Bandsaw blade care?

[Chance Raser]

so i have the grizzly 14" (0555lx). Its great. this is the first bandsaw i have ever owned. i bought the 6" extension, it came with a 3/8" 6tpi blade. Luckily i had been searching on this site and reading about blades. i came across a great thread which discussed Lennox di-master blades. When i ordered the 6" exenstion i also ordered a 1/2", 4tpi dimaster. It arrived a week or so after the extension arrived. So obviously i put the extension on with the blade supplied from grizzly. Well i have cut some mesquite and some oak, and the blade dulled really fast.

is there any maintenance or care that should be taken to help my blades stay sharp longer? i mean the one the came with the 6" extension went dull way way way faster than i ever expected, like less than a week with minimal hobby use. maybe i was cutting too much material, maybe it had too much resin and i didnt clean it. Is that even a thing? i know the blade is gummed up right now, and tracks horribly, and you have to really push to cut anything, and it literally stalls the saw. i know the tension is set right, and it is tracking right, guides are set right. Did i do something wrong to make the blade dull super fast, or was it just a crappy blade? what dulls blades (beyond the obvious of just cutting/use/time)? i did cut some circle blanks out of the mesquite, maybe 4"-5" thick. Can feed rate dull the blade (pushing too hard)? i dont think i was, just asking.

But, the dimaster blade is awesome, cuts so nice, smooth and straight!

[Allan Speers]

A few thoughts:

1: You should always use blade lube, but that goes on the "back" side and is there more to keep the blade from overheating &/or breaking.

2: If your blade is gumming badly, are you cutting green wood, or some kind of Pine / conifer? If so, there are special blades for that.

3: You didn't say what blade came with the grizzly, but I assume it's a cheapo, and designed for general purpose cutting. It won't be ideal for resawing. (And Mesquite is VERY tough wood) Same with the Die Master: At 4 tpi, that can work but is not ideal, as there is too many teeth in the cut. Therefore you have to go very slowly, esp with a 14" saw. Otherwise you'll get excessive heat, even burning.

I suggest you buy a dedicated resew blade, and use the die master for what it was intended.

4: Not likely, but is it possible that your machine is set to run too fast? (A replaced pulley, or motor, maybe? ) That would cause excessive heat.



That's all I got. :cool:

[Van Huskey]

A bi-metal blade like the Diemaster should outlast a carbon blade 7-8 times. Mesquite is a pretty hard wood and it sounds like what you have has a lot of resin. The bottom line is one of two things killed the blade. Heat or tooth contact with the guides. Even though the M42 steel teeth of the Diemaster can handle a lot of heat when a blade gets gummed up with resin the temp goes up exponentially and can destroy the temper. The other issue is tooth contact with the guides either by the guides being too close to the teeth, too little tension on the blade or pushing to hard (or any combination of the three). Bi-metal blades like a lot of tension and the 555 should be just short of maxed out to get near where a 1/2" Diemaster likes to be tension wise. If the tention is too low it is easy to push the teeth into the guides. The side guide should be set just behind the gullets and you should avoid pushing the teeth back into the guides. Speed shouldn't be an issue, 14" saws run relatively low blade speeds compared to bigger saws, you would have to more than double their blade speed to match much larger saws and while in that case you wouldn't have as much blade to dissipate the heat it is unlikely anyone would supercharge a 14" saw like that, save maybe Louis Iturra. I personally do not use nor suggest blade lube for a wood saw as it is not needed and can impact wood finish but metal cutting is another matter when it is often used on dry cutting of non-ferrous metals.

I would check tension, guide setting and keep the blade free of resin. Solid block metal or ceramic guides help keep the blade clean but those are not a cost effective option.

PS I would normally recommend the 3tpi version of the Diemaster II for this type of work but it is only avaiable in .035 gauge backer which is too much for a 14" Delta cast clone to tension, make sure the 4tpi you get is .025 and not the .035 version. It is also possible the Diemaster doesn't have quit enough set to to clear the swarf while it works great for most green wood there are times more set is useful, Highland Woodworking sells a good carbon turners blade with a LOT of set. I honestly don;t think that is the issue though.

