by Ron Sardo, Ellis Walentine, Rob Sandow, Steve Wilson, and Garrett Lambert
This is a review of four popular bandsaw blades for resawing that I have tried on my 14-in. Reliant bandsaw, which is equipped with a 1-HP motor. The blades, in the order that I tried them, are:
- 3/4" 3 tpi resaw blade from Rockler
- 1/2" 3 tpi Woodslicer from Highland Hardware ($35)
- 3/8" 4 tpi Olsen - skip tooth raker from Woodworker Warehouse ($11)
- 1/2" 3 tpi PS from Suffolk Machinery ($20)
Band #1 (3/4" 3 tpi resaw blade from Rockler):
I could never get it to run, so cannot comment on its effectiveness. The manual for the bandsaw indicates that a the saw will handle a 3/4" wide band. Not! I believe the problem in this case is the saw and not the band.Band #2 (1/2" 3 tpi Woodslicer from Highland Hardware):
This band cuts like a dream. By far the smoothest cut of all all. It also has the thinnest kerf, and yet it cut 1/32" thick veneers that barely needed any resurfacing. One of the problems – again the saw, not the band - is that I really had to crank up the tension. I was planning to purchase a high tension spring for the bandsaw but ran into other problems. Since this band is so thin, it is very easy to knock the set out of it. According to Highland Hardware a hard knot will ruin it. I'm not sure what happened to mine since I only re-saw clear wood, but after cutting about 150 bd ft, including oak and curly maple, the band was dull. The down-side of the design appears to be a very short life span.Band #3 (3/8" 4 tpi Olsen - skip tooth, raker):
Boy was I surprised! This band cut almost as fast as the Woodslicer at about 1/3 the price. However, the cut was rougher. From a piece of 5/4 x 6" wide cherry I cut 7 slices 3/32" thick. With the woodslicer I would have cut 8 pieces (on a good day I might even get 9 pieces).Band #4 (1/2" 3 tpi from Suffolk Machinery):
The folks at Suffolk Machinery are good folks to talk to. After asking me about my needs they suggested a 1/2" 3 tpi PS band. I asked them about a higher tension spring for the bandsaw and was told not to waste my money, because their bands have a lower tension requirement. When I installed this band I found needed about the same tension as the 3/8" Olsen, and that it cuts wood just as quickly - and as roughly - as the Olsen. The thickness of the kerf on the Suffolk and Olsen bands is the same.Recommendations:
If you have very expensive, rare wood and you want to cut thin veneers with the smoothest cut, I would recommend Highland's Woodslicer. If you plan on cutting your standard, run-of-the-mill woods (oak, maple, cherry, walnut) the Olsen band is the best value.. . . Ron Sardo
For sawing logs, a heavy-duty band probably makes sense, although I don't know if precision carbide is called for. You'll be hitting grime and the occasional piece of barbed wire and all sorts of debris in logs and you don't want to trash that deluxe blade. I'd also be concerned about running a 1 ½" blade on a 16" saw. It's thick and fatigue could become an issue, but I can't say that with authority.
For precision re-sawing of stock up to 8 or 10 inches, which probably covers 95% of all the re-sawing you'll do, I've had wonderful results with the Lenox Pro-Master III variable pitch (3-4 pitch) carbide blades. They cost about a buck an inch, but I've never had smoother cuts. The 1/2" size is definitely on the light side, but it's worked fine for me.
. . . Ellis Walentine
The blade I'm using is a Lenox 1" wide with a variable pitch 2 tpi / 3 tpi. Supposedly the variable pitch prevents the blade from having a single natural frequency, reducing vibration. I run this blade on a Laguna LT16 with 1.5 HP motor. That's about the minimum saw for this particular blade, but there are 1/2" and 3/4" 3 tpi versions of this blade that work well on 14" saws. They can be found at www.lenoxsaw.com. I paid $140 for mine, but the smaller ones can be had for less. In fact, I only paid $40 for a 3/4" one on clearance in Woodworkers Warehouse a while back.
The kerf is 1/16", much wider than the steel blades, but that's not the important thing. Steel blades wander and flex in the cut. They also have a tooth set that leaves a very rough surface. Carbide toothed bands are made of heavy gauge steel and are tensioned well beyond what ordinary steel blades are. These two factors almost eliminate wander in the cut. The carbide blade also leaves a very smooth surface that may not even require planing. The end result is that although the kerf is wider, you'll probably get a better effective yield because you won't have to do so much planing after each cut.
I have 6 Timberwolf blades of various sizes and 2 carbide blades for my saw. I haven't put a Timberwolf on in over a year. (BTW, I think their low-tension claim is suspect. I have to tension them just like any other blade in order to keep the from wandering through a cut.)
. . . Rob Sandow
I wouldn't go with the Lenox Trimaster carbide on the MM16 - the wheels are too small for the thickness of the blade, try one of the bimetal bands instead. Also, if you have the portability kit installed on the bandsaw you'll have a heck of a time getting that 1 1/4" band on because the lower door will probably hit one of the wheels and not open far enough. I have a heck of a time getting a 1" Lenox carbide band on my MM20 (wheel gets in the way of the door), and a 1 1/4" wouldn't work. The MM16 will be able to tension it but you'll really have to crank it down. I use a Starrett tensionometer and find that to get 25000 psi I need to make the stock gauge go nearly off scale. As for pitch, the Lennox varipitch blade is nice, it tends to keep the saw from building up harmonic resonance (which can lead to a bit of blade vibration). I like the 3/4 varipitch blade although the 2/3 blade should be every bit as good.
. . . Steve Wilson
I have a 20" 3 HP Taiwanese bandsaw, and use inexpensive 1" silicon steel 3 tpi hook tooth bands for re-sawing. They cut like butter but leave a rough face. For BIG turning rounds, on the advice of R&D Bandsaws, I switched to ½" 3 tpi "furniture" bands, which are a bit thicker than regular bands, but are also quite inexpensive. These permit more tension and the extra thickness increases stiffness quite perceptibly, They've made a huge difference when cutting circles out of large, heavy, awkward, blanks with only a marginal flat on them, and the band actually helps reduce the tendency of the blank to wander and jam the band.
