Band saw blade size and burning

[Chapel Eastland]

This sticky is one of the best in any woodworking forum, and even better that it deals with bandsaw blades. I suggest you read it all from beginning to end. You'll be far wiser on the otherside. Don't forget to contact Iturra Designs either and request their catalog.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....andsaw-blades!

[Zachary Hoyt]

The only way to mount a bandsaw blade with the teeth backwards is to turn it inside out. I ran one once that way, for a moment, it was when I switched to a new sharpening service for our sawmill blades and the guy turned all of the blades inside out to sharpen them on his equipment. It only takes a moment to flip them around, and he does a lot better job making the blade sharp with no burrs than the old (now closed) place did. It did sort of cut backward, but not well at all.
Zach

[Dan Gaylin]

Well, good news to report. The new blade solved the problem. Despite the fact that it has fewer teeth per inch and is 1/2” instead of 5/8” it makes much cleaner cuts and resaws straighter. And NO BURNING. Very clean cuts on 4” thick hard maple. That must just be a terrible blade that the saw comes with. 116” worked fine. Thanks again everyone for your help and advice.

-dan

[Mike King]

As to Michael Fortune, there's nothing in his video that isn't good advice and he also says in another video that blade drift is not a real thing, rather incorrect bandsaw setup. Let's not make Mr. Fortune anti- tension gauge.

Except that he definitely doesn’t use a tension gauge and advocates only using enough tension to take the major deflection out of the blade. How do I know? I took a two-week workshop with him at Anderson Ranch and we went through properly setting up a bandsaw.

I seriously doubt that the burning is cause by tension, or a lack of it. The culprit is likely that the gullets are being overloaded, and that could be from an improper blade (not enough set, too many teeth, gullets too shallow, dull), improper technique (feed rate too high), or improper blade alignment.

[Chapel Eastland]

I said earlier (twice) that some people have success with their own methods. I also said that incorrect tension is a major problem with over tension (rare) and under tension (common). If everyone who used a bandsaw was Michael Fortune there would be less problems (perhaps) but correct tension remains a problem, particularly with beginnners and even many who have used bandsaws for years.

[Dan Gaylin]

I seriously doubt that the burning is cause by tension, or a lack of it. The culprit is likely that the gullets are being overloaded, and that could be from an improper blade (not enough set, too many teeth, gullets too shallow, dull), improper technique (feed rate too high), or improper blade alignment.

I realize that you guys may be just discussing this in generalities at this point, but in case you missed my previous post, the new blade (with proper set-up, and a similar approach to tension that I was using with the previous blade) solved the problem entirely.

Chapel, I agree with the band saw sticky (thank you for pointing it out to me) on every point, including the fact that the blades made of silicone steel (e.g., Timberwolf, which is the replacement blade I installed) are very nice initially but dull quickly. I wanted to try this particular blade because I am familiar with them and could quickly get my hands on one in the right size.

I should have noted that the stock blade I replaced was essentially new (I got the saw in February and haven't used it much, in part because it was frustrating me with the burning). So the blade wasn't dull. And it wasn't installed incorrectly. It was just a terrible blade. So my recommendation to anyone who has bought a new Jet bandsaw recently and is dissatisfied with the results is to throw away the blade that came with it, and install a new one from a reputable blade manufacturer.

[Edwin Santos]

Dan,
Thank you for reporting back with the solution to your original issue. Glad to hear you've solved your problem and you're ready to roll.

Edwin

[Chapel Eastland]

The blade that came with my Grizzly was of value only to setup the bandsaw, make sure it worked properly, make a few cuts, then off it came. I buy Lenox Diemaster 2. Initially more expensive, but very cost effective long-term.

I wish Lenox made a 3/16 and 1/8 but they don't so I'm looking to Starrett for those.

Glad your problem was solved.