[Dok Yager]

Chance I agree with all said here about blade makeup and TPI. You might want to contact this gentleman to order some very nice re-saw blades form him. I have used his blades and like them a lot. I do a lot of mesquite as well as sycamore, eucalyptus, and acacia from local sources all fairly green. Clean off your blade often helps a lot too.

http://www.woodcraftbands.com/index.htm

[John K Jordan]

I use 1/2" 3 tpi blades for almost everything including green wood and dry. If I want a smoother cut I use something with more teeth/inch.

If the side of the blade gums up I clean it while running by pushing the end of a piece of maybe 1/8" or 3/16" square brass tubing into the side of the blade. This is effective and perfectly safe unless you are prone to daydreaming or talking on the cell phone while working with power tools.

A good bimetal blade will last a long time with most wood. Some wood has a high silica content and can dull a blade rapidly. For example, I got a 4" thick slab of 100 year-old walnut that had been used in a house as a mantel for generations. I mounted a new (expensive) Starrett bimetal blade on my 18" bandsaw. The blade was dulled past usefulness AFTER 18" OF CUTTING! (I still have the wood if you want some!) This is unusual for most wood, especially green wood. Some wood like root balls/burls, contain sand and rocks. Blades won't won't last long cutting through rocks. Ha.

BTW, I usually sharpen a bandsaw blade 1-3 times before I change to a new one. It takes a while with a 400 or so teeth but saves a whole bunch of money. I use a little metal-cutting disk on a dremel to sharpen. I've been doing this for maybe 15 years now.

Make sure the bearings/blocks of the upper and lower guides are set back from the teeth and be sure there is no wandering of the blade that might run the teeth into the guides. They should never touch the teeth (except in special cases such as using wood guide blocks with extremely small blades).

JKJ

[John Keeton]

Another vote for woodcraftbands.com. I have used their blades for years and they are a good value blade. Affordable, great customer service and durable.

[Bob Bouis]

Probably the blade is gummed up and not actually dull. Spray it heavily with pam (the cooking spray) while it's off, and let it soak in for a while, then just rub the gunk off. With most woods that will work. If it doesn't, use a household cleaner/degreaser like formula 409. Occasional sprayings with pam will usually keep the blade from gumming up. Just be careful spraying it onto a moving blade (don't put too much on the inner side at once). Don't use anything that might nick the blade to clean it, as even very minor damage can cause it to break eventually.

For cutting turning blanks you want as few teeth per inch as possible. My preferred blade has... one. It cuts green wood better and is a lot easier to resharpen. I always ruin the blades before they wear out, so I wouldn't bother with bimetal ones. I prefer to sharpen them with a small stone or file instead of a dremel, at least when doing the bottom of the teeth.

Cutting curves on thick wood can knock out the "set" of the teeth, which can mess things up, too.

[Reed Gray]

The blades that come with the saws are junk, and may be able to cut balsa wood for a bit. The Diemaster is a far better blade, as is just about any brand name, but I prefer the Diemasters. Different woods will do different things to the blades, and I have found walnut to be hard on turning tools, table saw blades, bandsaw blades, and chainsaw blades. I always figured that it was because walnut tends to be a bit acidic, but not positive.

I do know there is at least one book on setting up your bandsaw, and you can also go to Carter bandsaw products, and they have an excellent video on setting up your bandsaw.

Not sure what the hardened metal is on the bimetal blades. If it is M42HSS, I would think it would be like the turning tools on grinding wheels, you can't get it hot enough to lose the temper of high speed steel. That type of heat would start fires. Some woods will gum up the blades before you start to cut, or at least it seems that way. Some no gumming at all... Just because.

robo hippy

[Roger Chandler]

Chance, as you know I also have the Grizzly G0555LX with the riser kit on it. I disagree with the above statement that this saw cannot properly tension a .032 thickness blade. I use the Woodturners blades from Highland Hardware which are 3/8" wide, 3 tpi, and .032 thickness. They also have a wider teeth set to clear the kerf, especially in green wood. I have had my current blade on the saw for a year now, and it still cuts great. I cut some maple just a few days ago which was big and with proper feed rates, the saw cut beautifully.

