Steve Maskery
Established Member
Yesterday I was in the workshop. First time for ages, and I wanted to make a prototype for a jig modification. So I was ripping some beech for runners and MDF for jiggy bits.
The first thing I noticed was that my rip blade was drifting. I couldn't understand why, as it was a new blade just a few weeks ago, I've not been inthe 'shop much and it can only have been used for a few minutes and cut a few metres of anything. But it was definitely drifting.
So I tweaked the tracking but it had no effect. How very strange! Annoying too. Then there was an almighty Bang, the tracking knob flew across the workshop and everything stopped dead.
My brand new Starrett blade was wrapped round the inside of the machine like one of those children's puzzles where you have to find which child is holding which kite string (despite the fact that a kite string needs to be under tension for the kite to fly, a Physics Phact that puzzle-book compilers fail to instill in their young readers - but I digress).
The 1/2" blade has knackered the pulley belt and I had to cut the blade away. No damage to the body of the saw, though, thankfully. But one brand new blade wasted. I also had to rebuild the tracking knob, which has stripped its thread - goodness knows how, but that was why it was not tracking the wheel.
However, every cloud has a silver lining, and this was a good opportunity to try out one of Ian John's new TuffCut blades. Now there is a problem in reviewing something one has been asked to review, in that some people think that one can't be objective and unbiased. But apart from the fact that I very rarely get given anything to review, even when I do I make it clear that if I like it I will tell others and if I don't I won't. I'm not going to risk my own reputation to save someone else's. So you'll have to make up your own mind on that score.
The blade itself looks very nice. 3TPI, skip tooth, ground body, thin kerf. The last point is very helpful, as it is 5/8" wide. Thin kerf means less steel to stretch, so I can tension it without pushing my saw to its limits. It was properly welded with the teeth running nicely through the weld and cleaned up properly both on the sides and back.
I set it up, tracked it properly and started ripping. It cut straight as a die, with a good surface finish, too. One thing I found was that I could take off just 0.5mm without the blade being deflected off the cut, which is always a good test - cutting only on one side of the blade is something that bandsaws are generally not good at.
I have another two blades to try at some point, a 3/4 thin kerf resaw blade (2 flame-hardened TPI with a smaller raker tooth in between for swarf removal), and a standard 6TPI 1/4 for curved work. Watch this space.
I can say, hand on heart, that I have never used such a good blade, and I'm delighted to be able to tell the world about it.
Ian's a good bloke and deserves support. With so much mediocrity in the world, quality from a small supplier is to be celebrated. He's also a very generous chap, having donated a couple of blades to the Training College in Zambia where I helped out a bit last year. They currently have just one 30mm blade, so they can't cut curves. Ian's blades will give them a lot of extra functionality. Thank you Ian.
The first thing I noticed was that my rip blade was drifting. I couldn't understand why, as it was a new blade just a few weeks ago, I've not been inthe 'shop much and it can only have been used for a few minutes and cut a few metres of anything. But it was definitely drifting.
So I tweaked the tracking but it had no effect. How very strange! Annoying too. Then there was an almighty Bang, the tracking knob flew across the workshop and everything stopped dead.
My brand new Starrett blade was wrapped round the inside of the machine like one of those children's puzzles where you have to find which child is holding which kite string (despite the fact that a kite string needs to be under tension for the kite to fly, a Physics Phact that puzzle-book compilers fail to instill in their young readers - but I digress).
The 1/2" blade has knackered the pulley belt and I had to cut the blade away. No damage to the body of the saw, though, thankfully. But one brand new blade wasted. I also had to rebuild the tracking knob, which has stripped its thread - goodness knows how, but that was why it was not tracking the wheel.
However, every cloud has a silver lining, and this was a good opportunity to try out one of Ian John's new TuffCut blades. Now there is a problem in reviewing something one has been asked to review, in that some people think that one can't be objective and unbiased. But apart from the fact that I very rarely get given anything to review, even when I do I make it clear that if I like it I will tell others and if I don't I won't. I'm not going to risk my own reputation to save someone else's. So you'll have to make up your own mind on that score.
The blade itself looks very nice. 3TPI, skip tooth, ground body, thin kerf. The last point is very helpful, as it is 5/8" wide. Thin kerf means less steel to stretch, so I can tension it without pushing my saw to its limits. It was properly welded with the teeth running nicely through the weld and cleaned up properly both on the sides and back.
I set it up, tracked it properly and started ripping. It cut straight as a die, with a good surface finish, too. One thing I found was that I could take off just 0.5mm without the blade being deflected off the cut, which is always a good test - cutting only on one side of the blade is something that bandsaws are generally not good at.
I have another two blades to try at some point, a 3/4 thin kerf resaw blade (2 flame-hardened TPI with a smaller raker tooth in between for swarf removal), and a standard 6TPI 1/4 for curved work. Watch this space.
I can say, hand on heart, that I have never used such a good blade, and I'm delighted to be able to tell the world about it.
Ian's a good bloke and deserves support. With so much mediocrity in the world, quality from a small supplier is to be celebrated. He's also a very generous chap, having donated a couple of blades to the Training College in Zambia where I helped out a bit last year. They currently have just one 30mm blade, so they can't cut curves. Ian's blades will give them a lot of extra functionality. Thank you Ian.
