Timberwolf bimetal blades for resaw?

[Rob Price]

As I’m shopping for a new 18” bandsaw I’m also looking at blades. So far I’m seeing carbide as the best at cutting and staying sharp, but super expensive. For my uses I’m not sure I can justify the cost but not completely ruled out.

I see the Highland woodslicer which gets rav reviews but dulls quickly because it’s really a meat cutting blade. Other blades like Carter and Timberwolf may hold an edge a little better. I’ve used mostly Carter blades on my 14” saw because I can get them super cheap through a friend but they don’t make a true 1” resaw blade.

I see the Lenox classic bimetallic mentioned a bunch- but the tooth profile really isn’t for wood. 4/6 tpi, shallow gullets, but several folks like them for resaw.

Then I found the Timberwolf bimetal resaw blade. 2/3 tpi, deep gullets, rake teeth, etc but I can’t find any third party reviews. It’s cost is similar to the Lenox. I’m thinking it may be a good compromise between the carbide and carbon blades.

Anyone used one?

[Van Huskey]

The Diemaster is great but it isn't a resawing blade. The best resawing bi-metal blade (IMO) is the Lenox Woodmaster B. The problem is the smallest cross section is 1" x .035 which needs a serious saw to tension correctly. IIRC you are looking at Asian 18" saws, if so you need to be considering 3/4" blades (if bi-metal or carbide) and not 1" blades. Even a thin backed 1" carbide blade like the Resaw King is pushing those saw's tensioning ability.

Not a fan of TW blades but a lot of people are.


Edit: I should have added a lot of the decision in choosing a resaw blade depends on what quality of surface you want iff the saw. The best surface is going to be from either the Laguna Resaw King or Lenox Trimaster followed closely by the blades like the Woodslicer and Kerf Master. The high set, big gullet, aggressive tooth pattern blades will require more cleanup which equals time and wasted wood, those may be of concern and they may not.

[Art Tripp]

I have the Laguna 18BX in my shop and after a lot of research went with the carbide 1" Laguna Resaw King for resaw work and the bimetal Lenox Diemaster 2 (1/2" 4tpi & 1/4" 6tpi) blades for other duties. I bought the blades for the overall quality and service life. I would highly recommend each and have been quite satisfied in each regard. In addition, I recommend taking a look at the 18BX if you haven't done so and truly love mine.

[John TenEyck]

I had two Timberwolf blades break on my 14" Delta, very prematurely, so I moved on. On that saw I settled on a 1/2 x 3 tpi Lennox Diemaster, which I found to work fine for resaw and veneer slicing. I also used an Olson MVP for the same purpose. The MVP blade stayed sharp longer, but didn't cut as smoothly as the Diemaster. On my 17" Grizzly I used a Lennox 1" x 1.3 tpi Woodmaster CT (carbide) and that blade cut amazingly smooth and fast, like a Woodslicer on steroids. But it broke at the weld and I got no joy from the company that sold it to me, so I went to the other extreme of the price range; I'm now using a 1" x 2tpi Woodmaster C and it cuts surprisingly smooth and plenty fast enough. I also bought a Woodmaster C 1.3 tpi as well as both tpi versions of the GT. None of these blades cost more than $30 so if one breaks it's no great loss. Plus I can resharpen all of them myself. I thought about trying the Woodmaster B but for 3X the price I couldn't justify it. If you cut a lot of abrasive woods, or don't want to resharpen them yourself, then the B might be a good choice. Otherwise, the C blades offer good performance at a great price.


John

[Rob Price]

I was hoping those 18” saws could handle the 1” blades.

Most of my big bandsaw needs/wants are actually big green bandsaw blanks, I cut more bowl blanks than resaw these days- but I do the occasional resaw on my 14” Jet currently.

Just looking for a good balance between cost/performance for occasional resawing. If I was doing any kind of volume I’d go straight to a carbide blade.

I’m not looking for glue up ready veneer. anything I do will be 1/8 or more and any thing thicker will probably going back through the planer anyways.

[John K Jordan]

I was hoping those 18” saws could handle the 1” blades.
Most of my big bandsaw needs/wants are actually big green bandsaw blanks, I cut more bowl blanks than resaw these days- but I do the occasional resaw on my 14” Jet currently.
Just looking for a good balance between cost/performance for occasional resawing. If I was doing any kind of volume I’d go straight to a carbide blade.
I’m not looking for glue up ready veneer. anything I do will be 1/8 or more and any thing thicker will probably going back through the planer anyways.

