Highland Woodworking Carbide Band Saw Blade Opinions

[les winter]

Highland Woodworking offers a carbide tipped band saw blade. It's a no-name house brand. Does anyone know anything about it? Any users care to opine?

thanks.

[Matt Day]

How does the price compare to a resaw king or similar?

[Van Huskey]

First, it is a new addition so nobody can give a long term use report, maybe someone has an initial impression. While they don't list it, more than likely the stock is made by one of the major band manufacturers.

In the end the price is about 10% less than a comparable Lenox blade (Highland only offers 1/2 and 3/4" in the new blade). I personally can't see experimenting on an unknown for that level of savings when there doesn't seem to be anything novel or unique about the blade, I say this since carbide bands tend to hang around a while and although they are consumable they aren't like sandpaper. Hopefully someone will be the guinea pig and let us know.

[lowell holmes]

I have confidence in Highland Woodworking. I've purchased band saw blades from them. I've had no issues with them. They were not carbide blades.

[Van Huskey]

I have confidence in Highland Woodworking. I've purchased band saw blades from them. I've had no issues with them. They were not carbide blades.

Highland Woodworking is great (one of the best brick and mortar stores if you don't care about stationary machines), the only issue is they tend to charge a premium for their blades. The Woodslicer is an great blade (understanding its limitations) but Iturra and Spectrum Supply sell the same blade stock for significantly less money. I will try to swing by there my next visit to Atlanta (within the month) and see if I can get a look at one and query the staff, they mention a "Unique" triple chip grind so I would like to look at the teeth and compare it to a Trimaster which they also sell, the Trimaster also has a TCG but there indeed may be a difference.

[les winter]

Thanks for the replies.

[Curt Harms]

I was curious so went to highlandwoodworking.com and looked at bandsaw blades. They show 1/2" & 3/4" trimaster bands. The 1/2" bands are .025" thickness, I wonder if they'd work on 14" cast iron band saws - would the tension be adequate?

[les winter]

FWIW, Highland advises that the blade is made by Diamond. They can get it re-welded if it breaks on the weld.

I decided to call Louis Iturra at Iturra Design 904-642-2802. He tried to talk me out of the more expensive carbide (Lenox Tri Master) and into a less costly bi-metal blade, but I decided to go with the Tri Master.

Lou says he will reweld it if the weld fails and repair it if it gets damaged. I suppose that means within reason.

I feel comfortable with the decision. $144 for 1/2" 0.025 x 105".

Curt: the 0.025" thickness is ok for a 14" saw. I have used that thickness in many other blades w/o problem. I have never broken a weld. No tension problems either.

[Van Huskey]

I was curious so went to highlandwoodworking.com and looked at bandsaw blades. They show 1/2" & 3/4" trimaster bands. The 1/2" bands are .025" thickness, I wonder if they'd work on 14" cast iron band saws - would the tension be adequate?

I will assume you are talking about a 14" cast Delta clone.

The 14" wheel should not give much of an issue, the small crowned wheels do offer a challenge to a thick blade but the .025" backer on the 1/2" Trimaster is reasonably flexible and likely won't cause any fatigue cracks over the life of the blade.

The springs on these clones (and the Deltas themselves) vary a lot, some provide more pressue than others, so it is impossible to say exactly how much tension you can get on the blade.

Without knowing which exact saw and which exact spring is in a Delta or clone it is hard to say exactly how much tension you can get on a 1/2" .025" blade, on average you can get about 12,000 psi on a 1/2" blade, some a little more some a little less. This is actually less than half the tension required for the blade to operate in the optimum range but many people are satisfied with that and even run thin 3/4" carbide blades (suck as the Resaw King) on a Delta or clone. In the end it is simply not getting the best out of the blade. Note some people add aftermarket springs in order to get more tension but you run into two potential issues there. The first is the Delta tracking arm is the saws weak spot and can be broken or bent with an increase in pressure in the tension assembly. The second is the increase in tension can result in too much deflection in the spine, made worse if there is a riser block on the saw. My suggestion is avoid the potential issues of an aftermarket spring and run what it brung. Just keep in mind the saw was designed to run 1/4" and smaller blades over the years we have ask them to do more and more and the strength of the saw has actually gone down.

Finally, people do get acceptable results from the combination of carbide tipped blades and 14" Deltas and the clones but it is just not optimum for either the saw nor the blade.

[les winter]

Just checking back in to report that the tri-master works great. My Delta 14" is equipped with an Iturra spring which appears to tension the blade quite well. I am very happy to own the tri-master. It resaws domestic hardwoods smoothly and accurately. In my opinion it is far smoother than a new Woodslicer.

thanks for all the helpful input.