Rikon Deluxe 14 Bandsaw Blade Selection

[Dewayne Reding]

I have a Rikon 14" Deluxe enroute. What blade will the saw come with from Rikon?

I intend to call Suffolk today and get some Timberwolfs on the way. I suspect you guys don't change your blade size 15 times an hour during a project. What will get the job done 98% of the time. (Not resawing)Typical materials. Mostly hardwoods in the 3/4 range, and birch plywood of course. I'll call Suffolk as soon as you guys make me intelligent enough to carry on a conversation with them. Thanks.

[Roy Wall]

Dewayne,

Probably a 1/4" 4 tpi hook is the most general purpose blade for hardwoods......but I imagine a 10-14 tpi would help with the plywood.

1/2" 3 tpi is good for resaw and 1/8" 10-14 tpi for scroll work.

I've never used any 16-30 tpi blades to see how they cut....

[Dave Dionne]

A side note
One of the engeineers at Rikon told me that they have a hard time fitting Timberwold blades sometimes on the 14" machines. There is a fix for it but you need to call them at Rikon and they will walk you through it. I have not bought any timberwolfs yet for mine.

Just a heads up

Dave

[Joe Spear]

Did they say what the problem is? I can't figure out why a Timberwolf would be a difficult fit, and other brands wouldn't. Actually, I live only a few miles from the Rikon place in Woburn. Maybe I'll run over there tomorrow and ask.

[Dave Dionne]

No he didn't, I think it was a size issue. When I was talking to their support person about a different issue we were talking about blades and I mentioned timberwolf and he said that was a brand they had trouble with in regards to size. Like I said he told me there was an easy tweak for it.


Did they say what the problem is? I can't figure out why a Timberwolf would be a difficult fit, and other brands wouldn't. Actually, I live only a few miles from the Rikon place in Woburn. Maybe I'll run over there tomorrow and ask.

[Dewayne Reding]

Sounds like I better not rush in to the Timberwolf blades. Not sure why I would want to buy blades that require a work around.

[Patrick Taylor]

I think I heard once about TW blades being often too long, but I really can't verify where I heard that. The other possibility is that a blade that's too thick experiences too much stress bending over a 7" radius of curvature. It could be one of those issues, or maybe something else. I'm interested in a better blade than the stock one for mine too, so I'll be listening to see what you do!

[Michael McCoy]

I've pretty much switched to blades from Iturra Design. Not knocking the TW's since I only bought one of them since getting this saw but it was on the long side.

[Ken Massingale]

The Timberwolf blades are PS Wood blades and are longer than other blades of the 'same' length. I just had to install a 111" 3/16" PS Wood Timberwolf blade on my 10-325, and even set to 3/4" on the tension gauge it isn't quite tight enough. It is around 3/8" longer than Lennox and Iturra blades. The adjustment length of the tension rod can be adjusted with the nut behind the top wheel to get the needed tension.
I now only use TW blades when I don't have an Iturra blade in house. It's unfortunate but I don't see the quality that they had previously.

[Curt Harms]

The Timberwolf blades are PS Wood blades and are longer than other blades of the 'same' length. I just had to install a 111" 3/16" PS Wood Timberwolf blade on my 10-325, and even set to 3/4" on the tension gauge it isn't quite tight enough. It is around 3/8" longer than Lennox and Iturra blades. The adjustment length of the tension rod can be adjusted with the nut behind the top wheel to get the needed tension.
I now only use TW blades when I don't have an Iturra blade in house. It's unfortunate but I don't see the quality that they had previously.

and Rikon limits upper wheel travel. I moved the double nuts up as shown in this post-the factory setting causes hollow spacer to hit them before the T'Wolf blade was properly tensioned.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=57292&d=1170887134 #5, (sorry for the small picture.) The blade that came with the saw is not horrible-not great but not horrible. Has anyone used Lenox Diemaster 2 blades on the Rikon saw? Will it properly tension a 3/4" bimetal blade with the factory spring without the spring being completely collapsed? If I go with a bimetal blade, I'm thinking 1/2" .025 thickness because my other blades are .025. One point in the Rikon's favor is I find it pretty easy to change blades as long as they're the same thickness, making it more likely to use the correct blade for the job, rather than getting by because it's a PITA to change to the proper blade.

HTH

Curt

[Bernie May]

Are the Olson All-Pro blades no good? They are sized for the Rikon deluxe BS.

