250 bucks on a blade being that I have only resawed before with a 3/4 HP 14" bandsaw with a height adapter giving me 12" of resaw height. It was ok for up to 7 or 8 inches but so slow which is why I upgraded to this one.

Should I just bite it and buy the expensive one? Or should I go with a cheaper more cost efficient blade until I get use to the machine?

My opinion is that without a good quality blade like the trimaster you will find your resaw experience less than satisfactory. Your 19" saw will support a 3/4 trimaster no problem. I use one on the grizzly 17" cousin. A wonderful blade. I've had zero problems with it. Don't go cheap, it's a waste of your money.

Let us know what you buy and how you like it.

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?92396-Tansu&p=986535#post986535

Hopefully the above link takes you to a long thread of mine regarding a tansu I built using shop-cut walnut veneers. If it doesn't, here is the full thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?92396

You can skip ahead to post #39 where you can see the results I had using the Diemaster2 bimetal blade and it is only a 1/2" wide blade yet it cut very very well and I was quite happy with it. The veneer DOES need sanding so I cut 3/32" veneers and sanded them down to 1/16" on my Delta 18/36 drum sander. I was extremely pleased with the results.

The TriMaster will give you a better finish cut but IMO, it is something that still needs some sanding PLUS the TriMaster has a wider kerf than the Diemaster2. YMMV in the yield you get from a plank of wood.

[Andrew Joiner]

Joe, I would decide how much sanding your willing to do. If I had a 19" Grizzly I'd get a 3/4" Resaw King, but only if Laguna gave me the assurance it would resaw/tension OK on the saw.
I've had great experience with Laguna customer service on blades.

I have a new Resaw King I got 3 years ago. It's 15/16" wide with 2(almost 3) TPI. I tensioned it to 1'' on my saw gauge. I tested it a bit when I got it and was unimpressed with the smoothness of cut on 6" and wider resawn faces. The cuts were not as smooth as a glue joint rip table saw blade. My tests showed they were acceptable as the glued down face for veneer with no sanding, so I thought this was OK.

Recently I sliced a 6" wide 12/4 quilted maple slab into near perfect 1/16" veneers with the same blade. Both faces are smoother than some of my table saw blades! The set up was the same as my tests 3 years ago, except I did tension the blade more. This time I tensioned the blade as much as I could by hand on the tension wheel of my Grizzly 21" saw. The saw gauge read just over 1-1/8".
This quilted maple veneer is so smooth and uniform off the saw I didn't need to joint each face before I sawed a slice. I can glue it down with both faces only processed by the bandsaw. This saves wood and gives a better bookmatch. No planing or drum sanding of the precious quilt needed. I can go right to 100 grit RO sanding.

Here is the tiny detail. Both faces off the saw are super smooth. The veneer is captured between the fence(1/16" to the left of the blade) and blade . It's sawn surface is easily ready for 100 grit RO sanding. But the face of the slab on the right of the blade is almost polished, easily 150 grit ready.

[Bill Wyko]

I had bought a carbide 1" 1tpi blade a while back. The first time I sent it for sharpening they ground it to the nub and ruined it. If you go carbide, be sure you have it sharpened by someone that knows what they are doing. Otherwise you may end up with a blaed that is unusable after one sharpening.

[Dave Lewis]

I bought some blades from BC Saw and Tool for a 17.5-inch Bridgewood. Theyve worked well.

[Joe Shinall]

So I am looking at the Lenox website and it says the diemaster 2 is a contour blade, not a resaw blade. It also only goes to 1/2". It also has 7 different tooth sets available. Any insight on this? It is a $50 blade as opposed to the $220 Trimaster so it's definitely more affordable.

Maybe I shouldn't worry so much about the espensive stuff since I don't really do veneers. If I do some veneers I don't mind sanding some if need be. I have a 24" drum sander. I mostly am looking for slicing 3" thick slabs down to around 1" or 1/2" boards.

I just don't understand how it took me about 30 minutes to choose this bandsaw but a week to choose a blade :confused:

[David Kumm]

I have big saws and resaw with 1" Trimasters but I can also get great cuts up to 6" with a 1/4" bimetal blade. If you can tension a blade enough you will get good results even with a 1/2" blade. Width is needed when tension is lacking. Dave

[Chris Padilla]

So I am looking at the Lenox website and it says the diemaster 2 is a contour blade, not a resaw blade. It also only goes to 1/2". It also has 7 different tooth sets available. Any insight on this? It is a $50 blade as opposed to the $220 Trimaster so it's definitely more affordable.

My link has all the info, Joe. :)

Mine is a 1/2", 6 tpi, hook-style.

[Joe Shinall]

My link has all the info, Joe. :)

Mine is a 1/2", 6 tpi, hook-style.

Doesn't look like they offer a 1/2" 6tpi in hook style for my size. They have the 6 S which is the skip tooth set. And they offer a few variable tooth sets.

[John C Bush]

Hi Joe,
I had used the Trimaster on my previous 18" BS and was very happy with the cuts. I now have the Grizz 21"er and decided to try the CT from Lenox due to cost difference and am very happy with the finish of the cuts as well.. I think you would be happy with the CT performance/cost. I have resawn many board feet of green wood, old reclaimed beams(get a metal detector--ask me how I know) and thicker veneers/thinner panels(3/16ths) up to the 15'- max cut heigth of the saw and the cuts were great. A friend got a big hunk of English Plane---I'd never heard of it either--variety of sycamore---and wanted to cut out some turning blanks and I'm not sure what I did but after I heard the big bang and after my heart started beating again I realized the blade weld had separated. First time ever and not a soothing experience. I had been using this blade for over 3 years so I wasn't totally upset. I had a "new in box" 1" carbide "coated" resaw blade I bought at the Grizz showroom when I got the saw that I never tried so I put it on the saw and it makes great cuts too. Not sure of the durability of the carbide coating but IIRC it was ~~1/2 the cost of the CT, soooooo, for a recomendation I think the CT is a great value if you plan to do a lot of resawing, the cheaper carbide coated blade produces good cuts/cost but not sure how for how long, Trimaster cuts great but spendy. I tried the bimetal blades before I got carbide blades and they didn't last very long. Some of the stock I used them on was the reclaimed barn beams and it is likely grit impregmated in the wood(even after wirewheel brushing with an angle grinder) dulled them so they may work well with cleaner stock.

In reference to the ---metal detector--aske me--- I've "found" cut nails, 22cal. slugs, BBs, screws, etc. in the old beams and a friend using my saw "found" several 16p. nails and the CT cuts were still very good until it's untimely demise, so I think the its durabilty is good. Have a Happy Easter .JCB.