The particular blade I have on it now is from Carter, and is their green wood blade, pretty much the same as the Highland Woodturners blade in tpi and blade thickness. I bought this blade at the Virginia Symposium 2 years ago at their vendors booth.

My G0555LX has handled the .032 blades without any issues whatsoever.

[Van Huskey]

Chance, as you know I also have the Grizzly G0555LX with the riser kit on it. I disagree with the above statement that this saw cannot properly tension a .032 thickness blade. I use the Woodturners blades from Highland Hardware which are 3/8" wide, 3 tpi, and .032 thickness.

First, the Highland blade is a carbon steel blade and needs about 15,000psi which is only 60% of the tension required to properly tension a Diemaster II. Second strain is dependant on cross section not width alone so the 3/8 x .032" blade has a significantly smaller cross section.

Which strain gauge do you use that you get ANY Delta or Delta cast clone to put 25,000psi plus on a 1/2" x .035 blade? The average 3/8" x .025 blade takes about 205 pounds of pressure to hit 25,000 psi. A 1/2 x .035" 3 tpi Diemaster needs right at 430 pounds of pressure to get to 25,000 psi. This is beyond even the aftermarket high pressure springs.

The Highland blade you use is not an apples to apples comparison and takes much less pressure to get to its proper tension. While a blade may cut acceptably at below optimum tension doing this does not get the best out of the blade nor the saw.


BTW before anyone gets the idea to have a custom spring wound for 600 pounds for one of the 14" Delta or clone saws be aware you will likely bend or break the stock tracking arm, it is the achilles heel of the Delta saws, don;t forget it was designed in the 40s with a 1/4" blade in mind. Iturra developed a stringer tracking arm replacement some years ago but I don;t know if he still sells them, IIRC he felt comfortable with them up to about 400 pounds.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

so i have the grizzly 14" (0555lx). Its great. this is the first bandsaw i have ever owned. i bought the 6" extension, it came with a 3/8" 6tpi blade. Luckily i had been searching on this site and reading about blades. i came across a great thread which discussed Lennox di-master blades. When i ordered the 6" exenstion i also ordered a 1/2", 4tpi dimaster. It arrived a week or so after the extension arrived. So obviously i put the extension on with the blade supplied from grizzly. Well i have cut some mesquite and some oak, and the blade dulled really fast.

is there any maintenance or care that should be taken to help my blades stay sharp longer? i mean the one the came with the 6" extension went dull way way way faster than i ever expected, like less than a week with minimal hobby use. maybe i was cutting too much material, maybe it had too much resin and i didnt clean it. Is that even a thing? i know the blade is gummed up right now, and tracks horribly, and you have to really push to cut anything, and it literally stalls the saw. i know the tension is set right, and it is tracking right, guides are set right. Did i do something wrong to make the blade dull super fast, or was it just a crappy blade? what dulls blades (beyond the obvious of just cutting/use/time)? i did cut some circle blanks out of the mesquite, maybe 4"-5" thick. Can feed rate dull the blade (pushing too hard)? i dont think i was, just asking.

But, the dimaster blade is awesome, cuts so nice, smooth and straight!

Chance I would blame the low quality of the blade that came with your bandsaw for the quick dulling of it.

I also have a 14” bandsaw with a riser, a Delta clone made in Taiwan, I normally run a 1/2” blade with 3 TPI, it is the heavier wood turners blade with a wider set for wet wood cutting, no problems with using a blade like that on a 14” saw.

Some wood can dull a blade faster than normal and if you cut wet conifer wood like I did a couple of months ago, it will load up, I got rid of most of it with a piece of dry Oak held to both sides of the blade, the rest came off with cutting dry hardwood later on.

When my blade get dull I do sharpen it, I can resharpen a blade a couple of times before the blade will break, it is quite fast and makes the blade cut as good as new of even better.

