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Another bandsaw thread...

I decided to cancel my order for the Steel city granite 14" because they have absolutely no idea when it'll come and someone has waited over 7 months already (with a promised wait time of 3 months) because the distributor has absolutely no idea when they'll be able to deliver. So I thought instead of waiting for something that may never come I just pay a little more for a 18" bandsaw... so I am getting the one I posted in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=38680&p=507136&hilit=bandsaw#p507136

So any recommendation for a good resaw blade? I will obviously go with 1/4" - 6TPI Lenox Dimaster for general work but other than the Resaw King is there anything bimetal that works well for a 18" saw?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Whatever specialty blades you may choose, make sure that you have some 1/2" 3tpi blades in reserve. These are my most used blades by far.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Lenox doesn't make a bimetal 1/2 3TPI blade that's .025" thick... I do not know if it's safe to use heavier .035 blades on 18 inch wheels...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

FWIW, i buy my blades from http://www.tuffsaws.co.uk/ . don´t know if shipping is economical for taiwan.

cheers!

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

While people are at it with the bandsaw answers, I've got an old 26" do all that I have always used for metal but was considering getting into resaw. Would this machine be up to the task? If so what sorta blades do y'all recommend.

I wish I have space for a 26"... I found one for a little more than the price I am paying for the 18" but I do not think it will fit in my shop, and neither will the power in my shop support it. If it's a metal bandsaw make sure you gear the motor up a bit... metal bandsaws tend to have lower blade speed.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

It has a speed control on it and two gears so I'm sure I can get a good speed. What sort of speed do you recommend?

I run 0.035 blades on my 15-16" (something like that, anyway) 1980's Italian bandsaw (Lenox Woodmaster CT blades). Works just fine. It's more about frame stiffness than wheel size per se.

Good to know... I imagine that 18" has a fairly stiff frame anyways. The issue I was afraid of for thicker blades (.035) is that they would break earlier due to fatigue.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

+1 Woodmaster CT. When you get the opportunity, swap that motor for a 2 or 3 HP and you'll be in there like swim wear!!!

It came with a 1 1/2HP motor... does half a horsepower really make a difference? I know it's a no brainer on the 3HP though...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Where can I get Woodmaster CT blades? Carbide.com doesn't have them (only Trimasters)

Also Woodmaster CT is 1" minimum... will this be a problem with 18" bandsaws?

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Yes they can take the blade, but many 14 inch saws says they can take 3/4" blades however they can't tension it properly.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

By the way, I discovered Lenox also makes "Woodmaster B" resaw blades, similar spec to the Woodmaster CT blade except it's bimetal rather than carbide. It costs only a little more than the equivalent length of Diemaster (due to it being 1" rather than 1/2")

Has anyone tried them? They're obviously only a third of the price of a Woodmaster CT and being bimetal it would do well against harder woods. I have a friend who has a bandmill and he used carbon blades, and said it worked well milling softwoods but on harder woods like oak/maple it had serious trouble.

There aren't too many options for bimetal blades with fewer than 3 tpi below 1", and carbide.com doesn't seem to carry any woodmaster series blade, so I might have to order from spectrum supply and pay their overpriced shipping... (carbide.com has really reasonable shipping rates)

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

since when is oak or maple hard???????? buy a CT, if necessary stiff up your saw and have fun, everything else is only half the way...

Is it even possible to "stiffen" up a bandsaw frame? Like weld more steel onto the column?

Is there anything wrong with the Woodmaster B? I understand from your perspective when you resaw for a living, that you wouldn't accept anything but the best, however I think bimetal is a pretty good compromise seeing that I won't be resawing for a living... at least not until I get a handle on it (and after that I may resaw a few and sell them on ebay... but who knows).

Problem is I don't even think there's anyone who can resharpen any carbide bandsaw blades in Taiwan, let alone a Woodmaster CT (which is harder to resharpen from my understanding), meaning I can't get the maximum economy from a carbide blade. If a bimetal blade goes dull I can resharpen them myself with a dremel cutoff wheel like woodgears, but can't do that with carbide blades. Shipping a blade back and forth between Taiwan and the US kills any economy I'd get from a carbide blade.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

The guy that sold me the Woodmaster CT told me that it would be pretty much near the end of its life when it dulled so there wouldn't be much need to resharpen it--the blade lasts a long time and metal fatigue will take it's toll. Among the advantages of the carbide blade is the lack of drift. You can set up a high fence parallel to the blade for resawing and not worry about blade wander. The bimetal blade will drift as it dulls and you will spoil wood as you start to detect that it's time to resharpen. When I used to resaw with bimetal blades, I would get 2 or 3 resharpenings out of a blade before I wasn't able to resharpen it to work well. The carbide blade more than outlasts the several bimetal blades that it costs. Aside from cost, the main disadvantage of the carbide blade is the width of the kerf--more of your wood goes into dust. I now keep a bimetal blade for when I need a really slight kerf but I mostly use the carbide which I will replace soon after 3 years.

I was under the impression that all bandsaw blade drifts when it dulls, had no idea what carbide does when it dulls.

I assume you are using a 18" bandsaw right? Or smaller ones like 16" Mini Max (which I have heard people using Woodmaster CT with as well)

I just thought bimetal would be enough, and felt even 1/2" 3tpi is too fine if sawing through 9" of hardwood so I was looking for something coarser and wider, like a 1.3TPI woodmaster series band.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I have an 18" Rikon. The cutting edge of the carbide blade is square to the blade. As long as it stays that way, there's no drift--when it's worn, you're done. I bought the " Kerfmaster Sample pack" (http://www.spectrumsupply.com/kerfmaste ... total.aspx) from spectrum supply in order to have some thinner resaw blades on hand. It's a good value for the money. When I used to have a 14" saw, I kept several "WoodSlicer" (http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/wood ... to166.aspx) blades on hand. They would dull quickly in hard woods--I would resharpen them but they still needed to be replaced often. Four feet of cutting in Osage Orange would dull one. I believe they are the same as the "Kerfmaster." I have been very happy with the carbide blade. Like I said earlier, the downside is the wide kerf.

I never got into the whole kerfmaster/woodslicer thing, I think they are meant to be used for sawing very expensive woods (like old BRW tables) where the cost of the wood is more of an issue than cost of the blade.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com