Which Bandsaw Blade

[Bassbear81]

Who does the best blades, I remember reading something about Dragon blades (but also remember reading they were no longer about).

 

[Ironballs]

Best is down to opinion, I have some great Dakin Flathers blades for example. Dragon no longer exist but Ian John on here used to work there and now has his own outfit supplying blades. If you PM him he'd be happy to give you a quote and his prices are pretty good

 

[Mike H]

Agree , a matter of opinion and also the quality of the bandsaw.

Bandsaws wich cannot tension the blade properly can benefit from thinner blades, top of the range bandsaws can tension a fatter blade which wont deviate so much under stress and those with an adequate cutting speed( say 1500m/min plus) from TCT tipped blades( very expensive though but last 10 times longer).

M42 blades do last longer (at a price) than conventional but the tooth patterns available are not ideal for resawing.

Those considerations should come, to my mind, before worrying about a supplier.

I have found Hakansson (Scott and Sargeant, Tilgear), Hamilton Edge(new name I think now), Silco(Felder) and Flathers and Dakin all good.

The Hamilton fish blades are very good on smaller bandsaws, say less 6" depth of cut . I saw a real improvement on my mate's small Metabo.


Mike

8)

 

[iajon69]

M42 blades do last longer (at a price) than conventional but the tooth patterns available are not ideal for resawing.
Mike

8)

I've got two M42 blades that are amazing for re-sawing. Both 3tpi Hook and both designed specifically for re-sawing/ripping. M42 blades are not as expensive as a lot of people think and blade life more than makes up for the initial price.

It is important to match the correct blade to the job that you are doing and a good quality blade will make a big difference on any bandsaw

Ian

 

[tigerturnings]

I bought a few blades for both my 18" Jet and my Wadkin C7 from Ian John and have been very impressed both by the speed and high standard of his customer service, and by the quality of the blades. I was also pleased with his prices.

Neil

 

[diarmaid]

I really like the starrett blades