Rob,

I also mostly use the saw for green turning blanks and occasionally resaw up to 12" dry boards for thick veneer (1/8-1/4") to glue between layers of wood. I use a 1/2" x 3tpi blade made from Lennox stock for almost everything, going to a 1/2"x4tpi on occasion. The 3tpi is perfect for even 12" thick green or dry wood of any species. The cut is not exactly baby cheek smooth but it doesn't matter for the turning stock. I run all my thick veneer through a Performax drum sander with 80 grit paper. This gives a surface I find perfect for gluing up for woodturning:

chip_carved_goblet_c.jpg BOC_D_demo_comp.jpg

JKJ

[John TenEyck]

I was hoping those 18” saws could handle the 1” blades.

Most of my big bandsaw needs/wants are actually big green bandsaw blanks, I cut more bowl blanks than resaw these days- but I do the occasional resaw on my 14” Jet currently.

Just looking for a good balance between cost/performance for occasional resawing. If I was doing any kind of volume I’d go straight to a carbide blade.

I’m not looking for glue up ready veneer. anything I do will be 1/8 or more and any thing thicker will probably going back through the planer anyways.

If you are looking for a smaller saw that can tension pretty much any blade you'd want to use, look at the 17" Grizzly G0636X. I've had one for a couple of years and it is, IMO, equivalent/better than a MM16, for far less money. I get 26K psi on a 1" x 2 tpi x 0.035" Lennox blade at the 1" tension mark. It could easily put 30K on that blade w/o much frame deflection.

For occasional resawing there's no need to spend much money. Any of the carbon steel blades will work fine. I use a 3/8" x 4 tpi Starrett carbon steel blade on my 14" Delta and it cuts just fine in anything up to about 6" thick. The Woodmaster C blades I mentioned earlier offer a great value in larger widths.

John

[Van Huskey]

I was hoping those 18” saws could handle the 1” blades.

Most of my big bandsaw needs/wants are actually big green bandsaw blanks, I cut more bowl blanks than resaw these days- but I do the occasional resaw on my 14” Jet currently.

Just looking for a good balance between cost/performance for occasional resawing. If I was doing any kind of volume I’d go straight to a carbide blade.

I’m not looking for glue up ready veneer. anything I do will be 1/8 or more and any thing thicker will probably going back through the planer anyways.

It takes more saw than the 18" saws I think you are looking at to fully tension a 1" x .035" bi-metal or carbide blade, the strain gauge doesn't lie. If you aren't mainly doing resawing on the saw it is a non-issue though. For occasional resawing I would just get a Kerfmaster, sure they dull relatively quick but they give a beautiful finish off the saw and have a very thin kerf. If you want more longevity and less concerned about the finish off the saw and kerf get a 1" Woodmaster C, it will last longer than the Kerfmaster, cost less and chew through tall resaws with the quickness and being carbon steel needs much less tension than a bi-metal or carbide blade so the saws you are looking at can handle it.

If you step back and think about the fact you are only planning on occasional resawing there is no real reason to get hung up on how long the blade will last since even the Woodslicer/Kerfmaster blades are likely to last you several years.

[Art Tripp]

My Laguna 18BX is rated for up to a 1-1/4" blade but I didn't need a blade that full width, and additionally I generally prefer not to work in the upper-limits of my equipment (though admittedly my tractor has more than pulled it's share of work and weight), and chose to go with the 1" Laguna Resaw King. The saw has no difficulty tensioning the blade and has additional capability if I needed to go higher. With the longer life and cut quality of the carbide, I feel the $175 cost (shipping included from laguna.com) is quite reasonable, particularly considering it can be resharpened multiple times at a cost of $45 (return shipping included). I spent much time researching prior to going this route and have been quite happy with the results.

[Van Huskey]

My Laguna 18BX is rated for up to a 1-1/4" blade but I didn't need a blade that full width, and additionally I generally prefer not to work in the upper-limits of my equipment (though admittedly my tractor has more than pulled it's share of work and weight), and chose to go with the 1" Laguna Resaw King. The saw has no difficulty tensioning the blade and has additional capability if I needed to go higher.

A couple of things. First, bandsaws blade width ratings are almost universally based on the size of blade that can be physically fitted to the saw. Even if they weren't saying a particular saw could properly tension a 1 1/4" blade is a useless fact without knowing the thickness of the hypothetical blade and the particular blades tension requirements to function optimally. A carbide 1 1/4" Lenox Trimaster will need nearly twice the absolute pressure compared to a 1 1/4" Resaw King and about 3 times the pressure as a .035" Woodmaster C in 1 1/4". This is the same reason bandsaw tension scales listed by bandwidth can only be accurate for one band type/thickness/width.

