Originally Posted by
John TenEyck
A 1/2" x 3 tpi bi-metal blade will cut well for a long time. It won't cut as smoothly as a Woodslicer or a carbide blade will, but it will cut consistently straight for a long time.
John
My experience is the same. I don't get it when people claim very short life for Timberwolf, Woodslicer or Bi-Metal blades. During one thread I did a quick comparison for a few blades that were hanging on the peg. None new and all did fine.
To the OP, bandsaw setup and use is presented as one of the most overly complicated, shrouded in mystery topics that get discussed on woodworking forums. Don't get lost in the noise. The often touted Alex Snodgrass method (Love ya Alex) focuses on narrower blades on crowned tires. That being said, I run a 1/2" carbide blade for resaw without issue but, I digress.
If your blade is tracking in the same position on each wheel you are probably coplaner so I am somewhat confused by the conflicting info. I guess I should throw out a disclaimer that I prefer to run the bandsaw as designed, with coplaner wheels. I will repeat (ad nauseam I'm sure to long-time members) that setting my wheels coplaner and doing a good alignment on my saw was a life-changing event in my bandsawing career . I was suddenly able to change blades with impunity, banish drift from my shop and enjoy a smoother and quieter running machine.
So, let's skip the whole "wheels don't need to be coplaner" argument and look at your blade. As mentioned, I get pretty decent life out of nominally priced blades. If you buy a new blade and suddenly everything is wonderful your blade was obviously the culprit. The question is why. As mentioned I was demonstrating that I could change blades without accounting for drift and in doing so used a variety of blades that all had a fair amount of wear on them. Granted this was not a resaw of any great height as that was not the object at the time.
BS Align (11).jpg
I did get consistent results off the blank when changing blades while only adjusting the guides as required for the blade in use; no fence adjustments or other voodoo.
BS Align (12).jpg
I also run the keeper next to the fence although some people go through a lot of effort to prove that this is the cause of all your troubles.
resaw veneer (1).jpg . resaw veneer (2).jpg
I decided to just keep doing is "wrong". Just to focus a little more on your subject, here's a piece of cherry resawn to about 1/8". Not being a luthier I am only guessing that this is closer to what you may be doing.
cherry resaw TW-75 (2).jpg
At any rate, your blade wear (if that proves to be the issue) is concerning. If you are not resawing pecan or ipe you should get a few hundred lineal feet out of a decent metal tooth blade. Too much empirical proof of early failures of carbide blades on 14" wheels here and on other forums for me to recommend a carbide blade although . . . that would be a life-altering experience, trust me.
The things that will kill your blade, other than obviously mineral-rich material, can usually be controlled with feed rate. Listed to your machine, you will "feel" a sweet spot during a cut; that is your feed-speed. If all else fails you can go to a knife-fence which you can whip up out of scrap in a few minutes.
resaw-guide-3.jpg
I would not want to have to focus that much of my attention for the amount of time required to get through a production batch of resawing with a knife-fence but, they can get you through a tough spot.
The other easy fix is to just run one of these blades.
sawandmill (7).jpg
OK, just kidding. Please let us know what you find out with the new cutter.
Last edited by glenn bradley; 09-25-2019 at 3:46 PM.
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