A dremel tool with a cutoff blade will work fine, I start cutting at the weld and work my way around, probably takes a good 10 minutes, (never timed it though, I just do it), point the dremel straight at the blade and just touch the top of the tooth, that’s all it takes to sharpen it., picture might help.

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[Van Huskey]

Let me try to make sure everyone understands what I am saying by using the bane of modern forums: the car anology.


Lets say you drop into your friendly neighborhood Porsche dealer and by some miracle they have a shiney new GT3 RS in signature Lava Orange and by an even greater miracle they let you test drive it. Say the car has Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires designed to perform optimally at 36psi but unknown to you the dealers air compressor only goes up to 25psi. It is absolutely possible you could go out and drive it like Sabine Schmitz on the Nurburgring and come back thinking the the turn-in was scapel like and the traction through the off camber high speed turns was terrific. That is all possible and quite frankly likely BUT if they pump the tires up to the correct 36psi and send you back out to drive it like you stole it you will likely see a difference. It is the same with bandsaw blades they have an optimum operating tension and the thicker and wider (area) the blade is the more absolute pressure required for a given tension. So while the car can get you from A to B in a very short time even with low tire pressure it doesn't mean it is optimal and possible to have gotten better results with a smaller tire at the correct pressure for the tire and at lower pressure the car doesn't perform at its best and the tires don't last as long.

The thing is not getting hung up on wide blades, wider blades are made for one reason, beam strength, if you can't get full tension on a blade you are shooting yourself in the foot. If you haven't used a strain gauge to tension the blade you honestly don't know the tension (you only need to measure once for a given blade cross section as long as you record the reding from the scale). Yes, you can get away without measuring but why would you?

PS I should add that there are times when the availability of blade gauge, tpi, set and/or tooth type will dictate a compromise between proper tension and best blade geometry for the job, this is expecially true for 14" saws of all designs and finding the best compromise may take some experimentation.

[John K Jordan]

... if you can't get full tension on a blade you are shooting yourself in the foot. If you haven't used a strain gauge to tension the blade you honestly don't know the tension (you only need to measure once for a given blade cross section as long as you record the reding from the scale). Yes, you can get away without measuring but why would you?


I used to tighten blades according to the markings on the bandsaw tensioner. When I bought a bandsaw blade tension gauge I quickly discovered those marks are worthless. Those on the 14" Delta were WAY off. To get the proper tension required tightening far more than indicated, even on my larger 18" bandsaw.

Not knowing any better, I tried to use some larger blades on the little saw and found they could not physically be tensioned properly even with a high-tension spring upgrade. And as someone mentioned, proper tensioning of some blades can actually damage the smaller bandsaws. The cast bracket on my little Delta deformed badly and had to be replaced. This is such a common problem that Iturra Design carries improved replacement brackets for Jet and Delta 14" saws.

For those interested in the best bandsaw performance, a tension gauge is helpful. There are other ways people use and sometimes swear by, such as looking at flutter and plucking the blade and listening to the sound. These are subject to interpretation but the gauge is precise. I bought a Starrett gauge but there are cheaper gauges available - Iturra Design carries some, or at least used to.

JKJ

[Roger Chandler]

I appreciate the info Van has supplied, and do not dispute most of it. Perhaps since the Diemaster blades require so much more tension than a 14" class saw can deliver, then they might not be the best option for Chance's particular saw? With the 3/8" blade width, the Grizzly G0555LX does a superb job. I also have a large steel framed Jet 18" saw, and most of the time I use the Grizz. BTW, that G0555LX has the best tensioning/detensioning system of any 14" class saw I have ever used, and I have used Delta's, Delta clones, Powermatics and Jets. It is a sliding cam system, where 2 cams work against each other, and put the proper amount of tension on the blade. Properly set, the thing is smooth, fairly quiet and cuts without drift.

[Van Huskey]

Roger, not my original point was that he had made the better choice within the Diemaster II family for the saw. As everyone knows here the keys to a good BS blade for cutting blanks (particularly green) is low TPI, lots of set and enough cross section to have adequate beam strength while being narrow enough to navigate the curves one needs. The important part is not getting sucked into trying to use a blade that is "too much" for a particular saw. Honestly, I think Chance's choice was about as good as someone could make balancing all the criteria, I may have mucked that up trying to point out for others there is a "better" Diemaster choice if a particular saw can tension it.

