Suggestions for Bandsaw Blades for Felder FB710

[Alan Lightstone]

So, the Felder beast finally arrived. It's a 18-1/2" maximum cutting height bandsaw (with 28" flywheels), so a beast, but certainly not the largest one around.

I plan on doing a bunch of resawing, as well as typical curved cuts, occasional ripping of thick wood, etc...

I'm looking for the bandsaw gurus to suggest blade choices (width, TPI, etc...)

Felder says that it will tension a 1-1/8" blade, but I'm skeptical. I'm thinking a 1" blade for resawing would likely be the widest I should go for. Is that reasonable? The blades are 201-5/8" long. Wow!!

So any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as well as brands and sources, composition.

[Greg Parrish]

Tagging along to see recommendations. Nice saw. Congrats.

[David Kumm]

The 710 will tension a 1" carbide CT 1.3 or Trimaster 2-3 varitooth to 25000. Dave

[John TenEyck]

There was a recent thread on a smaller Felder that showed it could not tension the 1" blade it was rated for. I wouldn't go any wider than 1" until you prove that it's capable of more. And there's really no reason to anyway. The blades Dave recommended are perfect for resawing, at least the Woodmaster CT is as I have personal experience with it and it is an amazing combination of speed and smoothness.

John

[Alan Lightstone]

OK, so no wider than 1". I was assuming that was true.

But how about suggestions for smaller widths and TPI, materials, etc...

I need to get these ordered soon, so thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Jim Becker]

Alan, I keep a 3/8" or 1/2" blade on my MM16 for general cutting. Rarely do I use anything narrower on that machine, although I have used 1/4" and even 1/8" historically. I like to be able to walk up to the machine, raise the guard and make "most" cuts without any fuss. Lately, I've been more inclined to use the 3/8" blade because it has a little tighter radius available which makes it more versatile, but I've also done some quick resaw with it when the time to change over wasn't worth the effort for a single cut.