Second, what is the actual tension you are running the 1 " Resaw King at?

[Patrick Walsh]

Man so much to know about proper bandsaw blade selection and tension.

I have to admit I have always struggled with proper bandsaw setup and blade selection. I recently traded a Laguna 14/12 with a myriad of blades including a 3tpi skip tooth 3\4 resaw king for a 83 Inca three wheel machine in perfect condition.

I loathed that Laguna saw for use with anything over 1/2” blade. Resaw work in anything harder than say cherry or walnut was a deal breaker. Every time I tried to resaw hard maple the blade would quickly dull and my resaw results would go to hell before I could get through even one board. I destroyed more than one wonderful piece of lumber on acou t of that machine or my own negligence. Hopefully both

I set the Inca up with a 3/8-5/8” 3tpi blade the machine came with and no lower guides and it whizzes through hard maple like a dream with the accuracy I would expect.

Ok so I’m not trying to hijack this thread I’m trying to add to it and further obtain an education with regard to proper bandsaw blade selection for resaw work on larger machines.

Last week I took delivery of a Minimax s500p. I ordered a Lennox Woodmaster 1.3t .015 kerf and am curious what the proper tension is for this blade.

I assume it’s the perfect blade for a dedicated resaw machine....?

[Rob Price]

If you step back and think about the fact you are only planning on occasional resawing there is no real reason to get hung up on how long the blade will last since even the Woodslicer/Kerfmaster blades are likely to last you several years.

Good point

[John TenEyck]

Man so much to know about proper bandsaw blade selection and tension.

I have to admit I have always struggled with proper bandsaw setup and blade selection. I recently traded a Laguna 14/12 with a myriad of blades including a 3tpi skip tooth 3\4 resaw king for a 83 Inca three wheel machine in perfect condition.

I loathed that Laguna saw for use with anything over 1/2” blade. Resaw work in anything harder than say cherry or walnut was a deal breaker. Every time I tried to resaw hard maple the blade would quickly dull and my resaw results would go to hell before I could get through even one board. I destroyed more than one wonderful piece of lumber on acou t of that machine or my own negligence. Hopefully both

I set the Inca up with a 3/8-5/8” 3tpi blade the machine came with and no lower guides and it whizzes through hard maple like a dream with the accuracy I would expect.

Ok so I’m not trying to hijack this thread I’m trying to add to it and further obtain an education with regard to proper bandsaw blade selection for resaw work on larger machines.

Last week I took delivery of a Minimax s500p. I ordered a Lennox Woodmaster 1.3t .015 kerf and am curious what the proper tension is for this blade.

I assume it’s the perfect blade for a dedicated resaw machine....?

Which Woodmaster? And are you sure about the kerf; even the Woodslicer has a kerf about 2X what you wrote. Anyway, most non-carbide blades are happy running at around 20 - 25K psi. Up to 30K psi for carbide. Of course you can run lower tension, but performance and life go down. Do you have a tension gauge? It's the only way to know what
you have.

John

[Tom M King]

Patrick, I think you meant .035. You don't have to worry about putting too much tension on that blade with your saw. Crank it up to where you think you need it, and try it. If it needs some more, the blade can take it. You probably won't need as much as you can get for it to cut smoothly. If you have never used this blade before, welcome to a new world in resawing.

[Van Huskey]

Which Woodmaster? And are you sure about the kerf; even the Woodslicer has a kerf about 2X what you wrote.

John

He switched the numbers, while off the top of my head I don't know the kerf of the C or B Woodmasters the Woodmaster CT (in the sizes we here use for vertical saws) is .051 vs .015.

To Patrick, I of a member of the church of tension and have found MANY of peoples resawing issues are from low tension (though it can be many other things as well). If the Lenox blade is a Woodmaster CT (carbide) blade it is probably the best general resaw blade for the MM20 class of saw for speed, there are better blades for finish.

One really needs a strain gauge to know what tension they are running at but most hobbyists balk at the $200+ for a commercial one and don't bother building one. However, I do have extensive notes on many blades I have run on the 400/500/600 Centauro (Minimax) saws and while my 400 and 600 are in storage I have the 500 set up in my temporary shop and have 40 or so different blades for it including the whole Woodmaster family (I think I only have 1" widths but would have to check). If you let me know the exact blade I can either refer to my notes or string up one and give you the PSI vs the gauge on the saw for the correct tension range for the particular blade.