The root issue remains, we have a guy who (unless he has a much bigger pile of blanks cut than I see in my head) has a blade that should have lasted much longer than it did. Unless the mequite was a mutant strain (it is hard but not Ipe or Lignum Vitae), had an unusually high silica content or full or gravel and metal there is something else at work. It really comes down to either heat or mechanical deformation of the teeth possibly from guide contact but we need more information.

As to what John said about bandsaw tension scales I agree the ones marked in blade width are useless and border on insanity. There is not one tension (note the scale is indicating absolute pression not tension anyway) for all blades. Woodcutting blades have optimal tension from around 13K psi ti 30k psi so one 1/2" blade may take twice as much tension to work as designed as another. Further, tension decreases (with the same spring pressure) as the blade cross section gets larger, so two of the same type blades with different cross sections will need potentially vast differences in spring pressure to bring them into their optimum range. So a user should ignore the numbers on the scale, determine your blades proper tension, put it on the saw and use some method of strain measurement (you don;t need a Starrett or Lenox strain gauge, though they are nice and I won't give you mine, you almost surely have tools to measure strain in your workshop, just Google homemade bandsaw tension) to determine the correct tension, then log this for future reference. In the future all you have to do for the same type and size of blade is bring the saws scale back to the same mark.

In a related arena we are coming up on the tenth anniversary of the worst bandsaw article ever written. It has been about ten years since Duginski and Gesicki wrote what appeared to be the definative article on bandsaw tension for the hobby and they were more or less 100% wrong in their conclusion, causing Louis Iturra to basically lose his mind. Their conclusion was basically use the tension scale on the saw for the width of the blade, Iturra's response was some of the best bandsaw tension science ever provided to the hobby community and is what I am echoing here. In the end you have to TEACH the correct science and best practices and leave it to the student to learn if and when she or he can "cheat", or at least let them know when you are teaching them to cheat.

As a final note this discussion has (or should have) nothing to do with the color of paint on a saw, all these Delta and clone saws are similar enough in design and execution to be lumped together in this discussion, set up correctly one can get essentially the same work from a Harbor Freight 14" BS as they can from a vintage Delta.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

My thought on this is that there are thousands of these Delta and cloned bandsaws around, and people have used these with great success, each and every day.

With or without special tension scales, and of course the OP was only asking if he needed to do something special so that the blade would last longer than it did.

And I would think that the “free blade” that came with the saw was made from inferior metal as seems to be the experience of many that got a blade with their new saw that did not cut well and dulled prematurely.

He has a new blade, and is happy with it, time will tell if that blade last as long as expected., and species of wood cut, being wet or dry with or without silica in it, will always make a difference.

[Chance Raser]

Wow thanks for the over whelming responses guys. Took me nearly half an hour to read through and digest them! Great info.

Some of the questions and some take aways:
The mesquite was definitely green, not sure about silica content, but i don't believe it was any mutant. I do not have a pile of blanks, it was more like 4, 12" dia. It was also definitely resinous

346591

I had the new grizzly supplied blade tensioned per the marks on the saw and the grizzly suggestion. Everyone has pointed out how wrong those marks are so I will be buying/making a tension gauge once I look into them.

The teeth never got into the guides, they show no sign of that and i believe the guides were set well.

346594

It looks like it was a double alternating (I think is what it's called, l,r,l,r, raker).

After all this reading I am going to soak the blade and see if it cleans up and is dull or not. Looking at the blade it is obvious that it is caked with crap and saw some heat. I have a dremmel and may try to sharpen at a later date depending on how the dimaster holds up.

There dimaster I got is 0.025

I looked up that Webster suggested for blades and will surely buy from there, I am in need of a small blade to cut bandsaw boxes with.

Thanks for all the help, insight and knowledge.

[Van Huskey]

My thought on this is that there are thousands of these Delta and cloned bandsaws around, and people have used these with great success, each and every day.

