Bandsaw Blades Summary sorta kinda

[Don Brubaker]

Hope all will bear with me. I did research on Sawmill Creek for the "best" bandsaw blades and the following seems to be the results .....
(my needs are for a 143" blade(s) on a Grizzly G0514x2 - 3HP .... oh, yah! .... using everything from 1/8" to about 1" max - though it can go to 1 1/4" .... I may replace grizz guides with carters, but will try grizz's first)

Overall the Olson or Timber Wolf seem to be the best choice for general use blades.

Lenox carbide (stay away from use with wet/green) and/or Wood Slicer (avail @ Highland) for resaw work
(Hastings Saws is a good resource for info, Lenox, and other blades)

The Laguna blades seem to get several nods for both the general blades and resaw work; and, surprisingly, their prices are very reasonable and all blades are custom.

Any comments? Thanks.

[Barry Vabeach]

I have read a lot of reviews and some posters have suggested that Timberwolf , and other regular carbon blades, don't stay sharp very long, though it is unclear how long that is. The consensus is that carbide are excellent, though very expensive. According to Iturra, bimetal is the best bang for the buck. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything that does a real comparison of how long a blade retains its sharpness - The FWW review stated that it did not consider that.

[Mark Singer]

The Olson MVP is a bimetal, very reasonable and probably the best value out there. I have used most of them. The Trimaster is in a different league and a fine blade. I use both.

[Verne Mattson]

I went from Timberwolf bands to a 1/2" Trimaster recently for my Delta 14" with riser. I have to agree that it's in a different league. It's a terrific band - I wish I had bought it sooner. I've resawed, roughsawed and cut some test dovetails with it. It makes a remarkably smooth cut.

For cutting curves I invested in a Lenox bi-metal 1/4" band, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet.

I don't think you can go wrong with the trimaster, but indeed it's a hefty investment. On the other hand it'll probably stay sharp much, much longer than any other non-carbide band.

[David Romano]

I really only consider bi-metal or carbide blades. The bi-metal probably offer the best value, certainly better than carbon blades like the woodslicer and timberwolf. While I don't question their quality of cut, I don't want to buy a blade that won't last and that I have to worry about overheating. I have a 142" Starrett Gladiator 3/4" wide with a 4/6 pitch. It cuts fantastically and cost me about $60. A carbon blade would have to be less than $10 to offer the same value. For curve cutting I bought a Starrett Powerband 1/4" wide with a 10/14 pitch and zero rake for extra cut smoothness

[Peter Quadarella]

I did recently order a carbide and bi-metal blade from Lennox. However, I started out by picking up 4 Timberwolf blades of various sizes. I think they are a good value and worth getting. You can try out a bunch of sizes, on quality blades, for $20 a piece or so. They last reasonably well (I haven't dulled all of mine), and after they go a bit are still nice to have around for cutting green or messy stuff. If I had to do it over again, I would still have started out with the blades I did.