Anybody used a meat blade on their bandsaw?

[Jim Belair]

I've never heard of anyone who used a meat & fish blade on their bandsaw besides David Charlesworth. He promotes it in his books and in his article in this month's PW magazine.

Does anyone use one (for resawing)? My supplier carries them ( 5/8", 4 tpi), they are a bit thinner (0.020 vs. 0.025) and have "light set" for thinner kerf. If the cut really is smoother does it give a glue ready surface to shop sawn veneer? Any drawbacks?

Thanks
Jim B

[Vijay Kumar]

I've never heard of anyone who used a meat & fish blade on their bandsaw besides David Charlesworth. He promotes it in his books and in his article in this month's PW magazine.

Does anyone use one (for resawing)? My supplier carries them ( 5/8", 4 tpi), they are a bit thinner (0.020 vs. 0.025) and have "light set" for thinner kerf. If the cut really is smoother does it give a glue ready surface to shop sawn veneer? Any drawbacks?

Thanks
Jim B

The one he is talking about is a 3 tpi (I think)--I have not seen anyone carry it here (in the US) that thin in a 3 tpi. I am sure someone will correct me and point us the source

Vijay

[Ben Rafael]

Strangely enough I am having beef veneer for dinner.
Cant get enough of that resawn meat.

[Terry Teadtke]

No but I have cut a frozen turkey in half with my 7 1/4 " Skill saw :eek:

Terry

[Ben Rafael]

No but I have cut a frozen turkey in half with my 7 1/4 " Skill saw :eek:

Terry

That takes a lot of guts to try.

[keith ouellette]

I have used a meat band saw to cut bone in hams and turkeys when I worked in a grocery store. From what i recall the blade flexed very easy. Much easier than a wood working band saw blade. Just thought I would pass that along.

[Peter Quinn]

Meat blades? Really? If Saw stop made a bandsaw, would they use meat blades? If you use meat blades, do you have to use a hot dog for a push stick? If you resaw walnut can you still call it veneer, or do you have to call it walnut carpacio?

[Tom Leasure]

I think you guys are having to much fun with this thread

[Bart Leetch]

No I don't use a meat blade. A wood blade can do enough damage to my fingers I don't need to use a dedicated meat blade.

[Peter Quadarella]

Wouldn't a meat blade be safer though? A cleaner cut in your finger making it easier to reattach?

[Mark Singer]

The blade that is closest to tne meat cutting is a 1/2" 10 tpi joint blade. Lenox and Olson make one. The Olson MVP is a great blde for the money and works well on joinery

http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/silicon_steel_selection.asp

[Joe Chritz]

I once cut up a frozen hog with a sawzall. The processer froze it even though I told him we were doing a roast the next day.

Saved the pig roast and that blade will never rust in 10 lifetimes.

Joe

[Kevin Godshall]

Among other things I have done in my life........ I ran a slaughterhouse for 8 years.....

A meat cutting saw is almost identical to a hacksaw blade (tpi and tooth set), hence why a sawzall works so good. Some of the biggest attributes of a meat blade, is not the cut quality or track-ability....... but the rustproofing qualities and the ease of cleaning. Heat buildup is a virtually nonexistence, so I don't know if the weld quality or tooth hardness has any impact or not, but it well could.

Once again....... as I teach in Wood Class........ ALWAYS USE THE PROPER TOOL FOR THE PROPER JOB, IF YOU DON'T, YOU'RE JUST ASKING FOR TROUBLE.

Just my 2 cents.

[Jim Belair]

What, nobody reads Charlesworth or Popular Woodworking?

[nick kaplan]

this is by far the funniest thread i have seen on a woodworking forum. terry, please post pics!!! i think that many would agree, the entertainment value would be priceless.

[Brian Brown]

No but I have cut a frozen turkey in half with my 7 1/4 " Skill saw :eek:

Terry

Enquireing minds want to know.



WHY?

I've always preffered my turkey stuffed with bread, not sawdust.:D

[Peter M. Spirito]

I once felt like a turkey using a frozen skillsaw. :p

[Terry Teadtke]

There’s really a pretty simple explanation. There are only 2 of us and we had a frozen turkey in the freezer. Needless to say a whole turkey would be way more than would want so we decided ½ would be perfect. While the turkey was still frozen and in the bag I simply ran the saw down the back and then down the front neatly sawing it in half. We then rinsed thoroughly and all was well. It may sound a little extreme but it worked and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

Terry

[Philip Duffy]

Good one! Phil

[Hank Knight]

For those of you who haven't seen the new Popular Woodworking, David Chrlesworth has an interesting article in it entitled "Precison Band Sawing" about his use of a bandsaw for precision work, including cutting dovetails. (I was a little surprised to read his comment that he was not very good with a handsaw so uses his bandsaw for dovetails.) One of his tips is to use a meat and fish blade for straight cuts. His rationale is that the blade has very little set and widely spaced teeth (3tpi) so it has a very narrow kerf and produces, according to Charlesworth, very accurate, clean cuts that need little additional work and are suitable for gluing right off he saw. He acknowledges that, because of the narrow set, the blade is virtually useless for curved work. An extra benefit: the blade is stainless steel, so it won't rust. I thought it was an interesting concept.

Hank

[Wilbur Pan]

The blade that is closest to tne meat cutting is a 1/2" 10 tpi joint blade. Lenox and Olson make one. The Olson MVP is a great blde for the money and works well on joinery

http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/silicon_steel_selection.asp

Actually, it seems that meat cutting bandsaw blades tend to be 5/8" wide and have 3 or 4 tpi, as you can see here (http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/electric_meat_saw_band_saws_cutting.aspx), here (http://cutlerymania.com/blades/bsblades.htm), and here (http://www.kascocorp.com/MeatFishCuttingBands.aspx).

In which case, all that David Charlesworth is saying in his bandsaw article in this month's Popular Woodworking is that for straight cuts, a wide blade and a coarse tpi is what you need, which is really not that earth shattering.

[Curt Harms]

Actually, it seems that meat cutting bandsaw blades tend to be 5/8" wide and have 3 or 4 tpi, as you can see here (http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/electric_meat_saw_band_saws_cutting.aspx), here (http://cutlerymania.com/blades/bsblades.htm), and here (http://www.kascocorp.com/MeatFishCuttingBands.aspx).

In which case, all that David Charlesworth is saying in his bandsaw article in this month's Popular Woodworking is that for straight cuts, a wide blade and a coarse tpi is what you need, which is really not that earth shattering.

True, but if the meat blade also has less set, it should produce smoother cuts. I think the big-buck carbide resaw blades with braised carbide teeth have no set, correct or no?

[Hank Knight]

I think the big-buck carbide resaw blades with braised carbide teeth have no set, correct or no?

The carbide-tipped Resaw King that came with my Laguna has no set. I don't know about others.

EDIT:

It just occurred to me that the description of the "Wood Slicer" resaw blade sold by Highland Hardware sounds very much like Charlesworth's meat and fish blade, except for the stainless steel part. The Wood Slicer consistently gets good reveiws for smooth cuts. I don't know about how precise it is for anything other than resawing.