With or without special tension scales, and of course the OP was only asking if he needed to do something special so that the blade would last longer than it did.

And I would think that the “free blade” that came with the saw was made from inferior metal as seems to be the experience of many that got a blade with their new saw that did not cut well and dulled prematurely.

He has a new blade, and is happy with it, time will tell if that blade last as long as expected., and species of wood cut, being wet or dry with or without silica in it, will always make a difference.

There are also millions of people that never check the air in their tires and get from point A to point B but unless they get lucky and the tire pressure stays the same and was set correctly to begin with they aren't getting the most out of their car or the tires. It baffles me people don't care about using machines and tooling to their best benefit.

One doesn't need a bandsaw blade strain gauge to determine tension on the blade, thanks to Young's modulus all one needs is a caliper and a pair of C-clamps and the right formula, so maybe the calculator on one's phone. He did ask for advice about how to make a blade last longer, proper tension is one of those ways.



More directly to the OP. Don't fret over the blade that came with the saw, they are almost always garbage no matter the brand of the saw, keeping it clean of pitch may have made it last a little longer but don't sweat it. The Lenox should last MUCH longer but don't let the pitch build up on it either. Also no need to buy a Lenox or Starrett strain gauge (unless you just want one) they will cost more than half what your saw did and are mainly for convenience. As long as you have a set of calipers and a pair of C clamps you can measure the elongation of the blade over a set distance and with a little math get a very close idea of the tension. Mathias at Woodgears.ca does it a little different (as in he actually builds a gauge) but he also explains the science and does the math.

In any event besides setting the proper tension (or as close as you can get) I don't think you need to be concerned about anything else. If the teeth never contact the guides and you keep pitch buildup to a minimum you will get what you paid for from the blade. That said I didn't see anything pitch wise in the picture that tells me you smoked the blade, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a non-hardened spring steel blade.


BTW similar to a broken clock in the right circumstances the tension markings on the saw can be correct for a specific blade, but then it won't be correct for other thicknesses or types of the same width blade, even different tpi will vary the needed tension since it is not the nominal width of the blade put the width from the bottom of the gullet to the back of the blade that determines effective cross section (in the case of a variable pitch measure from the bottom of the gullet closest to the back of the blade). Blade tension scales are a rather new "feature" on bandsaws, the older ones did not have them they are there simply as a short hand but provides a false sense of security.

[Ron Rutter]

Wow. How did a simple subject end up getting such a serious/ highly technical response!! If it is too loose it will likely break. If it is too tight, it will likely break & could deform the top arm..... Cheers.
By the way i feel a .032" blade is the better choice for the job at hand. R.

[John Keeton]

On my Grizzly G0513x2 17" bandsaw, I use a 3/8" 4S .025 blade from woodcraftbands.com and tension it using the flutter method. I get very good cuts, and it is a good all around blade. I can resaw fairly thick wood with it and so long as I don't get into something that messes up the tracking, I get a long life from it. At $14.75 per blade, I don't fool with sharpening.

Were I doing precision cabinet work, I might feel differently, but for turning the above works very well. I have been woodworking for 50 years, and have built several pieces of furniture. While I think Van's comment are accurate, I guess I am just happy with an acceptable level of mediocrity. Perhaps a tension gauge might be something to consider.

[Roger Chandler]

Were I doing precision cabinet work, I might feel differently, but for turning the above works very well. I have been woodworking for 50 years, and have built several pieces of furniture. While I think Van's comment are accurate, I guess I am just happy with an acceptable level of mediocrity.

I could not agree more with your statement, John. Having built both kitchen and bath cabinetry and a number of tables, bookcases and other pieces of furniture, there are times when resawing requires a good blade. I always planned my resaw boards after splitting it for book matched panels anyway. I have 1.25" 3 tpi blades for my large 18" Jet, and have found that for a lot of resawing, I can use the 3/8" Woodturners blades from Highland hardware to very good results. While the 1.25" blades do have more spine, the .032 Woodturners blades on either of my saws do not drift. Of course, I am a stickler on precision, so I set up my saws right, and try to optimize the performance. I have used the flutter method to good effect, and make sure there is absolutely proper support from the roller bearings, with no side pressure against the blade. It is fussy setting them up that way, but my saws run true.

