Bandsaw blade choice

[Jonathan Jung]

For my Felder 24" I want a blade that will be 90% rip 10% resaw. It will be used primarily for breaking down solid wood and general use. Perhaps occasional large and thick curve pieces? I have another saw for general curve work. I was thinking a 1" Woodmaster CT 2tpi. The saw can handle 1-1/4" but I'm not sure if it's necessary? What kind of finish could I expect from that blade? At $200 I'd rather not just try on one for size.

[Jim Becker]

That's a good choice, IMHO, for most of what you want to do. I don't know I'd cut anything curved with that blade unless it was a very, very gentle one. But for ripping, resaw, etc., you will likely be pretty happy. The finish will be good, but also dependent on steady feed...nature of the beast. It will not be table saw, ready to glue in most cases, however...also nature of the beast.

[Phillip Mitchell]

I have had a Woodmaster CT 1.3 tpi on my 20” Italian saw since early last summer and have yet to take it off and use the saw quite a bit for both ripping and resawing mostly but also for larger radius curved work from time to time. Probably not the best choice for curved work but at the same time it definitely works down to a certain radius range, even if you have to do some extra relief cuts. I have noticed no degradation of cut quality in the last year + and am extremely happy with it. Worth every penny and will replace it with another whenever the time comes.

I would personally go 1” x 1.3 tpi if you plan to do any real resawing combined with some mixed use. I don’t see much advantage of going 1 1/4” short of a dedicated resaw setup and even then probably not necessary on a saw that size. 1.3 will resaw better / faster and leaves a cut quality that is very very good.

I’m sure others will chime in; it’s the best choice for a carbide tipped bandsaw blade, IMO.

Edit - some photos below of what I could find on my phone. Not the best examples but some resawing - one of them was ~10” wide Black Locust. The chair seat front edge photo is what a rough / quick cross grain cut looks like and cleans up fairly easy with either spokeshave / plane or orbital sander.

The biggest factor I have found on “quality of cut” when resawing is more dependent on feed pressure / consistency. The best results will obviously comes from the aid of a wheeled power feeder. I have seen close up photos of power-fed resawing and carbide tipped blades where you could barely even see the saw marks. My stuff is all hand fed at this point.

[Patrick Kane]

My resaw king is 2-3 tpi and 1". I actually think the resaw king is variable tooth per inch... Anyway, i agree that you dont need the widest blade that your saw can handle. If anything, i would go narrower than 1" if you are mostly ripping and doing thick curves. Ripping 8/4 hardwood isnt too demanding on blade rigidity. Ive never used a woodmaster CT, but i know everyone has great things to say about them. I think you can expect a rougher finish than resaw king, which has almost zero tooth set. I think you will appreciate the faster cut of the woodmaster. And, your saw is beefy enough that it wont need the benefit of the smaller kerf of the resaw king.

If you arent sawing green wood, dirty wood, or reclaimed wood, then i think you will love a carbide blade. I realize they are expensive, but totally worth it.

[Tom M King]

The Woodmaster is not available less than 1" wide. I also recommend the 1.3 TPI, and that's all I use on my 24" too. I've never used their 2 tooth blade, but never needed anything smoother than the 1.3 can do. It's as smooth as a RK on my 14" saw ever was. The 2 tooth may be better if you are going to be cutting thin stuff, but any wood pretty much parts out of fear of the 1.3.

[John TenEyck]

The 1" x 1.3 tpi Woodmaster CT is hard to beat. It will resaw like a maniac, and rip and cut gentle curves without complaint by it or you. It's substantially cheaper than the 2 tpi version, and far cheaper than the RK. Cut quality is shockingly good.

Patrick, CT blades have no set. The kerf is created by the tooth being slightly wider than the thickness of the band. Because they have no set it's possible to resharpen them with a simple diamond disk and jig, which I have done on mine using a jig first shown by Derek Cohen. And that makes the CT a genuine bargain.

John

[Jared Sankovich]

Another vote for the Woodmaster 1.3tpi.

