Resaw blade

[Tom Bussey]

Is a Laguna Resaw King blade any good? I am at a point where I need to upgrade from a Wood Slicer blade. My Grizzly 17 inch Extreme takes a 131 1/2 blade. The blade says it is 1 inch wide. I now use a Wood Slicer 3/4 s on an inch wide. Is there perhaps a better choice?

[Tom Trees]

It's something that has been mentioned on the UK forums, CT blades being a false economy, as the blade would crack long before the carbide wears out.
With that said, I'll bet there's one or two here who's been running one since a long time ago.....
It sure begs an interesting question,
Who's seen/got/read of the longest running carbide blade on a bandsaw?
I could mention including timber mills in this, heck why not, but interesting to read of such with perhaps somewhat more reserved use.

I haven't got the impression of frequently cracked carbide blades from visiting here,
though perhaps those who've experienced this, simply haven't mentioned it?

Cheers folks
Tom

[andy bessette]

I ran a 1" carbide blade on my 20" Agazzani for many years (6-7) with no cracking. Never changed the blade tension. Only reason I replaced it is that I ran into some hardened tool steel and dulled it.

Smaller wheels might not fare so well. And smaller machines might not be able to adequately tension a 1" blade.

[Edward Weber]

I have a 17" Grizzly and I don't think it would provide enough tension for a 1" blade. I typically run 3/4" blades on that saw and there is not much, if any tension left on the spring

[Tom Trees]

Wow Andy, that sounds to me, like you might indeed be... on the top tier of the podium,
In the contest, of seeing...... Who can boast the most slice per price!, In this carbide blade longevity competition.

The contest of who indeed will be the biggest miser of all, and take home the gloat worthy prize of putting a sock in the mouths
from naysayers and cynics alike!.

Interesting too, to know the blade was never de-tensioned!
That's in my opinion, "nuff said" about that part of things, as far as I'd be concerned.

Now...could we get some info on what sorta use you were giving that "ornament for your saw" or whatever,

Insert more fitting insult & speculative comment than above here. in no more than a hundred words.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
Thanks.


All the best
Tom

[Derek Cohen]

The cracking of carbide blades, which are thicker and stiffer, is related to wheel size - a too-small wheel diameter asks the metal to bend too much. I have a Lenox Woodmaster CT 1" 1.5 tpi blade and it tensions up properly om my Hammer N4400. The tension is important to ensure the blade is tracking appropriately, but the wheel size (the Hammer is effectively 18") determines longevity. I would imagine that 16" is the lower limit for carbide.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[jerry cousins]

i have been using 1" resaw king blades on a mm16 for many years - i have not had any break - and laguna can resharpen them. over time i have used other brands but find lagunas the best cut and longest lasting edge
jc

[Andrew Hughes]

Laguna sells the RK blades on their 14 inch wheel saws. The band is thinnest of them all .025 so put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[John TenEyck]

Tom, the Resaw King is a good blade, just expensive. A 3/4" x 2 tpi Woodmaster CT will cost a lot less and give you excellent service and performance. I use a 1" x 1.3 tpi on my 5 hp 17" Grizzly and it's a great choice for slicing veneer and heavy resawing. The 3/4" x 2 tpi is a better all-around choice, though, IMO, and likely a better option for your lighter 2 hp saw.

Tom Trees, get yourself a CT and enjoy it - for years. The 162" CT on my saw cost about $160. I've resharpened it once and will again when it finally dulls again. I've sawn hundreds and hundreds of sq ft of stock with it, mostly slicing veneer. It's a bargain in my book.

John

[Bill Dufour]

I would guess anyone making a carbide tipped blade would be using better quality steel. Better steel is less likely to crack. Also the steel can be optimized for blade life since hardness is no longer a factor.
Of course with carbide being so cheap now cheap factories will be making carbide blades and use cheap steel. I would not think a horrible fright carbide blade would use quality steel.
Bill D

[stephen thomas]

has been mentioned on the UK forums, CT blades being a false economy, as the blade would crack long before the carbide wears out.
With that said, I'll bet there's one or two here who's been running one since a long time ago.....
It sure begs an interesting question,

The problem for some of us is resawing lumber that kills carbon steel in a few feet, and is not much kinder to HSS.
I asked a similar Q to the OP on PM when resawing Tasmanian myrtle and ebony for the flooring borders here & my typical bands were not lasting long enough to be economical if they weren't legacy stuff from other jobs.
I've saved some lumber over the years that will mostly get re-sawn for instrument wood, or for veneers. Neither of those applications is economical with a band that dulls quickly and diverges.

Bookmarked discussion on PM; happy to keep reading more data points here, too!

smt

[Tom M King]

I resawed 10,000 lineal feet of Cypress, not over 5" wide, making shingles with a Woodmaster CT 1"-1.3 TPI and the blade was not hurt at all on a 24" saw. Of course, that was a really easy job for that blade and it didn't know the difference. One piece of Derek's wood will tax one more than that Cypress job.

That blade has done a lot of work since that job in 2016 and still cuts anything about as fast as you can push it through the saw, but I keep a cheap steel 1" blade on it for cutting questionable stuff. I don't use anything but a 1" blade on that saw. Bandsaws are like routers-you need one for each blade width, like routers for bits.

It split open a really old, White Oak slab that was wider than the saws normal capacity with the table and upper guide system off the saw. It did the task with no trouble, with that same blade. I did feed it much slower than it probably could have done it but I was hoping not to hit something unexpected and wanted to baby it without the upper guide.

[Jimmy Harris]

Which 17" Grizzly? Because the G0513 might not properly tension a 1" carbide blade. The bigger G0636 has a thicker frame and would probably tension one just fine. On a G0513, 3/4" is probably the upper limit. Though you might be able to tension a few 1" blades, provided they were sufficiently thin.

Also, what's wrong with the Wood Slicer? They're known for giving a smooth cut, probably pretty close to a Resaw King. However, they're also known to go dull very, very quickly. And a dull blade will give you problems.

On my G0513, I like the Timber Wolf 2-3 variable pitch resaw blade. That saw will easily tension it with plenty of room to spare. I set mine to about 1/2 max tension. And it cuts fairy fast, cuts straight, and stays sharp a good while. Also they can usually be found at a decent price. The down side is it leaves a rough surface that you have to plane.

[andy bessette]

...could we get some info on what sorta use you were giving that "ornament for your saw" ...

That premium blade was purchased from Eagle tools, in SoCal, long ago. Its use was mainly resawing teak, a very abrasive wood, and even heavy aluminum, on occasion. But mine is a one-man shop, and no high production. Now I have other machines, like a 20" DoAll, for cutting aluminum (and stainless).

[Steven O Smith]

A 1" Lenox carbide tipped blade came with my S45N (18") saw. I used it for 20 years, no fooling. I was having some difficulty with cuts and looked at the teeth under a microscope. I think I should have changed blades a lot sooner!