Bandsaw Blades

[jeth chiapas]

Hello all... Having recently acquired a new bandsaw I am looking to set myself up with some blades. I have been reading here and around the web but as is often the case have found many differing opinions and am suffering info overload. I am hoping that someone here may be able to help me decide my best option based on my specific needs.

My saw is an 18" "3HP" import model, it looks remarkably similar to the Rikon 18", right down to the paint job, just with cheaper plastic handwheels and fittings.
I will be using the saw for general furniture making and will be preparing my own boards from the large chunks of rough cut lumber available down here (Southern Mexico, mostly "semi-hard" woods..Primavera, Chechen, Laurel, some Mahogany and odd exotics such as Tigerwood and Ziricote) Quantities will vary but say an average of a few hundred BF per month.

Due to my location one of my main concerns is durability and long term economy as ordering new blades from north of the border is not something I want to do too often. At the same time short term economy dictates that pricey carbide blades are out of my range.
Finish of cut is probably not so important as I would expect to send anything I saw through the planer anyway.

I am thinking that ordering a number of cheaper "generic" 1/2"-3/4" blades for general breakdown of chunks into boards may be the best option, adding a decent Woodslicer or similar to reserve for resawing bookmatched panels or extra fine cuts.
Has anybody used the general purpose blades that Highland stocks or have any other recommendations for cheaper blades that will last a reasonable amount of cutting time and produce good results?

[Bill White]

Highland has good stuff. The WoodSlicer is a great resaw blade. If not Highland, go with Timberwolf blades.
Bill

[jeth chiapas]

Highland has good stuff. The WoodSlicer is a great resaw blade. If not Highland, go with Timberwolf blades.
Bill

Thanks for the reply Bill. My main concern as mentioned is economy. I have seen reports that the Woodslicers get dull after a few hundred BF and I can't be ordering a new $40 USD blade (+shipping) on a monthly basis. For this reason I was looking at cheaper options, ordering a few blades to keep me going for a while. As I said I would get one Woodslicer to keep in reserve for "special" cuts but am really looking for opinions on the cheaper Highland blades or similar for general ripping of rough stock from bigger slabs.
To clarify my priority is economy/durability over finish quality, the planer/#4 will deal with surface quality, I mostly just need to break down big chunks of wood to rough dimension.

[Andrew Joiner]

The Kerfmaster is the same as the woodslicer for about half the price.They are meat cutting blade stock. As you know they dull fast. Some people re-sharpen them on the saw.
\http://www.spectrumsupply.com/kerfmaster.aspx

I was surprised to find two local saw shops that made up good blades. For me "local" means driving 3 hours roundtrip to Portland OR. The prices beat mailorder places like Spectrum when you include shipping. The shop I use will even re-sharpen low cost carbon blades that cut fine. They leave a resawn surface only slightly rougher than my Laguna resaw king blades. Now that's real value.

Have you tried a saw shop in your area? Ask the butchers where they get blades.

[Kent A Bathurst]

If you want a blade that will give you excellent cuts, and last much longer than anything else that is available, look at the Lenox Tri-master.

It is not cheap to buy, but it is very economical over a long period of time, since it lasts so much longer than the others. And - as I said - the quality of the cuts is unequaled, IMO.

[Phil Thien]

Atlanta Sharptech butcher blade stock is what WoodSlicer (Highland), Blade Runner (Iturra), and Kerfmaster (Spectrum) are created from. These blades are very sharp. IMHO, they don't really dull THAT fast unless you're cutting exotics with a high silica content. I sharpen mine right on the saw, using a Dremel-type tool and a diamond burr. I can sharpen them sharper than new.

An alternative for resawing is a thinner-kerl bimetal blade. The MVP blades from Olson (http://www.olsonsaw.com/) are one example, MK Morse also makes .025" 3-TPI stock.

Now, bimetal blades I've used haven't typically started as sharp as the Sharptech stock. And the kerf is typically a little wider due to the set of the teeth. This is what I do (sounds insane, but it sure works for me): (1) I squish the set out of the teeth using my drill press vise. As I release the jaws, the teeth spring back to a narrower set. (2) I install the blade on the saw, and then sharpen it with my diamond burr in my Dremel. These blades get very sharp, hold the edge quite a while, and resaw like crazy. They are a little nosier than the Sharptech blades because the Sharptech stock is variable pitch (alternating between three and four TPI). I haven't found a 3/4-TPI bimetal is thin-kerf 1/2".

Anyway, those are the crazy ramblings of a guy with a small benchtop saw. But the fact that I have a smaller, relatively underpowered saw have required that I get creative in figuring out ways to make it perform the best it can. I will say that I have resawed 7" boards on my little saw better than I've been able to do so on much larger saws I've used. For a saw with a 1/2-HP motor, and all aluminum frame, you'd be surprised how fast I can feed a piece of 7" tall oak.

[raymond Abel]

allo

look to :http://www.tufftooth.com/
you will find anything their

[Harvey Pascoe]

If you don't want to reorder blades frequently, a carbide blade is the way to go. All steel blades dull very quickly if you do a lot of resawing. The Lennox Trimaster also gives a good smooth cut. They're expensive but a trimaster lasts 10X as long as a Woodslicer, so do the math and add in the shipping and you'll find the Trimaster cheaper in the long run.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Check out Woodcraft Bands. I wouldn't waste money on buying anything other than a bi-metal blade. Mine recently broke (not at weld,) but it had only been on saw about 11 years. My saws are 14" Delta's, and blade is 1/4". 6TPI, hook pattern bi-metal.

[Harvey Pascoe]

Check out Woodcraft Bands. I wouldn't waste money on buying anything other than a bi-metal blade. Mine recently broke (not at weld,) but it had only been on saw about 11 years. My saws are 14" Delta's, and blade is 1/4". 6TPI, hook pattern bi-metal.

11 years on one blade? What are you sawing, balsa?

[Bruce Wrenn]

11 years on one blade? What are you sawing, balsa?

Very little resawing, but THOUSANDS of car bodies for Toys for Tots Cars from 2 X 4 stock. Also cut a bunch of circles from MDF when I built cyclones, along with everyday use.

[Christopher Charles]

Hello all,

I'll also give woodcraft bands the thumbs up. I had used a couple of woodslicers and was not impressed by their lifespans and ordered three lenox bimetal blades from woodcraft bands for about the same price (~$100 for three; they may have had a minimum). running 3 tpi 1/2" blades 150" long for general use including resawing. Cut quality isn't as good as my 1" carbide, of course, but great for general purpose roughing out (i save the carbide for cutting veneers).

Cheers,
Chris C.

[Don Wacker]

Laguna resaw king carbides are great and can be resharpened at least 3 times. They are far from inexpensive but do outlast regular blades if I had to guess they go about 4 times as long on a single sharpening.

Don

[Mark Engel]

Lennox has a lower cost carbide tipped blade called the Woodmaster. I picked up a 143" blade for my Grizzly for $110.00

You can also check out SuperCut carbide impregnated blades. You can find them on Amazon, sold by Magnate, I believe. They seem to last quite a bit longer than bi-metal blades and are about the same price.

Grizzly also carries carbide tipped blades and carbide 'embedded' blades.