What width blade for bandsaw?

I occasionally resaw but mostly I use my bandsaw for basic cutting. What is the recommended width?

1/2" skip-tooth carbon steel (any number of brands) has always been my all-purpose choice.

Erik

A 3/8" x 4 tpi blade is hard to beat for all around use, including resawing up to about 6".

John

I usually keep a 1/2-4 tpi on my small saw. I don't do a lot of tight curve cutting or any resawing of any height over a couple inches so it works well for me. It can leave a rough surface on sheet goods like plywood but for quick little shop jigs an such, it's fine.
It's hard to give an opinion on "basic cutting" since I don't know what that means to you.

3/8 x 6 on my 14" saw. 1/4" on one 10", and 1/8" with Carter Stabilizer on the other. 1" x 1.3 on the 24".

For years I had only one saw, with a 1/2" 3 TPI blade. Then I bought a little saw and keep a 1/4" 6 TPI blade in it, and now I can comfortably make all the cuts I need, down to a 1" radius with the little saw or resawing up to 11" with the bigger saw.

Best advice might be gotten if you state what band saw you have...Sorry if I missed it...

The two I use most are a 3/8x6 and a 1/2x2-3 variable tooth something or other. The 3/8 is great for everything except resawing, and the 1/2 is great for everything except cuts on thin wood - such as cutting loose tenons to length. I also bought a 1/4x8 but I haven't run it yet - the 3/8 has done everything I have needed so far.

For resawing and straight cuts the fatter the better. For curves thinner works better. 1/2" or 3/8" will both make good general purpose blades but I would choose a 1/2" blade if I didn't cut a lot of sharp curves. When I had my 18" saw I really liked keeping a 5/8" blade on it. The extra width makes the blade less prone to flexing when resawing or doing straight cuts. I never cut very many curves though. When I cut curves I would mount a narrower blade.

3-6 teeth in the wood. So how thick is your wood?

For resawing consider getting a carbide blade. Expensive but usually worth it in the long run.

If your wood is not flat, watch the videos for Little Ripper. He’s selling a product but he’s not wrong.

The hardwood supplier I normally go to stocks only 4x4 and 8x4 hardwood. I have been doing projects where I needed 5x4 and 6x4. So I have been resawing more than I used to. I tried my 1/2 inch blade first, it has a low tooth count, but I switched to the 3/4 blade and it resaws MUCH better. So I just left the 3/4 on the saw. So far I haven't need my 1/2 or 1/4 inch blades enough to change to them. But if you are willing to switch to a wider blade when you resaw, or if you can do it better than I can with a narrow blade, a 1/2 or possibly a 3/8 is a more all around blade.

I've seen recommendations to not use blades for both cutting curves and resawing/straight cuts. Supposedly the teeth will wear more on one side than the other when cutting curves and the uneven wear will cause the blade to wander when attempting straight cuts. How true that is I don't know but I usually do straight cuts/resaws with a 1/2" 3 TPI blade and curved cuts with a 1/4" 6 TPI. I did recently buy a TriMaster 1/2" X 3 TPI but haven't used it enough to really have an opinion, only tried a few cuts so far.

It also depends on your saw. A frequent recommendation re band width is to use one size narrower than the manufacturer recommends. I have a Rikon 10-325 and it's supposed to work with 3/4" blades. I stick to 1/2" width. This is a steel frame saw which is supposed to be able to tension blades better than cast iron saws.