Band saw blade

[caretaker]

I have a band saw, only a small saw and was cheep to bye but am getting on with it.
I do have a small problem about what blade would suet the job I am doing.
The job is to cut floor boards for a dolls house, well I have done some about 4 inches long and they are fine then wonted some about 6 inches long and the saw blade started to cut inwards.
I have fitted a fine tooth blade that is not to thick for cutting fine work, is this the right blade or what blade would suit me best.
All cuts will be strait cuts.

 

[9fingers]

I would use the widest blade that the machine can take.

The tooth pitch should be equal to or finer than 1/3 of the thickness of the wood.

So 3mm thick wood needs 1mm pitch (26 teeth per inch or more)

Feeding the wood slowly should help minimise drift in the cut.

hth

Bob

 

[devonwoody]

Your problem is the thickness of the timber. I would want to be cutting those strips off a thicker and longer length and cutting to length the final act with a handsaw.

 

[OPJ]

I agree with Bob, when he advises you to use the widest blade your saw can take. However, while many "small" bandsaws will claim to be able to take a 5/8" blade (for example), it may not be able to tension it properly. So, you might be better off going for the next size down (½"?), which would still be adequate for any ripping needs.

Once you've correctly fitted, tensioned and tracked your new blade, you may also want to check that the fence is set at the correct cutting angle to account for what's known as 'blade drift' (this often needs to be checked each time you fit a new blade)...

Take a piece of scrap (MDF or ply is ideal, because it has no grain) with one straight edge and scribe a pencil line parallel to this edge. Cutting freehand (without using the fence), follow that pencil line as best as you can. Stop when you get halfway down the length, switch the saw off and either clamp the board in place or, draw a pencil line on your bandsaw's table. Either way, you'll have the correct cutting angle for your blade and you should find that parallel cuts are now a breeze, where the timber remains tightly up against the fence.

When you come to purchasing a new blade (or two!), I highly recommend you get in touch with Ian at Tuff Saws. One of his Supertuff Premium blades would be ideal, as the thin-kerf means the blade requires less tension and, therefore, this puts less strain on the saw - you may be able to fully-tension a wide blade, after all! :wink: I'm not sure of what his tooth pitches are but. he'll certainly be able to advise you on the correct blade for the job in hand.