band saw blade question

[avbill]

I have research band saws but never realized the need to understand the blades. I have read books about the blades. I talked to two company's about the blades and get three answers all different. So I'm in the Fog. And living in San Francisco area fog belt I'm not surprised!

I hope IAP can help

I will be using the bandsaw for three purposes:

1. Resawing sawing logs that are 4" x 14" into pen blanks This will be 15% of my use of the bandsaw

2. My main use will be to cut long smooth sloping curves for segmenting veneer wood within the pen blank.

3 My wife wants to have gingerbread ornaments made for the house.
Please note that I found a easy way to get my new bandsaw. A project that she wants!!

Now my question:

What saw blade will I need to execute each project/purpose?
What saw blade (company) do you people recommend?


Several companies po-poed a available-pitch blades why who knows

What I do know the wider the blade thew smoother the cut
A regular tooth is the smoothest cut.
For cutting contours a regular blade is better
A slow steady speed in cutting creates a smooth finish.


What I DONOT know is:

How does pitch determine the smoothness of the cut.

Someone said that a 6tpi is the best. for purpose # 2. Yet I would have thought a finer pitch such as 12TPI would be better? The book I read said 10 to 14 TPI for soft curves.

You see just a small amount of knowledge confuses me? and I'm dangerous at best!

Any help to clarify the confusion would be helpful. thanks

 

[workinforwood]

Timberwolf is probably going to be the best place to get blades. You need a wide blade..wider the better for those big logs you want to resaw. A 1/4" or smaller blade for cutting gentle curves. That's about all I can offer.

 

[Robert Taylor]

as jeff has said the timberwolf blades would be great for resawing the logs into blanks. the widest blade that your saw can handle with about 3 teeth per inch. gentle curves can be cut with a 1/2" or 3/8" blade. i took a bandsaw box class at woodcraft and a 3/16" blade with 10 teeth per inch was reccomended for tighter curves in the smaller boxes. i am surprised that jeff did not reccomend a scroll saw blade for job number three. "honey i really need a scroll saw to get your job done" should do the trick. here is a link to rikon's recommendations for the width of blade to radius cuts. scroll down to page 24

http://www.rikontools.com/manuals/10325.pdf

 

[PenMan1]

If you are doing a good bit of resawing (and the numbers that you posted indicate that you are). IMHO, the WoodSlicer from Highland Woodworking puts the Olsen and the Timberwolf to shame.

The WoodSlicer is a variable tooth pitch, the thinnest kerf in the business (which produces very smooth cuts) and the best part is that is custom made lengths so they are available for any bandsaw AND they are cheaper than the other two.

 

[Robert Taylor]

indeed the woodslicer from highland is a great blade. but since he said he wanted to cut logs into pen blanks i just assumed he was cutting green wood. i know i should never assume anything. the woodslicer blades have less "set" than the others and designed for dry wood. from highlands own description, (Due to the blades' minimal set the WoodSlicer® is not recommended for cutting green wood). it is always best/safest to use the proper blade for the job to be done.

 

[KenV]

I am amazed that you find 4" by 14" logs -- Most trees are closer to round or oval. I assume that you are re-sawing timbers that have been rough sawn by a mill. And those timbers are probably pretty small or they would be very heavy for small bandsaws. (Woodmizer and similar are large bandsaws).

That suggests that your are dealing with dry or partially dry materials and it is generally free of rocks, gravel, metal etc that can happen in the outside bark of wood.

That means that you will not be using a "junk blade" of low cost that you can easily waste with rocks and debris. Burls can have lots of debris in the bark inclusions. Been there and lost blades on that.

One Blade Will Not Do It All

Sounds like you need a resaw blade - but not an especially fine one such as might be used to cut veneer, unless you are cutting high value woods Less set, thinner kerf less loss. Woodslicer is a premium narrow kerf fine cutting blade. Cuts great veneer and will make nice slabs for recutting into pen blanks. TimberWolf (I think they changed name a year or so ago) are good blades -- with a bit more kerf.
1/2 inch is good here -- wide is better for straight and narrow is better for curves

Smooth curves --- narrower blade -- thinner stock so want to have 2-3 or more teeth in the material so 4-6 teeth per inch. Say 1/4 or 3/8 width.


Ginger bread -- how tight the curves?? How easy will it be to sand?? Tight curves need small blade width. I expect you and use 3/16 to 1/4 inch blades.

I tend to use 1/4 inch Olsen bi-metalic as my utility blade -- and use an orbital sander to cleanup the curves.


You will develop some preferences with practice -- but grab a starting point and get cutting. Change as you see the need depending on your style.