Bandsaw blade width

[William C Rogers]

I have a 14" Jet bandsaw, 1hp. I mainly use this for resaw/bowl roughing for the lathe. My question is what width can I use? Will this bandsaw handle a 3/4" or should I use a 1/2" blade?

[glenn bradley]

Green or dry? For dry I run 1/2" blades on my 17" saw. I have run 5/6" and 3/4" but, find no improvement from the 1/2" bands for resawing. If I were roughing out bowl blanks I would run 1/4" or a 3/8" low tooth count band.

[Van Huskey]

Normally, bowl roughing is done with a 1/2" or 3/8" blade and if the blanks are wet then you need a blade with a lot of set like the 3/8" Highland woodturners blade. For general information remember a blade is not just 2 dimensional so not only does the width play a part in what blade a saw can tension but also the thickness or gauge of the blade. In general if you want to run a 3/4" blade on those saws it should be very thin, say .022", otherwise use a 1/2" blade.

[William C Rogers]

Thanks Glenn and Van. I found a new 1/2" Laguna 3 tpi i didn't know I had. I can put it on now and will look up the woodturners 3/8" blade when I need to change.