Olson BS Blades?

[Phil Barrett]

Anyone else having problems with Olson blades?

I got a 1/4" 93.5" blade and could not get it even close to tension on my Griz 14" BS. Exchanged it for another and that one was a little better but I had to crank the tension so high I fully compressed the tension spring and it was still just a little too loose. A test cut popped the blade off the wheel. I have several other 93.5" blades (including a 1/2" olson) that fit just fine on the saw and tension up at the low end of the gauge. I got the Olson blade because there is a woodcraft store nearby. Kind of ruined my day because I screwed around way too much and never even got close to actually getting something done in my shop. I suspect olson's QA isn't up to snuff.

And, yes, I going to be buying timber wolf or some such instead of olson. Recommendations greatly appreciated!

[Tai Fu]

It might just be your bandsaw's tension spring. They can't even tension a 1/4" blade close to what it needs to be. You might want to switch for the Cobra coil thing...

[Phil Thien]

Is it possible the blade was cut slightly long? Can one of your other blades that works better rest INSIDE the blade that isn't working?

I've had hit or miss luck w/ Olson.

I've read about lots of problems with Timberwolf, too.

I'd consider trying woodcraftbands.com. No affiliation, but they seem to get great marks from everyone that tries them.

[Phil Barrett]

Is it possible the blade was cut slightly long? Can one of your other blades that works better rest INSIDE the blade that isn't working?

I've had hit or miss luck w/ Olson.

I've read about lots of problems with Timberwolf, too.

I'd consider trying woodcraftbands.com. No affiliation, but they seem to get great marks from everyone that tries them.

Yes, I believe the blade is long. I took my Carter 1/2" (which tensions at the low end) and it did just that. The difference was small but it did fit inside the 1/4" Olson. I'm guessing that it's diameter was 1/8" larger which means it was about 3/8" longer than the Carter blade. Could be more because the Carter tensions at the low end - the tension marker doesn't even show (not that I use it as a measure of blade tension). So I assume it's on the low side of 93.5. It's also possible that my machine is on the low end of the 92.5-93.5 range they claim. So a slightly long blade but with in reasonable manufacturing tolerances might not fit. I've got a 1/4" metal cutting blade that I haven't tried, will do that next just to see.

I'll take a look at woodcraft - thanks for the pointer.


It might just be your bandsaw's tension spring. They can't even tension a 1/4" blade close to what it needs to be. You might want to switch for the Cobra coil thing...
The problem is that the spring was fully compressed meaning there was no more room to expand the distance between the wheels. I probably need maybe 1/4" more to fully tension the "long" blade. I can't tell if the Cobra coil would compress to a smaller size than the OEM spring which is what I would need.

[Rick Potter]

Sounds like you need to call Olson, and give them a chance to replace it.

Rick P

[Phil Barrett]

Rick, I've already swapped it once at Woodcraft. The first blade was even worse. Given that it was only like $17, I'm about to rack that up as tuition in the school of consumer education.

[Myk Rian]

Do you by chance have a tension release lever on the saw?
If you have to compress the spring completely, then you need to learn how to tension a saw.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Sounds like you need to call Olson, and give them a chance to replace it.

Rick P


Rick, I've already swapped it once at Woodcraft. The first blade was even worse. Given that it was only like $17, I'm about to rack that up as tuition in the school of consumer education.

I agree with Rick about calling Olson. They may want to do better than replacing the blade at the store.

I feel certain that band saw blades, like many other items, are made in batches and if the set-up is wrong for a batch, it's likely they are all bad (a concept I wasn't able to successfully get across, one time, to a different band saw blade supplier, unfortunately, when I got 5 badly welded blades). There's a good chance all such blades at the Woodcraft store came from the same batch.

If Olson is responsible to their customers I feel sure thay'd want to know about the problem.

[Phil Barrett]

Do you by chance have a tension release lever on the saw?
If you have to compress the spring completely, then you need to learn how to tension a saw.

Yes, it has a tension release lever and it was down (i.e full tension) and, yes, I know how to tension a BS. I am also adept at walking and chewing gum... I've had two band saws and numerous blades and this is the first case where I had to "bottom out" the tension spring before even getting close. And, as I said earlier, I don't use the spring/gauge for determining tension.

[glenn bradley]

Yes, it has a tension release lever and it was down (i.e full tension) and, yes, I know how to tension a BS. I am also adept at walking and chewing gum... I've had two band saws and numerous blades and this is the first case where I had to "bottom out" the tension spring before even getting close. And, as I said earlier, I don't use the spring/gauge for determining tension.

No need to get testy. People are just trying to help. Of course, you may have been smiling when you typed that ;-) The written word so often doesn't carry our actual tone of voice. If I misinterpreted, I apologize. It does seem odd that such a small difference would take you from a low end setting to max'd out without the blade getting tight. The travel on my little 10" saw is almost an inch so that would compensate for a mere length problem. I'm not sure how far my larger saw travels but, it seems more(?). I'll toss in with the folks that say to call Olsen. That way if they have a problem, they will become aware of it as well as (hopefully) take care of you.

