How important is minimum bandsaw blade width

[Michael Panis]

Hi Folks,

I'm in the process of purchasing a bandsaw for hobby work. I'm leaning towards either Rikon or Grizzly (prior Creek postings have helped a lot). One question I'm wondering about is whether I should care about the minimum blade width.

The Rikon 14" Deluxe supports a 1/8" blade, while its big brother only supports blades down to 1/4". Both similar Grizzly saws claim to support 1/8", but the salesman at Woodcraft suggested that larger saws can put so much tension on a blade when they startup that he wouldn't recommend an 1/8" blade on any 17" or 18" saw.

Is there truth to this?

More importantly, is minimum blade width something I should even consider? Obviously, it depends on what I'll be using the saw for, and I don't have any real plans to do fine pitch scroll work. Then again, part of the fun is not knowing what projects I'll try to tackle, and I'd hate to purchase a larger, more expensive saw, only to learn that its size limits what I can do with it.

How often do people find themselves using narrow saw blades? :confused:

Thanks...

---Mike

[Josiah Bartlett]

I'll argue that anything requiring blade width below 1/4" is much easier to do with a scroll saw.

I think it usually has more to do with the guides than the blade tension.

[Chris Friesen]

...the salesman at Woodcraft suggested that larger saws can put so much tension on a blade when they startup that he wouldn't recommend an 1/8" blade on any 17" or 18" saw.

The salesman is full of it. The only tension on the blade at startup is the effort to spin up the upper wheel. This is far less than the tension due to the tensioning mechanism itself.

As others have said, the primary limiting factor for small blades is the guides. Some may allow you to use cool blocks (or hardwood blocks) instead, making that a non-issue.

A secondary factor is that smaller blades may be harder to track on large saws due to the flatter wheels. (Smaller saws have more crown.)

[glenn bradley]

Although there are after market guides to help with 1/8" blades; I'm with Josiah on this one. I (which doesn't mean you) would be more likely to be unhappy that I couldn't run a wider blade than a narrower one. I would not want to scrimp on re-sawing accuracy just because I might do some scroll work now and then. If small work is your focus, I would size my saw purchase accordingly.

[Jason Beam]

The salesman is full of it. The only tension on the blade at startup is the effort to spin up the upper wheel. This is far less than the tension due to the tensioning mechanism itself.

Chris is absolutely right, here. Marlarky of the finest quality :)

It's mostly due to guide travel and coverage. Some saws' guides are too builky or lack the travel to accomodate a narrow blade. Tracking can be a challenge, too like Chris said.

[Dixon Peer]

A little digression...as regards resawing, I use a 3/8" skip tooth, 3 tpi on a twenty inch Griggio 3 hp machine. I tension the blade almost to the maximum ability of the machine and resaw hardwoods eight and more inches wide with no difficulty. I use Olson blades. I don't think one needs to use wide blades for resawing, just blades that are good enough to take lots of tension and are good and sharp. They don't wander at all.

[Josiah Bartlett]

The only condition I can think of where you might want more throat than a scroll saw but a narrow blade would be a bandsaw box with tight radii. That may get tricky. You would want to use the most tension your blade could stand and the best guides you could come up with in order for the blade not to wander or produce a bowed cut.