What band saw blade should I get?

[grainoftruth]

Hi,

I got my first band saw at the weekend, a Record BS300 about 18 months old from Ebay. It seems to be in very good working order but the blade is 1/4" and with very fine teeth and this doesn't seem awfully well suited to cutting down air dried oak for various furniture sections.

I've read various threads about makes of blade, teeth types and TCT versus bi-metal but none of these tell me much about what size and type would be best for the general purpose above. Do I need 3/8", 1/2" or 5/8" and how many tpi? Also, is it normal to have a variety of blade types and keep swapping them over or do I go for one general purpose solution.

All advice will be very welcome as well as anything to watch out for on the band saw itself

Thanks

Steve

 

[OPJ]

Hi Steve,

How thick is this oak you are looking to cut? I reckon 4tpi is about right for anything up to 3in. thick. Any thicker and you'd probably be better off with a 3tpi blade. Hook-tooth pattern is usually best for hardwoods. If you were cutting softwoods though, you'd want skip-tooth ripping blades, which have deeper gullets allowing for faster clearance of waste and resin.

As for the width, the wider the better when it comes to resawing! I think the BS300 specifies 5/8" as its widest blade? If so then, you're realistically looking at being able to tension a ½" blade maximum. There's nothing wrong with this, it's just that modern bandsaw frames aren't built like they were decades ago... I do all my ripping with ½" blades and it's fine. Another alternative is to go for thin-kerf 5/8" wide blades. At 0.020" thick, these require less tension than the standard 0.025" thick blades.

You will want a small selection of blades to start with. It is essential to keep ripping blades separate from ones used for cutting curves. When you're cutting something that is curved, you tend to work on one side of the blade more than the other and create and uneven set on the teeth, which can affect the accuracy and straightness of your cuts when it comes to ripping.

I've never used a TCT and I think they're pretty steep on the initial investment. The teeth should outlast those of any bi-metal blade but, once that blades snaps, that's usually it; your money's gone and you'd have to bin it. I've never had a problem with bi-metal blades. They aren't made to last forever. M42 blades are also available... These will last you a very long time and will even cut clean through the odd lump of metal in your wood! :wink: They're likely to come out at more than double the cost of an equivalent bi-metal blade though. :?

 

[grainoftruth]

Thanks Olly,

90% will be up to 3" thick so 1/2" 4 tpi is sounding like the ticket, I have the odd piece up to 6" that I'll need to cut - I guess I can just do this more slowly and carefully though.

Is it worth the investment in expensive makes of blade or is it just as good to pay buttons on ebay and throw them away more regularly?

Steve

 

[OPJ]

You're still going to be better off using a good quality supplier, as opposed to something you might find on eBay now or in the Screwfix catalogue... :?

If you did a search of the forum, you'd find that there are several mail-order specialists who members recommend. Some of these include:

Hamilton Edge (website is down!), Trucut, Bedford Saw (they did have a member on here...) and even Axminster are said to have upped the quality of their blade range. Have a look at Workshop Heaven also.

I've not personally used any one of these suppliers though. I was an avid supporter of Dragon Saws, until their demise earlier this year. I'm yet to try another supplier, in hope that we may still yet see some resurrection...

 

[PowerTool]

Steve - I'd get some decent blades;from personal experience,they give a much better cut,and although may be higher initial cost,are better value and make the bandaw much more useable.

Andrew

 

[devonwoody]

I personally recommend a .025 thick blade the thin ones are very liable to get a kink and become useless, sorry to contradict the other poster.

 

[MIGNAL]

Depends what you mean by thin. Blades go down to .014 (0.36mm) for very small bench top machines. The Record is similar in size to my machine so I'm guessing that it will be happier with thin gauge - 0.025 , or is that medium gauge? Anyway, NOT the more usual 'standard' blade which is 0.032".

 

[woodbloke]

and even Axminster are said to have upped the quality of their blade range

I can recommend the new Axminster blades...they are very good. I'm currently using a 20 thou 1/2" 4tpi 'meat & fish' blade which is the best thing I've ever had on my bandsaw - Rob