[Andrew Hughes]

I have the 1.3 woodmaster and the 2 t woodmaster. Just as we should expect the 2 t resaws a little bit slower but leaves a very nice surface right up there with resaw king.
Ive grown to like 3 or 4 t regular carbon steel blades for ripping 8/4 rough. My blade 14 ft 10 inches. They last very long time and only cost me 27 bucks from my saw service.
Good Luck

[Kevin Jenness]

I like my Woodmaster CT for resawing, but for general use (busting up lumber and cutting moderate curves) I use a 3 tpi hook tooth 1/2" blade, either bimetal (Diemaster 2) or carbon steel (Flexback). The carbide blades are a bit pricy to take the chance of hitting a foreign object or derailing for any reason.

[Andrew Hughes]

I like my Woodmaster CT for resawing, but for general use (busting up lumber and cutting moderate curves) I use a 3 tpi hook tooth 1/2" blade, either bimetal (Diemaster 2) or carbon steel (Flexback). The carbide blades are a bit pricy to take the chance of hitting a foreign object or derailing for any reason.

I also like the Diemaster 2. The last one I ordered several months ago took far too long to arrive It had a weird sounding cut and surface. After careful inspection I noticed it had 3 welds.
Im going stay small until the lunatics are no longer running the insane asylum.
Strange days

[Tom M King]

I also keep a regular steel blade for questionable cuts, but I've had it long enough to forget what type it is. I never have anything but a 1" blade on the 24" saw. Sort of like needing enough routers to hold the router bits you have, you need enough bandsaws to have one for each size blade.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I'm also putting in a thumbs up for the Lenox Woodmaster CT blade.
I bought a 24" bandsaw from a fellow SMC member and he had the 1" carbide toothed blade along with several others. I haven't taken the Lenox blade off and it cuts everything like butter!

As others indicated the finish isn't glue up ready or close to that. However, a little planer cleanup and everything is good. I would be surprised if there is another blade that will give better results and was surprised at how well this blade works.

[Mark e Kessler]

I have the 1” woodmaster 1.3 tpi i use it if i have a lot of resawing to do but typ leave a 1/2” woodslicer 2/4 tpi on, it resaws hardwood 6-8” np. I snapped the WM and sent it back for rewelding and in the interim i bought a 3/4 timberwolf 3/4 tpi and honestly it does pretty good, I don’t think i would bother spending for the WM again but I haven’t had or put a ton of mileage on the timberwolf but if 4 timberwolfs get me as far as 1 WM then it’s fine.

[Brian Deakin]

The link below is an excellent reference source for bandsaw blades

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

[Frank Necaise]

I have a 1" Woodmaster CT 1.3 tpi (154") that I like. Just installed my second one since originally picking based on the advice in the excellent bandsaw blades link provided above. I find it does a great job overall.

[Jonathan Jung]

Will the 1.3 tpi cut or grab too aggressively for finer cuts in smaller or thinner pieces? For example cutting down Dominos. Thanks everyone

[John TenEyck]

Will the 1.3 tpi cut or grab too aggressively for finer cuts in smaller pieces? Thanks everyone

You wouldn't want to use the 1.3 tpi blade on stock thinner than 1/1.3 = 0.77", and it's a good idea to always have 2 teeth in the wood at all times, so 2 x 0.77" = 1.44". I never use anything thinner than 8/4 with it; for thinner stock I use my other BS.

John

[Tom M King]

A 10" saw is good for small cuts like that. They don't take up much room either.

[Jonathan Jung]

I have a 16" saw setup with a big aux. table for curves, the 24" for ripping, and just sold an 17" which now I'm regretting...it was setup with a 3tpi 1/2" blade. Great for small stuff. I'm realizing that if I setup the 24" for what it's capable of, that I lose the convenience of the bandsaw for small stuff. But how many bandsaws does a guy need?!

[Tom M King]

Four is a good number. 24" with 1" blade. 14" with 3/8" blade. 10" with 1/4", and another 10" with 1/8" and Carter Stabilizer. Never need to adjust guides. Just change a blade when you need to. That doesn't include metal cutting ones though.

[bob cohen]

I run a 1 inch resaw king on my Felder 610 (19 in) and could not be more pleased. As other have said you probably do not need to go larger. Also, if you have their ceramic guides like I do, you might have trouble moving them far enough back to accommodate a wider blade. Again like other have said, I only use the blade for the most gentle of curve cuts.

[John TenEyck]

Many of us have found two to be a good compromise. A larger one with a wider, aggressive blade for ripping and resawing, and a smaller one for everything else. FWIW, my smaller one gets most of the work. My smaller one is a wood/metal model, so that covers my metal cutting needs as well.

John