Well, first off, the tension meters on bandsaws are all pretty much worthless, kind of like the blades that come with the saw. With a good sharp blade, cutting up to 6 or slightly more inches high requires 1 hp or less. Going over that, you need 1 hp or more. If you are going up to 12 inches, you need still more. The thing with the riser blocks is that the saw, and generally the motor as well are not designed for cutting that high. Yes, you can do it, but if you want do do a lot, then you need a bigger saw. I have always used 1/2 inch blades on my small saw. Big saw is a Laguna 16HD with a 4.5 Baldor motor on it and it cuts 16 inches high with no problem. The only time either of my saws slows down is if the surface on the saw table is not flat and the wood tips a bit. With a 1/2 inch blade you can cut down to about a 5 inch diameter circle. The big saw has a 1 1/4 by teeth at 3/4 inch apart. Good for knocking off corners but not for any arc under about 5 foot radius.... I also prefer the thicker blades as I tend to abuse my tools.... The Lennox Diemaster Bimetal blades are the best out there. One of the best buy/best value. They cut straight, they stay sharp longer, and they have very good set to the teeth. I went through a 16 penny nail twice yesterday and didn't even know it. I take mine to a saw shop to have them resharpen them for me, usually several at a time. They also check the tooth set. I have made some attempts to touch up my own, and just found I got far better results from my saw shop.
robo hippy
, but I'm not very good about releasing the tension in general. Might get one of those quick-cranks too, just get it all done at once. I'll let you know if I try the Highland blade. I'm thinking the raker tooth might really help the configuration. I found an old AAW thread that talked about bandsawblades.com, but they only communicate by phone or fax, so will call them Monday, see what they have.