[Jeff Heil]

I am running a 2-3 tooth 3/4" TW VPC blade on my 14" Rikon without any problems. I have the tension set just above the 5/8" mark and have been resawing 18" long slices at +/- .005" in thickness end to end without any trouble.

[Joe Spear]

I just talked to somebody named John over at the Rikon parts place. The 14" bandsaw takers a 111" blade. It seems that Timberwolf doesn't like to cut their blade stock in the middle of a tooth if that's where the 111" mark hits. So they cut a little beyond the tooth into a gullet. Therefore, a Timberwolf 111" blade could actually be 111 5/8". The problem comes in when you try to tension the blade, and the stop nut hit the top of the wheel housing before the blade is tight enough. Rikon has put a double stop nut on the threaded rod shaft which can be screwed down further so that there is more room before it tops out. John said that a shorter blade doesn't present as much of a problem as the too-long blade. You can always lower the wheel and probably accomodate a 110" blade. That's what I did with my Grizzly 1019Z with a riser block. It is supposed to take a 106" blade, which is not a standard size. So I use a 105" blade with no problem.

[John Longwitz]

...when I got my Rikon 14" Deluxe at Highland Hardware I bought a "Woodslicer" blade to go with it. Got it home and assembled and the blade was too long. Measured it and it came out to 112 5/8". Took it back and the replacement fit just fine. Might happen with other brands as well. FWIW the "Woodslicer" is El Primo in my book. The one that comes with the saw is probably good for ripping yellow pine for construction but not much use for woodworking.

[glenn bradley]

TW blades can be ordered any size you like. Measure the stock blade and order the same.

[lowell holmes]

I've had good luck with BC Saw's 3tpi skip tooth blade on a 14" Jet with riser block. I have the Iturra tension spring. I use a 1/2" blade for all of my work, including resawing.
Michael Fortune recommends this blade. I tried it after reading an article he wrote.

[Mathew Nedeljko]

This is a very meaningful thread to me, as my 14" Rikon just arrived last week and I finally got it set up and made my first test cuts last night. Needless to say, the factory blade seems ok for doing flat work, but for resawing, forget it.

I tried to resaw a 3/4" of cherry into 1/4" slices using the fence, and while the cut had no cup in it, the saw did not follow a straight line at all, so I ended up with two very "wavy" sections and a middle piece that was completely unusable. I think I may have to adjust the fence for drift to get the saw to cut a straight line?

John, could you please provide some more details on the Woodslicer blade that you were pleased with? How many TPI, how wide, and what type of teeth?

[Al Weber]

I had the same problem with the TW blade on my 18" Rikon. One has to adjust the upper wheel to get them to tension properly. However, I also had problems in the other direction with blades being too short. I don't remember who I purchased those from other than they were Lenox blades but I could not get them on the saw at all.

I have used the WS blade from Highland Hardware and it fit perfectly when the saw was brand new. The only problem with the WS blade was that it dulled quickly.

I think this is one of those situations where one just has to fine tune the bandsaw for your choice of blades.

[Curt Harms]

I had the same problem with the TW blade on my 18" Rikon. One has to adjust the upper wheel to get them to tension properly. However, I also had problems in the other direction with blades being too short. I don't remember who I purchased those from other than they were Lenox blades but I could not get them on the saw at all.

I have used the WS blade from Highland Hardware and it fit perfectly when the saw was brand new. The only problem with the WS blade was that it dulled quickly.

I think this is one of those situations where one just has to fine tune the bandsaw for your choice of blades.

I just did some very quick and dirty measurements on my 10-325. I did increase the maximum travel by moving the double nuts up as documented earlier. Rough measurements: minimum distance between wheel center lines-34.25" Maximum distance between wheel centerlines-33.33" so there's .92" travel on my saw, or nearly an inch. I clamped a tape to one wheel, wrapped it around the other wheel and clamped it and measured both the shortest and longest bands I think I could get on the saw. The shortest I'd be comfortable with is 110.75", the longest is 112.25" so that's about 1.5" of "slack" which seems like a goodly amount.

HTH

Curt

[Dewayne Reding]

Thanks again for the help. I went ahead and ordered a selection of Timberwolf blades from Suffolk, including a 3/4" 2/3VPC for resaw. Also ordered a 1/2" Woodslicer and a GP blade from Highland.