Originally Posted by
John TenEyck
Carbide? I'm too cheap and sometimes cut wood that might have metal in it so I'd hate to trash a $150 blade. Plus, there aren't many made with 0.025" gage band stock, and none as far as I know in 1/2" width. With a cast iron 14" bandsaw a 1/2" x 0.025" blade is the largest that can be tensioned adequately. And remember, adequately means only about 12,000 psi, still far below the 18,000 psi minimum recommended by most blade manufacturers. The newer steel framed 14" bandsaws can adequately tension those 3/4" wide blades and I'd seriously think about a carbide tipped one if I owned one of them and was only cutting clear wood.
I hoped that helped some.
John