Bandsaw blade question

[triw51]

I am still new to some aspects of woodworking and using a band saw is one of those areas. I wanted to do some re-sawing of juniper boards for a box I am making and needed a wider blade than the 1/4" I have on the saw. (I was told to get a wider blade for re-saw work).
I was looking at band saw blades for re-sawing and was looking at 3/4" wide blades. I saw 3/4" re-saw blades were priced at $140 and change while regular 3/4" blades were about $45 (lenox brand I think). My question is what is the difference between a "re-saw blade" and a regular blade? Both were 3/4" wide and had 3 tpi I am not sure how thick the blades were. Is there that much of a difference?
Thanks for any input you can supply. William\

PS Also if you have a suggestion for a better blade width or brand I am open for suggestions

 

[donstephan]

You might want to check on the maximum width of blade your saw can take.

 

[triw51]

You might want to check on the maximum width of blade your saw can take.

I will take up to a 1" saw blade

 

[bmachin]

Here's a partial quote from a post that I regularly make and I'll stand by it:

"I generally end up making this same post a couple of times a year whenever bandsaw questions come up. Give Iturra Designs a call at (904) 642-2802 and ask for their catalog. It contains a wealth of information and opinion (some of it quite strong) on saws, blades, and accessories. About the..."

I suspect that at 140 bucks you're looking at a carbide blade and you may be hearing from sbwertz (Sharon), and jttheclockman both of whom are big fans of carbide blades. By the way, unless the price has gone up, the Iturra catalog is $5, but well worth it. Probably the best source of bandsaw knowledge out there.

They are also quite free with advice over the phone. No web presence.

Bill

 

[jttheclockman]

Yes you are looking at a carbide 3/4" blade for that price. No HSS blade will cost that much. I use Lennox 3/4" Trimaster carbide for all my resawing and love it. Have been for many many years now and have sawn all sorts of domestics and exotics. As mentioned your saw must be able to handle that size and you said up to 1" so you are good to go. Are they worth it you may ask, well in my eyes they are worth every penny because I do alot of resawing. I have also honed them on occasion too. Time consuming but when things are slow why not.

 

[robutacion]

I don't know what size blades you bandsaw takes (length wise) and as mentioned above each size bandsaw has recommendations for the max-width you should put on it, there are reasons for that a couple of which can totally destroy the bearings and bearings housing, anyway, if you normally use 1/4 the 3/4 is a good size for resawing and depending on how smooth you want the cut to be, you may use for 3 TPI to 8 TPI the more teeth the smoother the cut but, from the prices you mentioned of $140 that would be the price for a carbide-tipped blade if the bandsaw is small, the normal black steel blades are the cheapest, I pay about $29 each for a 16" (3345mm blade length) bandsaw, the bi-metal where the teeth are treated/tempered normally last longer if you don't hit metal, the teeth break as easy as the normal black steel however, you get about 3 more times the use compared to the black metal ones. The difference of price between black steel and bi-metal blades can be worthwhile and the prices should be also about 3 times the price of the normal blades, I don't think that you have a use for the carbide-tipped blades.

In all brands and types of bandsaw blades, they have at least 2 thicknesses (kurf), I always suggest getting the thicker kurf unless you need to slice something where you must lose the minimum amount of material, either way, I like to use the 1/2" x 3TPI heavy kurf, if your guides are running through and you get straight cuts, the price difference between 1/2" and 3/4" at least here in Australia is almost double and I see it as a waste of money, you get exactly the same amount of sharpenings on both so, you can buy 3 1/2" blades for the price of 2 3/4" ones.

Honestly, the idea of running the widest blades I could was the biggest mistake I've made with this 16" bandsaw, sure put a 48MM blade on your bandsaw and you will get straight cuts easily but all the bearings get destroyed quite fast, widest blades with very low TPI count such a 1 or 2 TPI are "better" for ripping but for resawing less aggressive blades do a better job with less operating costs, this is all off-course my views/opinion...!

Cheers
George

 

[jttheclockman]

George is right to a point but the thing about bearings comes down to proper tension. Each blade is tensioned differently due to make up of the blade material and also the size of the blade. Bandsaws are calculated to allow for certain size blades and if you push those limits than any bandsaw will fail in more parts than bearings. Tuning a bandsaw is an art and skill acquired.