Bandsaw Blades

[Frank Dominski]

Was looking to replace and upgrade my Olson woodworking bandsaw blades. It seems that the blade of choice is Timberwolf, but was wondering now they compare to Supercut blades. Thanks

[Bill White]

stuff, and am well pleased.
Bill

[Arthur Babcock]

I recommend the Woodslicer from Highland Hardware. It's like supercharging your saw.

Arthur

[David Romano]

I think you should go for a bi-metal blade like a Lenox or a Starrett. You can get the same tooth configurations and widths as other popular blades. They cost only a little more, but last much much longer. I have a Starrett Gladiator 4/6 variable pitch and I've had worse cuts on my table saw!

David

[Jason Perrott]

Ditto on the Woodslicer blades being great.

Jason

[Chris Schumann]

I've just got my first band saw, but I have some logs seasoning, and more to come. I know the Wood Slicer maker says that blade is not for use on green lumber, but it looks like the Timber Wolf blade is.

Recommendations for sawing green logs would be much appreciated.

[Jake Helmboldt]

See Mark Duginske's comments on blade choice in this other thread
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=510458&highlight=olson&page=2

Duginske has written several books on bandsaws so he knows as much as anyone probably.

[Perry Holbrook]

I make a good part of my income on the band saw and have gone thru a lot of blades from just about all the vendors. I've pretty much settled on bi-metal combination teeth blades. Specifically, 1/2" 8-12 tpi and 10-14 tpi for most work, even resawing if less than 6" tall. I just today put on a 1/4" 10-14 blade that is about 50% thicker than the standard (sorry too late to remember the numbers). Because of the thicker kerf you can actually saw about the same radius curves as a 1/8" blade. I am trying this thicker blade because I cut a lot of curves & circles with an angled table and there is blade deflection in those cuts with a regular blade.

Another thing to consider on the bi-metal. Carbon blades dull faster if you get them too hot, ie re-sawing. It's one reason fine tooth blades dull so fast when cutting thick stock. With bi-metal you can use the fine tooth blades (and get a smother finish) because the heat doesn't effect them the same way.

Perry

[Eric Larsen]

Woodslicer... wow. Makes an average saw "really good." Makes a good saw "great."

[glenn bradley]

Timberwolf blades have done real well for me and they are inexpensive. A lot of folks praise the Woodslicer so although almost twice the price, I'm gonna try one next time. It's still only $30. Takes me awhile to wear out a resaw blade though. Might just get one ahead of time ;-)

[John Thompson]

I used the Woodslicer to re-saw for years. I switched to a Lennox bi-metal just to see. I just ordered two more for back-up blades.

BTW.. to the one poster on wet wood. The WS is not reccomended as you stated but... Highland has a blade that they had made just for wet wood in 3/8" in 2-3 tooth I believe. Give them a call a ask if you wish.

Sarge..

[Curt Harms]

I've seen complaints about both Timberwolf (which I've used) and WoodSlicer (which I haven't) being rather short lived. I did have one Timberwolf blade go from no drift to drifting quite a bit rather suddenly. It seemed to cut okay--didn't seem dull-- but to cut a straight line the cut line needed to be 10-20 degrees off straight when fed. I don't know if something happened to mess up the set or what but it certainly did mess up.

I now have a 3/4" 2-3 variable tooth Timberwolf and 1/2" Supercut premium gold bands. They produce about the same cut quality and I haven't used either enough to wear them out. Guess I need to saw some teak or something equally abrasive. It appears the secret to the woodslicer is less set to the teeth which yields a thinner kerf and less "scratches" from the tooth tip having less set. SuperCut makes a line of blades that sound similar-thinner kerfs-but with the teeth carbide impregnated. When I talked to Supercut, they didn't recommend the woodsaver bands for domestic hardwoods. The woodsaver bands apparently do produce smoother cuts but also cost more so they recommend the woodsaver(more expensive) bands for higher value woods.

HTH

Curt