Opinions on bandsaw blade thickness.

[Danny Burns]

I have recently acquired a Laguna LT14SUV. I'm now shopping for a dedicated resaw band. I think I'm pretty much settled on a Trimaster. When I bought the saw I also bought a selection of steel blades from Laguna. Among them was a 1" 3TPI blade. At the time I questioned the ability of this saw to properly tension a blade this wide and was told it was no problem. I no longer have any concerns about that. What concerns me is that the thickness of the blade is .035". In scanning old threads, it seems that many feel that a saw this small should be fitted with a thinner blade. What say You? Am I asking for trouble with a blade this thick? And if so, what is the maximum thickness that I should run on this saw? Also, does blade width in any way affect the thickness of the band I could run on this saw?

From Laguna's site " Min-Max blade width: 1/8" to 1" "

The only thing pretty much that the Laguna 14" SUV has in common with other 14" band saws is the throat size, and that's about it.

I have a Delta 14" saw, and the problem that I run into, even with an aftermarket spring, is getting the correct tension on a blade.
So the biggest blade I run is a 5/8" x .025" x 3TPI tungsten impregnated silicon blade, the Little Ripper. Before the aftermarket spring, the biggest I could run was a
1/2" x 0.025" TimberWolf blade. If this blade were 0.035" thick, then I would not be able to tension it correctly. The Laguna can easily though handle higher tensions than most 14" saws.

Blade life is the problem caused by the small 14" diameter wheels.
The somewhat more flexible 0.025" blade has to wrap around a 14" diameter wheel, which when the blade is heated up, and then allowed to cool, takes on a certain amount of 'set'. If the blade is 0.035" thicker, it is less flexible so then having only a 14" diameter wheel is usually not recommended because of this heat 'set'.

Wide blades are used when resawing to gain 'beam strength' to handle the large loads, and to avoid the blade deflecting/bowing in the cut.
I would recommend that if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive, yet good performing blade, then try the Wood Slicer blade at 3/4" wide at about a third the cost.

The enemy on a band saw for smooth cuts, is vibration, and the Wood Slicer is designed with this in mind.
"Its outstanding performance is due to its 3-4 tpi variable tooth pitch design, in which uneven spacing between the teeth nearly eliminates vibration during a cut." - from above link

A nice tip I have picked-up along the way, IIRC from Rob Cosman, is to have a dedicated blade for resawing only, and to never cut any curved cuts on it.
This way the blade is equally sharp on both sides, or should I say, equally dulled on both sides.

Oh I should mention that the Little Ripper could be sent back for resharpening, which meant a longer working life. SO see how long your Trimaster lasts, and then compare it to say the Wood Slicer, and you will get an idea of what you are paying for. If you are getting 3 times the distance then things are about even.

[Jeff Willard]

$150 seems cheap for Trimaster... last time I checked it's close to $200 dollars for a trimaster in 133" length.

$169.25 today at Spectrum for 125". Four years ago...

[Erik Loza]

Jeff, I am curious to hear your results with the 1" Tri-Master on the 14" saw. I'm sure you already know this but you will DEFINITELY want to de-tension that blade after each use and also, never use that blade for cutting green wood. Only dry wood on the Lenox carbides.

Best of luck with it. The Tri-Master is my favorite Lenox blade.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Gus Dundon]

Very well explained Danny. 14" band saws perfectly accept 0.25 thick blades because it can be tensioned properly.
Thicker blades can't be properly tensioned on small saws like 14" band saw.

[Mike Tekin]

Jeff,

Don't do a .035 thick blade on the Laguna 14" saw - I am betting against it working properly and its not worth trying for that kind of money. The only reason why Laguna states a 1" max for that saw is because their Laguna resaw king is .024" wide behind the teeth which is what other posters mentioned can be tensioned properly on this specific model saw.

[Jeff Willard]

The Tri-Master does a terrific job. I must admit that it spends very little time on the saw, and then very rarely. It is a one-trick pony, and I don't stress it. I've managed consistent veneers, 1/16" thick, 11" wide, and 5' long out of sipo. Blade marks are minimal, requiring only light sanding.

Shortly after purchasing the band, I sawed some small, wide pieces of ash into veneer, and showed them to the guy at a local hard wood supplier. He was so impressed that he wants to farm out some resaw jobs to me, because the results are far superior to what they can do.

[Mike Holbrook]

I bought a L14 SUV last year. It came with a 1" Resaw King. I was troubled about it at first. I called Laguna and talked to them, they were very reassuring about the ability of the machine to handle it. They said the machine was designed to handle a blade of that size. The Resaw King blades are thinner and more flexible than most blades of that size. I also heard from a poster or two on SMC who use this blade on their saw without any problems. Laguna frequently offers this saw in package deals with a 1" Resaw King. Mine came with the 1" Reasw King and a Driftmaster fence. The feature set on the 14 SUV is the same as on much larger saws. If you go to the Laguna site and look at the end of the video for the 14 SUV you will see a 1" blade resawing 3/32" from a 8" piece of Walnut.

Laguna has very reasonable rates for sharpening compared to competing companies.

[Tai Fu]

The only thing that has kept me from going with the resaw king is that since I live in Taiwan, shipping it back to Laguna for resharpening is going to be very expensive, and I hear they need frequent resharpening. I doubt anyone in Taiwan has the machine or know-how to resharpen a "carbide" blade. The Woodmaster CT will work if your saw has 18" or larger wheels... not sure if it would last longer than a few minutes on a Laguna 14" bandsaw, even if it could handle it.

Woodmaster CT is also cheaper than most other carbides because of its smaller carbide tip.