condeesteso
Established Member
This is a long story turned short... some years ago I read David Charlesworth’s feature in Popular Woodworking about tuning bandsaws, and in particular his ‘meat & fish’ blade.
After a while I tracked one down and that converted me to the potential benefits. Over some years I have tried every blade I can reasonably find, including Starrett, Hakansson, Dakin Flathers, Morse...
I have a rack on the wall with many disappointments - it looks like this (but about as many again are hidden in boxes, most unused).
What I have been looking for.
[Worth noting all this relates to a floorstanding BS500, 142” blade).
Above all, predictable precision. I am not a factory so volumes are quite low.
I use the bandsaw mainly for ripping, and range from thin stock up to the max I can do (11”).
I want a thin kerf because it seems to me to make total sense, provided there are no bad compromises that come with it. Less waste, far better grain match, less energy. Given my volume the one that matters is grain match coupled with quality of cut (so less to smooth after = better actual grain-match).
The benchmark.
For me and without any question at all - the best all-rounder ripping blade, and embarrasingly better than every other one I have tried: Tuffsaws Fastcut vari-pitch 3/4” 3 / 4 tpi.
If you have used one you will fully understand, if not please try one. And if you know something even better I’d like to know. Here it is:
The hunt for the ultimate thin-kerf blade (142” note).
Some time ago I started speaking with Ian at Tuffsaws about longer thin-kerf blades.
He has produced 3 different test samples which he is testing, and I have one of each.
To give my idea regarding kerf, the Starretts etc all make a kerf around 1.7mm. I see no significant difference between any of them (Starrett, Hakensson, DF, Morse).
The Fastcut 3/4 leaves a kerf 0.9mm. It cuts cleaner and faster too.
Of the test thin-kerf blades, I had a 1/2” normal set which matched the Fastcut kerf at around 0.85mm. It is from 0.5mm stock. Here:
The really interesting one is a 0.18” (.45mm) ‘Fastcut' stock, 5/8”, 3 - 4 vari-pitch, with a kerf <0.75mm. Best I can measure, more than 0.7mm, maybe about 0.73.
And here is a kerf comparison (of course the quality of cut is just as important)
There are 3 blades here, a Starrett (fat kerf), the fastcut (2 cuts, to left), and the 5/8 ultra-thin kerf.
The quality of cut is excellent, seriously a 0.25mm pass on the planer removed all saw marks. Harder to measure with handplanes but 2 or 3 passes of a finely tuned smoother seemed enough.
I have successfully cut 6" stock into 5mm sheets, and am still working with it. It does require care setting up and any risk of drift must be eliminated.
I think Ian (Tuffsaws) plans to have this thin-kerf stock available soon. As a precision blade sitting alongside the Fastcut 3/4", it's seriously impressive. I have already ordered a 73" for my smaller machine - it will be a demon on that, no doubt at all.
After a while I tracked one down and that converted me to the potential benefits. Over some years I have tried every blade I can reasonably find, including Starrett, Hakansson, Dakin Flathers, Morse...
I have a rack on the wall with many disappointments - it looks like this (but about as many again are hidden in boxes, most unused).
What I have been looking for.
[Worth noting all this relates to a floorstanding BS500, 142” blade).
Above all, predictable precision. I am not a factory so volumes are quite low.
I use the bandsaw mainly for ripping, and range from thin stock up to the max I can do (11”).
I want a thin kerf because it seems to me to make total sense, provided there are no bad compromises that come with it. Less waste, far better grain match, less energy. Given my volume the one that matters is grain match coupled with quality of cut (so less to smooth after = better actual grain-match).
The benchmark.
For me and without any question at all - the best all-rounder ripping blade, and embarrasingly better than every other one I have tried: Tuffsaws Fastcut vari-pitch 3/4” 3 / 4 tpi.
If you have used one you will fully understand, if not please try one. And if you know something even better I’d like to know. Here it is:
The hunt for the ultimate thin-kerf blade (142” note).
Some time ago I started speaking with Ian at Tuffsaws about longer thin-kerf blades.
He has produced 3 different test samples which he is testing, and I have one of each.
To give my idea regarding kerf, the Starretts etc all make a kerf around 1.7mm. I see no significant difference between any of them (Starrett, Hakensson, DF, Morse).
The Fastcut 3/4 leaves a kerf 0.9mm. It cuts cleaner and faster too.
Of the test thin-kerf blades, I had a 1/2” normal set which matched the Fastcut kerf at around 0.85mm. It is from 0.5mm stock. Here:
The really interesting one is a 0.18” (.45mm) ‘Fastcut' stock, 5/8”, 3 - 4 vari-pitch, with a kerf <0.75mm. Best I can measure, more than 0.7mm, maybe about 0.73.
And here is a kerf comparison (of course the quality of cut is just as important)
There are 3 blades here, a Starrett (fat kerf), the fastcut (2 cuts, to left), and the 5/8 ultra-thin kerf.
The quality of cut is excellent, seriously a 0.25mm pass on the planer removed all saw marks. Harder to measure with handplanes but 2 or 3 passes of a finely tuned smoother seemed enough.
I have successfully cut 6" stock into 5mm sheets, and am still working with it. It does require care setting up and any risk of drift must be eliminated.
I think Ian (Tuffsaws) plans to have this thin-kerf stock available soon. As a precision blade sitting alongside the Fastcut 3/4", it's seriously impressive. I have already ordered a 73" for my smaller machine - it will be a demon on that, no doubt at all.
