Which blade for re-sawing?

[wizer]

I need a new bandsaw blade for re-sawing hardwood. I'm not particularly interested in cutting thin veneer, but it'd be nice to have a nice finish straight from the saw. My bandsaw will take up to 5/8" blade but I'm not sure if I shouldn't go for 1/2" to be on the safe side. I'm not sure I want to lay out for M42. Thissite give me the option of either Meat and Fish or Carbon Steel as alternatives.

Question is, what TPI should I select? 6?, 12?

Also I take it for rough cutting, I need as fewer teeth as possible? Like 4tpi?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Tom, for resawing you need few, large teeth with big gullets to clear the sawdust. Try the Starret Woodpecker. That's the thin flexi one in my DVD. I've not used one, but the sample length I got was lovely. I've not long bought a whole set of new blades, but if I hadn't I'd be trying that one.

For resawing on a home machine I wouldn't use more than 3 tpi, maybe 2 or even down to 1. 6TPI will just clog because the gullet will be full of sawdust after just a couple of mm of cutting.

S

 

[paulm]

Do you know of any stockists for the woodpecker Steve ? I tried to find them a while ago without any success.....

Cheers, Paul

 

[Steve Maskery]

The samples I show in my DVD were all given to me by my local saw doctor, East Midland Saw and Tool in Long Eaton. I don't think they do mail order though, but any Starrett stockist should be able to supply.

S

BTW, Tom, don't forget that a skip or hook tooth is going to be better for ripping and resawing than a standard tooth would be.

 

[MikeG.]

Tom,

why don't you wan't M42 blades? I got so sick and tired of spending ages adjusting everything for new blades every 5 minutes that I started using M42s, and they are brilliant. The downside is that the kerf is quite wide, for a bandsaw, but everything else is positive. They last ages..........I'm guessing at 10 times as long as a normal blade. I wouldn't go back!

Mike

 

[ondablade]

Timberwolf get a very good press in the US for blades that considerably ease the resawing task. This is the maker: http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/ They are a specialist bandsaw blade manufacturer with a lot of involvement in industrial applications, and not just some retail outfit.

I bought a selection of four just before Christmas from them to try on my Scheppach Basato 5-4 which is inclined to vibrate on deep cuts - but have not tried them yet.

They look very nicely made. They apparently use high grade steels to get away with a thinner blade and kerf that requires less tension to be set right, and do a lot of optimising of tooth forms for different wood applications. The blades arrived in a few days, prices were about the same as the UK at $22 per blade and shipping cost $35.

I exchanged e-mails with Thomas Davies who was knowledgeable and helpful. If nothing else there's quite a lot of blade advice and selection information on the site.

ian

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Tom,

Them meat and fish blades are rubbish, you really need one made of metal :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Richard :wink:

 

[wizer]

Cheers Rich, I'll make a note of that. No blades with scales...

Mike, the only reason I don't want to go for M42 is the price. I need three blades and they all hover around £30 They may well last a lot longer, but I can't afford the outlay right now. If it was just one, then I might do it. I'll try one in the future.

I take it the resaw and rough cutting requirements are the same, but clearly should be kept separate? i.e both blades should be low TPI and as wide as the machine will take.

 

[OPJ]

M42s are fine, as long - as they don't snap on the weld! :roll:

How deep do you think you are looking to cut?

I use 4tpi skip-tooth blade on anything up to 4in. thick or 'deep', purely because it does give a much better finish. 3tpi will cut much faster but, as you've already sussed, the finish won't be as good and I find them quite noisy; sometimes too aggressive for the job in hand. 4tpi blades make you feel more 'in control'.

Thin-kerf blades run much better on these smaller (10"-14") saws simply because they put less of a strain on the frame and require far less tension than one of standard thickness. When they're sharp, they really do cut like a hot knife through butter! :wink: I also find 'washboarding' (where the saw cuts aren't vertical/90°) can be a problem but, that's probably because I'm a bit impatient and try to feed the wood too fast...

I can't recommend a supplier at the minute because I currently don't have one - still working my way through some old Dragon blades.