While no tension gauge was used, I think my results speak for themselves, and are much better than mediocrity! One kitchen remodel I did for my parents involved some scroll work for the 2 window valances that connected the upper cabinetry on either side of the windows, and had to be pretty precise. In that instance, I used a 1/4", 10 tpi blade for the curves and valleys, as a smooth surface was needed to minimize the sanding needed on the valances. They turned out beautifully.

For turning blanks, the flutter method will be plenty precise enough, and give good results...........that is providing one does not over engineer their saw with a blade it cannot tension properly. No disputes with the knowledgeable information provided by Van......just more than one way to get to the same destination.

[Marty Schlosser]

One of the best books on bandsaws I've found is "The New Complete Guide to the Band Saw" by Mark Duginske. Athought I don't agree with everything he states in his book, it's head and shoulders above anything else on the subject that I've read.

[Van Huskey]

One of the best books on bandsaws I've found is "The New Complete Guide to the Band Saw" by Mark Duginske. Athought I don't agree with everything he states in his book, it's head and shoulders above anything else on the subject that I've read.

Mark's book is great, probably the best one out there, especially since he explores beyond the 14" saws. Lonnie Bird's book is also good but a little dated but more focused on the small saws. Roland Johnson's book may be the best illustrated and anyone with a 14" Delta or clone (or really anyone that uses a bandsaw) must read Louis Ittura's catalog which is as much manual for the 14" cast saws as it is a catalog. One thing you will notice when you digest all of the above along with the various articles on bandsaws is there is still a decent amount of contention between the writers. Mark made a lot of waves with his 2007 article in IIRC American Woodworker which made some pretty bold statements and many of the conclusions were based on good enough vs giving accurate information and letting the reader decide what is good enough for them, Louis wrote extensively about this. If one is to own only one bandsaw book Duginski's is the one to buy.

Getting back to the matter at hand I will point out this was a thread about blade care and blade longevity. While one can get into the accuracy of cuts it isn't the focus and blank roughing on the bandsaw is one of those cuts that blade wallow or barrelling of the cut is pretty much a non-issue, where cutting tall 1/32" veneer it is a big deal. The key here is correct tension gets the most life out of a blade. Too high is bad and too low is bad for different reasons. Correct tension will extend the life of the blade over low tension in two ways, the prevention of twist and wallow will reduce the friction on the blade and a blade with low tension will "act" duller than a blade with proper tension so it effectively lasts longer. The engineers at bandsaw companies didn't just make up the tension numbers, there is real engineering behind it. I have tested the spring pressures on over a dozen cast clones from 6 different manufacturers with a load cell as well as a tension gauge. Note while the load cell is more accurate my load cell only works with bandsaws that do not have a quick release since they balance the load on two spots at the top of the yoke vs one spot at the bottom, but the load cell has always been closely correlated with the strain gauge so I feel comfortable with either method. What I found is the max band loading (vs spring loading) was between 145 and 290 pounds for stock springs and around the mid-300s for aftermarket "high tension springs". Doing the math it leaves pretty much all 5/8" and above blades undertensioned at the maximum setting and many more narrow blades undertensioned as well, depending on the type and thickness (gauge). This isn't that big a deal since they will in most cases still give an acceptable cut but it often means a thinner blade will actually give a better cut and last longer. The Diemaster II is still my choice for work like blank cutting, it has enough set and kerf and will outlast carbon blades by 7-8 times but I would suggest avoiding anything wider than 1/2" or thicker than .025". I am not disputing someone can get acceptable results with an undertensioned blade it is just one can do better with the correctly tensioned blade and anyone concerned about accuracy, precision and longevity will do themselves a favor by developing a precise and repeatable method for accurate tension.

[John K Jordan]

If one is to own only one bandsaw book Duginski's is the one to buy.


