Bandsaw Blade suggestion

[Justin Rapp]

I am looking for a suggestion on a bandsaw blade for my Laguna 14BX. I have a luguna 5/8 blade that I bought with the machine that is great at just breaking down boards and some lighter resaw work.

I am looking for:

1) A blade for tighter curve cuts, such as cutting out letters, almost scroll-work.
2) A blade for medium curve cuts, such as as a long arch across a board
3) Something for resawing - my choice here is a Laguna resaw king, but I am thinking there are some other great options out there.


The machine can work with 1/8 to 3/4 blades, 115" (9' 7") long.


Also if you could suggest a company to purchase from that specializes in bandsaw blades that you've had good personal experience with.

Thanks in advance

[Matt Day]

Justin,
Do some searching about bandsaw blades here on SMC. There are tons of threads about it. Pay attention to what Van Huskey says.

[Zac wingert]

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149862-Lets-talk-bandsaw-blades!

[Justin Rapp]

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149862-Lets-talk-bandsaw-blades!

Great write-up. So I was thinking the silicon/sweedish steel was the way to go - no so much anymore. uggg....

[Earl McLain]

Just make sure you correct that typo in the first post...115" is 9' 7", would be a stretch to be 48" too short!!
I agree on listening to Van!!
earl

[Justin Rapp]

Earl,

Thanks for the catch on my typo. I've fixed it.

Looks like Lenox is a big favorite. I'll need to do some research on the brand.

[Phillip Gregory]

I am looking for a suggestion on a bandsaw blade for my Laguna 14BX. I have a luguna 5/8 blade that I bought with the machine that is great at just breaking down boards and some lighter resaw work.

I am looking for:

1) A blade for tighter curve cuts, such as cutting out letters, almost scroll-work.
2) A blade for medium curve cuts, such as as a long arch across a board
3) Something for resawing - my choice here is a Laguna resaw king, but I am thinking there are some other great options out there.


The machine can work with 1/8 to 3/4 blades, 115" (9' 7") long.


Also if you could suggest a company to purchase from that specializes in bandsaw blades that you've had good personal experience with.

Thanks in advance

1) A 1/8" width fine pitched blade will work well for this, 20-24 TPI.

2) A 1/4" width blade with the TPI dependent on the thickness of the stock you use. You want between 3 and 20 teeth in the wood. If you do a lot of work with 3/4" thick stock, I'd recommend 6 TPI.

3) A 1/2" width 3 TPI blade is the standard for smaller saws for resawing. If you really want to wrestle a hard to fit blade on your saw, a 3/4" wide 2-3 variable pitch bimetal or carbide-tipped blade will work well but you will swear every time you have to remove it or put it on the saw. Since you are essentially saying your bandsaw will be used for many different tasks from "almost scrollsaw" work to resawing, you will be changing blades with some frequency. 1/2" wide 0.025" thick blades are MUCH nicer to work with than 3/4" 0.032" thick blades unless you have a saw many sizes larger than what you do.

Magnate has a wide selection of blade stock they will weld and I have had good experience with them. Also, I live near Springfield, MO and Grizzly sells a lot of blades. Great service and they have a bunch of blades in stock for saws they don't sell, but the prices are a little higher than most.