Official Luthiers Forum!

I never really counted my cuts as I should, but I would not be surprised if my resaw king was not about the same. I have gotten lately to counting the sets with just a cheap woodslicer, and I believe I can cut about 10 walnut back and sides sets with one of those. And really, at that point you can cut a few more sides, just no more backs.

You're running an experiment to see if your saw is up to cutting with a carbide blade. It will take a it more power and a bit more tension than a bimetallic blade, but if your saw is up to it, you will love it. Some of the 14" Delta clones can be a bit challenged with such a blade.

I aim for sides at .110" and backs at .140". That is about as thin as I feel comfortable with and I am very careful in thicknessing.

Also, I spend a lot of time setting up the fence and doing test cuts to make sure the two ends of a slice do not vary by more than a couple of thou. I only use this saw for resawing, and the shop made fence is never moved after I get it adjusted. I have a melamine faced sub-fence that screws on and I vary cutting thickness by using cardboard shims between that and the permanent fence. I do need to vary the shim thickness for some woods. I typically use the same blade for 6 months or more, but I find that even when I change blades, I rarely have to adjust the main fence.

And on the band steel cracking...Years ago when I used the early Tri-masters, that was a significant problem. But several years ago, Lennox changed the steel in their bands, and I have never had a problem since.

Grant

Interesting. I am running the Laguna 14SUV, which the Resaw King should work on fine.

Looks like a great saw. It ought to handle a Trimaster or a Woodmaster CT with no problems.

I'm pretty happy with it, that's for sure. When the blade is sharp, it's cuts real good...

I have had mediocre results with the ResawKing on my Laguna HD16. Three 1.25" blades cut for crap, 1 was fair, but the one I have on now is great. Last fall I cut a couple dozen large Lutz billets I accumulated over the years between '05 and 2012 and it cut like butter. I had previously cut Hmahog neck blanks with the current blade as well. I like the finish of the cuts only needing minor sanding, but the cost just isn't worth it. When the Canadian dollar rebounds, I am going to order WoodmasterCT's from Spectrum Supply in Ohio. I plan on making a jig to hold a dremal with a diamond stone to try and resharpen my Resawkings.

Bob

Over the years "Wood Slicers" has been our best performer for Hog and domestics -- we don't re-saw a lot of exotic material.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I don't have enough experience resawing to decide if the RK's are 'worth' it. I need to try some of the other blades to check results.

They can be re sharpened 4-5 times at 50-60$ a pop. So, in a sense, buying a 250$ blade and having it sharpened 4x costs let's say 500$ total for a total of five fresh blades which kinda makes it 100$ a blade which actually isn't too bad.

Ed, double that price with how our dollar is right now.

Bob

That's what I paid in Canadian dollars, more or less.

I would be very disappointed with that kind of blade life unless I was cutting some really abrasive wood. I use 1" 1.3tpi Lenox Woodmaster CT blades and get probably 10 times that life in some really tough woods on a 150" or so blade.

The Wood Slicer is not a good blade for resawing the woods we use IMO. It just dulls way too fast and wanders badly when it goes which can ruin yield. I remember trying one years ago and got less than two slices from an 8" or so African blackwood board before it was done, and the lost slice due to wandering was almost worth as much as a new Lenox carbide blade. I don't have direct experience with the Laguna blade but have definitely heard mixed reviews.

I will definitely give the woodmaster a go, if it is compatible with 14" wheels. In the meantime, I have four RK's to cycle through the re sharpening process which should hold me for a while. What's even harder than finding good blades is finding acceptable wood.

Ed, I was wondering how thick your billets were, and whether they were air or kiln dried. Kiln dried would be harder on the blades.

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

2", most likely kiln dried...

Agree with most of what's been said of the blades.
Woodslicer (and Timberwolf) cuts nice, but dull WAY too fast to make it worth it.

Haven't used the Trimaster, but Lenox Woodmaster B was my "final" blade, meaning, I wasn't going to get anything else. Yes, much rougher than the Woodslicer, but resaws like buttah, and lasts longs, and relatively inexpensive.

Until I got the Lenox Woodmaster CT (carbide tip). Cuts slower than the Woodmaster B because it has more TPI than the B, but the cut is almost as good as a Woodslicer. Okay, compared to the Woodslicer when it gets dull, it cuts MUCH better, and lasts MUCH longer. Granted, my "sets" are ukulele sized, but I've done more than 20, plus binding (rosewood, koa, milo) and necks (maple, Spanish Cedar). And I still have it on - getting ready to resaw some Sitka billets. . .

Has anyone tried Lee Valley's Viking brand ? They usually carry top quality ?

Brent

I used the RK for a long time...they were sending me them at a good discount in order to put them to substantial testing, on their own brand saw with their own ceramic guide set up. This was years ago btw. I always got great cuts when freshly sharp, but because the band is so thin, that point at which the stellite tips are starting to dull would cause the band the flex left or right, resulting in loss of very expensive material. It wasn't the cost of the blades I was worried about, it was the material loss.

But you have to weight that against the inherent material loss that you get every cut on the Lenox CT, which is what I happily use. Its a wider kerf and a rougher cut, requiring more sanding. I just have a baseline operating expectation of 4 cuts per 1 inch of thickness for backs and if I can get more, great. On rough 8/4 I can usually get 10 cuts, or 5 pairs, since I mill mine out of the log at 2 1/4". But it takes to long to dry so mostly I mill at heavy 6/4 and easily get 6 good non stressful slices.

_________________
www.fiddlebackwoodshack.com

That's what gunning for, 5 cuts per inch, to get five back sets out of a 2" billet. I think swapping out fresh blades more often is likely the ticket. More money on blades, but the increase in yield should more than make up for it in the long run.

Yes, 1/2" Trimaster for 14" saw with riser. That's what I use. Kerf is a little wide, though. At the rate I resaw wood, the blade seems to fall into the last-forever range.

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu