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Band saw blade, what's a good starting point?

Sam Fleisher

Sam Fleisher

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Apparently a new Jet band saw doesn't come with a blade. What's a good starting point?

I kind of figured on buying what the shop sells when I pick the saw up on Monday just so I'll be able to play errr set it up when I get it home. That will be an Olson pro probably general purpose. width? Teeth count? set??

Another recommended to me was a timber wolf. Won't be able to have that by Monday so will have to order it. From the timber wolf site I guess a 3/8 x 3 AS (alternate set) Does this one sound about right?

I'm figuring using it mostly for turning green wood into more usable/round blanks for rough turning.

This is why I like asking you guys stuff because I feel it jumps me up the line some and helps cut out the mistakes (read unnecessary purchases).

Thanks
 
Lou Jacobs said:
View attachment 59065I use Jet 1/2” x 4tpi blades. I get what I consider to be great life out of them.
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I know that's what a bowl blank is supposed to look like....... I don't think I've ever had anything that round or that even of a thickness on my lathe before! They've always looked like some kind of cancerous growth mostly.

Takes more time to get what I start with round then it does to rough out the actual bowl. That's why I'm getting the band saw. I'm inspired. Is that green wood or a dry blank?

18 inch saw?
 
I've had great service from the woodturner's blades from Highland Woodworking - 3/8" - 3tpi blades last a long time generally and stay sharp. Nice wide alternate set makes a generous kerf that seldom pinches.
Been using them for about 12 or 15 years. Great value, too.
 
For green wood, what others have said - 3 or 4 TPI around 3/8.I do like Highland's "woodturners blade" but I've got some Lenox bimetal blades for fine work (14/18 TPI) that I really like, so I might try one of theirs for the next green blade.

I'd suggest getting 2 blades. Green wood can be tough on blades (dirt in the bark etc) and I don't want to have to wait for the UPS guy in the middle of something if I break or dull a blade.
Also having a "clean" blade on hand for special circumstances is handy.

Make yourself some circle disk templates - can be thin plywood, paneling, or even cardboard - whatever you got. With a log on the saw, you want the flat side down which means bark side up. Sorta hard to draw your circle on that. So use a nail/screw/awl to stick the disk to the log as a template.

And remember that unsupported cuts are bad - and this applies to bandsaws just like table saws and skews and gouges etc. The wood needs to sit flat on the table or else the blade will slam it down on the table violently. That usually requires a new blade and clean pants (and hopefully you don't get a lot of blood on your new saw or worse - on the wood). A bandsaw is the tool your butcher uses to cut up a cow - your fingers are no challenge.
 
@Dave Landers makes good safety points.
Never push ant body part toward the blade.

Of the turners I know who have gone to the ER most have been from bandsaw injuries.

Band saw is a very safe tool as long as you keep body parts on either side of the blade.
Be sure the work can’t roll.

Also blades can cut fingers when they aren’t on the saw.
 
The other highly regarded woodturner focused blade is a Timberwolf. As already said, 3 tpi. 3/8 is a good all around size, 1/2 is good if you're doing big stuff or the occasional resaw.
 
Just a general comment, most places have at least one local sharpening service, and they usually sell bandsaw blades. They buy high quality coils, and you just tell them the length and what you want and they make it up. Fast, cheap, and no shipping. Not specific to turning, but furnituremaker Michael Fortune wrote a great article for Fine Woodworking on bandsaw set up that I usually recommend to people..... it is here bandsaw setup. Like others have said, and Fortune recommends, a 1/2" (or 3/8) by 3 tpi is a great all around blade, useful for all general shopwork.
 
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I only very seldom put a turning blank on my bandsaw, preferring a chain saw for that task, but a few years ago I got a carbide blade for my saw and there is no looking back. Currently running a Lenox Woodmaster CT, have also used the Tri Master. I've been cutting miles of thin wood for organ pipes and shop made veneers and the blade just goes on and on with a beautiful cut quality. Just changed blades after two years. Spectrum Supply is a great source, with prices way below what others charge. The big gullets on the Woodmaster 1.3 tpi blade seem to have no problem with green wood-- I have been sawing some small logs of more unusual wood into flat lumber on the saw.
Do think hard about how you support round and other non-flat objects on the saw, they really aren't made for doing that kind of work (hence the chain saw, which doesn't care).
 
Roger Wiegand said:
I only very seldom put a turning blank on my bandsaw, preferring a chain saw for that task,
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To me the advantage of the bandsaw is that I can dramatically reduce the amount of either chainsaw “swarf” (is that the right term for it?) or lathe shavings. I’m left with lots of quarter-circular offcuts which make great firewood. I’m rarely overwhelmed with them because what I don’t burn, my neighbors with fire pits are eager to take.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
To me the advantage of the bandsaw is that I can dramatically reduce the amount of either chainsaw “swarf” (is that the right term for it?) or lathe shavings. I’m left with lots of quarter-circular offcuts which make great firewood. I’m rarely overwhelmed with them because what I don’t burn, my neighbors with fire pits are eager to take.
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Do you find the 1 3/4 hp plenty?

I'm second guessing myself whether I should have went with a 15 inch 3 hp instead of the 18 inch 1 3/4.
 
Sam Fleisher said:
Do you find the 1 3/4 hp plenty?

I'm second guessing myself whether I should have went with a 15 inch 3 hp instead of the 18 inch 1 3/4.
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Hello Sam. I've gone over 25 years on a 14" Delta saw with the riser kit (12" height capacity) and a 1hp Leeson motor. The saw on occasion has left me wanting only for a larger table surface and occasionally a deeper throat (at times where I've expected it to have the width of a table saw). Never has the 1hp motor left me wanting for more power, and I've had plenty of wood in the 8-11" thickness range go through the saw. High quality blades made for the task at hand will mean the most to you, and let the blade do its job, don't force just because you have extra power. It's all about respect for the machine. Your larger diameter saw wheels will contribute a greater flywheel effect to keep the blade moving. Even fps band speed can be changed with different pulleys (if the saw is belt driven) to increase the blade speed. I'm betting the 1-3/4hp will serve you well with good blades and respect for the feed rate of the blade through the wood.

I prefer as wide of a blade as possible for greater beam strength of the blade cutting thick woods, it reduces blade flex and wander. 1/2" or 5/8" is my default for the .025" blade thickness for 14" wheels. I also use a fine grit stone to massage the sharp rear corners of the back of the blade, lower resistance a bit when cutting curves. I use narrower blades only for smaller radius cuts. And if it's a bowl blank, even small diameter, cutting waste in straight cuts to make an octogon shape is just as effective as cutting a circle, and it keeps my wide blade on the saw.

Enjoy your new saw!
Steve.
 
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I have been using the Lennox bimetal blades for years. I have had several friends switch from Timberwolf after trying the Lennox blades. They just cut longer and straighter, and can be resharpened several times. I am lucky to have a saw shop that will sharpen them, and cost is very minimal. The 1/2 inch blade, I get the thicker ones, will cut 5 inch diameter circles no problem, and the suggestion from my local shop that makes them, 3 tpi. On my big saw, I use a 1 1/4 wide blade with teeth at 3/4 inch apart. Great for ripping slabs. I would expect the 1/2 inch blade would do for 90% of the cutting you will ever need to do. Carbide teeth are great for cutting veneers. Woodmizer does make a carbide blade for the bandsaw mills, but I don't know if they make them for home shop bandsaws. The video I saw said that they worked far better than the bimetal blades.

If your blade is dull, sharpen it or take it off your saw. I got 2 stitches in each of 2 fingers from pushing into a dull blade..... Of course this was just as the warning bells were going off in my head....

robo hippy
 
Sam Fleisher said:
Do you find the 1 3/4 hp plenty?

I'm second guessing myself whether I should have went with a 15 inch 3 hp instead of the 18 inch 1 3/4.
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Sam, yes, I’m more than happy with the horsepower. But your saw sounds awesome. If you have the space for it, I wouldn’t worry about having gone too large. You’ll soon forget the price and just thank yourself for having made the decision to upgrade.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
Sam, yes, I’m more than happy with the horsepower. But your saw sounds awesome. If you have the space for it, I wouldn’t worry about having gone too large. You’ll soon forget the price and just thank yourself for having made the decision to upgrade.
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It's an upgrade alright. One of the last band saws I had was one of those old ones that were sold as a kit and then you built it out of wood.

I bought it somewhere already assembled. Surprisingly it would work for light duty work. Then I had a harbor freight or buffalo maybe?

Then I had the bright idea to get an old delta and restore it (took apart and might still put back together because it is also a metal cutting model)..... All that did was make me band saw less till now.

As far as space. I've been procrastinating all day about moving stuff around to find room. Pretty sure it's going to be a case of "it didn't look that big in the store".
 
I would want 1 hp at least for cutting 12 inches high. My Laguna HD is 4.5 hp, and it will walk through anything I put on it. For a 1 3/4 hp motor, I would run that on 220.

robo hippy
 
Sam that's a very nice bandsaw and plenty of power for what we turners do with it, I have a smaller 14" Far East Delta clone with a 1hp motor, added a 6" riser block so I can saw 12" high.

It is not a speedy cut through such thick wood to cut, but I can if taking care with a sharp band.

That is where a good sharp and wider set band will help a lot, I get the carver & turner bands from R&D bandsaws here in Ontario, I have dealt with them for better than 20 years, it is a highly regarded business with a lot of knowledge, having a lot of parts, more than they show on their website.

The thicker band has more rigid beam strength and with 3 or 4 TPI it works very good in wet and green wood.

I did stop early here, should have said that, first the bandsaw table is rather small, and manhandling larger pieces of wood on it I don't like doing (so I don't :) ), my way of getting blanks ready to mound is using my chainsaw and lobbing the corners off or just mount the blank and start turning it, the heavy lathe has no trouble with these pieces and the blanks usually are not nice flat and square, but chunks of the logs.

Washer test on HD lathe.jpg


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Roger Wiegand said:
I only very seldom put a turning blank on my bandsaw, preferring a chain saw for that task, but a few years ago I got a carbide blade for my saw and there is no looking back.
Click to expand...

Same here. I think the carbide blade I bought was $130 but it will last a long time. I was ripping a lot of the hardest woods and went through the Timberwolf traditional blades like mad.
 
Beginning of the shop Tetris game and then finally the end. Not done, just done for the day.

What you can't see is all the mess behind me. 3 or so hours of shuffling.

The shop only had 3/8 4tpi blades so I got two to start out with because I figure I'm going to break one right away till I get everything dialed in.

Need to get some wheels for it too.
 

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JBS18. I just HAD to go look that up on the web, didn't I?

Looking forward to reading about you impressions of it. Nice job!
 
Steve Tiedman said:
JBS18. I just HAD to go look that up on the web, didn't I?

Looking forward to reading about you impressions of it. Nice job!
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Hopefully my impressions will be positive!

The last two I used one was made out of wood and the other was an old delta 14 inch clone. The vintage delta I have I never used.

As seen in the picture I'll put the table on tomorrow and the 3/8 blade. The one it came with is 3/4". I was originally told this one wouldn't have a blade but the salesman must have been talking about the 14 inch that I was going to buy but turns out they didn't have a 14" in stock so it snowballed.

So far my first impression is that it's really quiet.
 
Rusty Nesmith said:
I like Timber Wolf 3/8” 3 tpi. Sawblades.com is also good.
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That's what I wanted to try first but I'm like a little kid and didn't want to wait for it to be delivered plus shipping was going to be another half of what the blade cost.

So I just went with what the shop sold which was an Olson all pro pgt series. 3/8 - 0.025- 4tpi - hook.
 
I should add that to unpack and set up a minimum of 2 people is required. I couldn't have done it without help from a good wood turner buddy of mine. That'll teach him to believe me when I say it shouldn't be too hard!

502 pounds out of the crate.
 
The Greek philosopher, Archimedes, said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
 
I put a Lenox Diemaster blade on my Rikon 347 a couple of years ago. Since most of my cutting is green wood the 1/2 3-4 tpi with thicker blade does the job wonderfully. It can and has been resharpened. A little rough for resawing but just fine for general cutting
 
I like the Lenox blades, they are reasonable price and last a long time. For cutting blanks get a carbon steel 1/2" 3tpi flex back blade. The can be resharpened in about 10 minutes, though at twenty something a piece they are cheap. A 3/8" blade works too but I like the 1/2" better and if cutting a radius too tight, saw relief cuts.
The bi-metal such as the Diemaster are good too and they will last a longer but are 2 1/2 times the price.
I use the bi-metal blades for milling logs.
This is a good place to buy:
Be forewarned they make them to order and it usually takes a couple weeks to get the order.
 
Kent Reisdorph said:
Same here. I think the carbide blade I bought was $130 but it will last a long time. I was ripping a lot of the hardest woods and went through the Timberwolf traditional blades like mad.
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For Kent and anyone else using carbide bandsaw blades-I use a 111"-inch blade on my 14" Rikon. Most of my cutting is ripping through green logs, and recently I have toasted a couple of regular blades like the Highland Woodturner's blade and a Timber-Wolf on super-dense, tough wood like Chinese Elm and Dogwood. I've tried sharpening, but haven't gotten satisfactory results yet. I'm starting to think that carbide might actually be cheaper in the long run if I'm just frequently changing $40 to $50 blades.

If you're really sold on carbide, what do you recommend? With standard blades, I've been using the 3/8" blades with 3TPI and the wide kerf for clearing green wood chips, the ones made especially for this task. Is there a carbide blade that does similar work? If I'm going to spend that kind of money, I want to get exactly the right one. What about the Laguna Resaw King? Looks like it's more for veneers, maybe? TIA for any insights.
 
Steve Chaplin said:
Aaron,
I would recommend the Lenox blades, they last, are cheap, and you can resharpen. My standard is 1/2" 2 tpi for green logs.
I would not get a carbide blade unless resawing dry hardwood.
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Thanks, Steve-I might try these before I shell out for the carbides. Reading your recs above, how about this one:

Lenox DieMaster 2 Bi-Metal Bandsaw Blade

Would it work for tough green wood? Bernie in the post above yours also says it works great for green wood, and Reed/RoboHippy always recommends them. At about $50, it's probably cheaper than the TimberWolf at Woodcraft prices anyway. And if it lasts much longer, well then...
 
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Aaron Harris said:
For Kent and anyone else using carbide bandsaw blades-I use a 111"-inch blade on my 14" Rikon. Most of my cutting is ripping through green logs, and recently I have toasted a couple of regular blades like the Highland Woodturner's blade and a Timber-Wolf on super-dense, tough wood like Chinese Elm and Dogwood. I've tried sharpening, but haven't gotten satisfactory results yet. I'm starting to think that carbide might actually be cheaper in the long run if I'm just frequently changing $40 to $50 blades.

If you're really sold on carbide, what do you recommend? With standard blades, I've been using the 3/8" blades with 3TPI and the wide kerf for clearing green wood chips, the ones made especially for this task. Is there a carbide blade that does similar work? If I'm going to spend that kind of money, I want to get exactly the right one. What about the Laguna Resaw King? Looks like it's more for veneers, maybe? TIA for any insights.
Click to expand...

I don't have a recommendation because I didn't do a lot of research, but I can link the one I bought.

Dark Stone DS23427 Carbide-Tipped Band Saw Blade 111 Inch x 3/4 Inch, 2 TPI for Tough resaw

When I bought it, I didn't know I was going to become an avid woodturner. I bought it because I was using Timber Wolf 3 TPI blades ripping a bunch of maple, dogwood, black locust, etc. for general woodworking. In hindsight I would now buy a 3 TPI because I'm not ripping that much. The 2 TPI doesn't turn corners very well.

I broke the first carbide blade about a year in. The Timber Wolfs were only lasting for about 3-4 hours of running time.

Edit: I have the same bandsaw, Aaron.
 
Recently bought a new blade for my first real try at sawing slabs from logs. Built my own sled and ordered a furniture grade 1/2" x 3 t.p.i. blade for resawing from R@D Bandsaws.com .. Worked out great. Cut around 80 feet of slabs of hickory that I had sitting for 2 years that was nicely spalted on a 14/12 laguna bandsaw. I use a 1/2" x 4 t.p.i. for bowl blanks and always cut them round a.s.a.p..
 

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