[Alan Bienlein]

I've had the same problem with different brands of blades on my G0555 band saw. If you go to your manual it will tell you how to adjust the quick release so that you can tension it correctly.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I've had the same problem with different brands of blades on my G0555 band saw. If you go to your manual it will tell you how to adjust the quick release so that you can tension it correctly.

lol .. I'm standin' out of the way.

[Jim Finn]

I do a lot of re-sawing with my grizzly band saw and for this I found the best blade by far is the gold, 3 teet per inch, 1/2" carbide blades, from Supercut. Last a long time and are not too expensive.
http://www.supercutbandsaw.com/index.html

[Reinis Kanders]

Some of my Olson's were ok, but a couple had bad (bumpy) welds.

[Phil Barrett]

I've had the same problem with different brands of blades on my G0555 band saw. If you go to your manual it will tell you how to adjust the quick release so that you can tension it correctly.

Thanks Alan. I was able to get the longer blade to tension up doing that. Unfortunately, the shorter 1/2" blade then wouldn't fit on. Both are supposedly 93.5" blades. sigh. Maybe there's a tweak that will let both fit. I'll have to experiment with it.

[Peter Quinn]

Have you measure the band with a flexible tape or a piece of string to transfer the circumference and determined exactly what is the variation? I'd want numbers to make my case for replacement more solid. I used to run olson MVP's on my 14" saw, never had a problem, don't consider them a problematic brand in general, would probably still use them if they made stock bands that fit my 20". My guess is the local woodcraft has a whole shelf of 1/4" blades cut a bit too long. Could it be your present saw has a very limited range of motion and shares some of the blame for the lack of tension problem? My present 20" has a range of over 2 1/2" it can accommodate, I generally get them made at 13' which is right in the middle of its range. My old Pm14 had a lot of range from hi to low, never exactly measured it. Do the olson blades have a batch or lot number on them? Perhaps you need to seek a different lot number to get a different production run? My point is its hard to bash a company as incompetent over such a small sample set, mistakes do happen, if you want to hate olson go ahead, but you have yet to convince me.

[Terry Beadle]

I have a 30 yr old Craftsman 12 incher.
I've had nothing but good results with Olson BS blades but I just use the 3 top skip tooth.

No tensioning problems and good service life. Cuts almost as well as the Wood Slicer from Highland at half the price.

That's my advice and at 2 cents...worth it! Hoot!

[Dan Hahr]

It seems that it would be pretty easy to lay the big blade down, opened up, and lay the smaller one inside of it to see how much difference in circumference there is. If you like the wah they cut, make the store replace them until you get one the right size. With that said, I buy from woodcraft bands now and am very happy.

Dan

[Phil Barrett]

It seems that it would be pretty easy to lay the big blade down, opened up, and lay the smaller one inside of it to see how much difference in circumference there is. If you like the wah they cut, make the store replace them until you get one the right size. With that said, I buy from woodcraft bands now and am very happy.

Dan

Yes, as I said earlier, that's exactly what I did and the 1/2" 93.5" blade fit inside the 1/4" 93.5" blade. I just want a set of the "same length" blades to all fit on my BS with no more than simple tension adjustment differences.

[Phil Thien]

Yes, as I said earlier, that's exactly what I did and the 1/2" 93.5" blade fit inside the 1/4" 93.5" blade. I just want a set of the "same length" blades to all fit on my BS with no more than simple tension adjustment differences.

Is it possible to quickly add/subtract some sort of shim (maybe a washer or nut or something) to the detensioning thingy to increase the blade length range?

I think getting blades that are matched length would be nice, but there is always a chance you'll need a blade in a hurry and want to get one locally, so having the ability to make quick adjustments to your saw would seem handy.

I believe places like Iturra and Woodcraftbands can weld bands to very close lengths. You just have to ask for this. I imagine most off-the-shelf blades are sized to accommodate the widest variety of saws.

[Phil Barrett]

Is it possible to quickly add/subtract some sort of shim (maybe a washer or nut or something) to the detensioning thingy to increase the blade length range?

I think getting blades that are matched length would be nice, but there is always a chance you'll need a blade in a hurry and want to get one locally, so having the ability to make quick adjustments to your saw would seem handy.

I believe places like Iturra and Woodcraftbands can weld bands to very close lengths. You just have to ask for this. I imagine most off-the-shelf blades are sized to accommodate the widest variety of saws.

Yeah, I can move the whole tensioner up or down to fit longer or shorter blades but that changes the range of tension so the shorter blade doesn't fit. I still am going to tweak this a bit, might be able to find a range that will work for both blades.