I have Duginski's original and updated book and Lonnie Bird's book (plus Iturra's catalog book). I have learned a lot from all of these - rather than take one person's viewpoint as The Final Word I like to compare what each says. Same with woodturning and other books.

BTW, Lonnie is local and seems like a really nice guy. I plan to take him up on an invitation to visit.

JKJ

[Van Huskey]

I have Duginski's original and updated book and Lonnie Bird's book (plus Iturra's catalog book). I have learned a lot from all of these - rather than take one person's viewpoint as The Final Word I like to compare what each says. Same with woodturning and other books.

BTW, Lonnie is local and seems like a really nice guy. I plan to take him up on an invitation to visit.

JKJ

I really wish Louis had or would write a book, he has by far the most engineer-centric approach to the issues. Mark has a lot of conclusions but has never shared his methodology which means I can't attempt to reproduce his findings and some of his conclusions like the tension meter on bandsaws are adequate completely ignores the diffence in blade gauge and the large differences in manufacturer recommended tension for different blades. I had one big issue with Louis' hypothesis BUT he gave enough information that I was able to repeat his experiment and reproduce his results (within reasonable batch error). I do have a bee in my bonnet in the area of tension but it is the one machine where we are asking flexible tooling to perform like rigid tooling and the only way for this to happen is with significant tension.

[Steve Peterson]

A few thoughts:

1: You should always use blade lube, but that goes on the "back" side and is there more to keep the blade from overheating &/or breaking.



Allan,

Can you expand on this comment? I have never used blade lube and expect it would rub off really quickly from all the sawdust. My bandsaw has sealed roller bearings for guides. Would blade lube be more useful with coolblocks? Or is it to keep the blade cool as it passes through the wood? How often do you need to re-apply it?

thanks
Steve

[Van Huskey]

Allan,

Can you expand on this comment? I have never used blade lube and expect it would rub off really quickly from all the sawdust. My bandsaw has sealed roller bearings for guides. Would blade lube be more useful with coolblocks? Or is it to keep the blade cool as it passes through the wood? How often do you need to re-apply it?

thanks
Steve


Blade lube is for metal cutting, I have never seen it recommended for wood cutting.

[Doug Rasmussen]

Boy, you guys really analyze things.

Years ago in a former life I built a power feeder for a 14" Delta bandsaw. We were cutting 1/8" thick slats of 8/4 hard maple. The original motor was replaced with a 2hp version, probably didn't need that much power, but it needed more than the original 1/2hp motor the saw came with. I bought blades and still buy from a local saw shop, just tell them what I'm cutting (wood or metal). They have rolls of blade material for most any use, blades are welded as needed. I recall tensioning the blades way beyond the marked scale, there was something about too light tension that became very obvious during cutting (don't remember exactly what it was). Blade heat was not anything I was aware of.

The main concern for my setup was life of the saw's tires. Back then the only option were the original Delta replacements of rubber. The lower tire took a beating pulling the blades through the wood at a relatively high feed rate. We would release tension on the blade over an extended idle time, the rubber deformed if left sitting with high tension on it for much more than overnight.

Regarding tension, I would think the 14's with a height extension would not handle near the amount of tension as un-heightened models. It seems the flex of a saw's frame under tension would correspond to cantilever beam deflection. Deflection of such is proportional to length to the third power so doubling the frame height equals 8 times the deflection under the same loading.

[Bob Bouis]

Blade lube is for metal cutting, I have never seen it recommended for wood cutting.
I assume you're talking about certain commercial lubricants, but I think he wanted to know about lubrication in general.

My answer would be that many people say it's not necessary to lubricate upright bandsaws, they're generally talking about cutting dry wood. Green wood is a different story. Bandsaw mills almost always use lubrication -- whether it be water, chainsaw bar oil, etc. It's usually just dumped on the inside of the blade. It does lubricate, but what it really does is keeps the blade from getting gunked up.

I posted about using pam on upright bandsaws, earlier, and it does work, with the caveats that you need to be careful applying it to the inside of the blade because the stuff fizzes. You would need to reapply it periodically, every couple minutes.