Totally impressed! - Woodturners Bandsaw blade - a review

[Roger Chandler]

This Thursday, I am scheduled to be a guest at the DAMP Wood Society gathering at Tony DeMasi's place....Tony sent me an email and said prepare some blanks for the session.........

Last December, I posted a thread on the Woodturners BS blade from Highland Hardware..http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ers&highlight=

.it was listed for good performance on green wood blanks, etc. I ordered two last year....one for my Jet 18" BS and one for my 14" BS, and I just got around to putting one on my 18" Jet because well.........frankly, I hate to go to all the trouble as the big bandsaw......if you change the blade width, then you have to take the table off to be able to get to the adjustment for the roller bearings underneath........not the best design, but that is another story!

Anyway, I started out with my Timberwolf 3/4" x 3 tpi blade that was on there already........found out quickly that it was way past time to change blades.......before I hurt myself! A dull blade is a safety hazzard! I installed the new woodturners blade on the 18" saw [137 inch blade] and wow! What a difference!

This blade is 3/8" and has 3tpi and is .032 thickness, and the teeth are set so it makes a fairly wide kerf for chip clearance. This blade was designed for what we woodturners do in preparing wood blanks for the lathe.

It is my belief that on a properly set up saw, that this blade tops everything I have used to date, for cutting blanks for the lathe, including the Timberwolf blades, which I really like, and have used a lot.

I have some pics below of a few blanks I prepared and the cut-offs on the floor........what a mess! Now I have to do some clean up!

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[Tony De Masi]

Glad you kept the mess at your shop..... Not that mine won't be a disaster zone at the end of the day but that's what will happen with 6-7 tuners for about 8-10 hours. Looking forward to seeing you Roger.

[Jim Underwood]

They cut green wood well. I have had a few, however, where the weld wasn't lined up too well. However, Highland Woodworking shipped me another free of charge.

My problem is that they are so agressive that if your blank isn't entirely flat, it will grab it and ram it through your throat plate if you're not careful. I've ruined a couple of brand new blades that way.

[Roger Chandler]

Glad you kept the mess at your shop..... Not that mine won't be a disaster zone at the end of the day but that's what will happen with 6-7 tuners for about 8-10 hours. Looking forward to seeing you Roger.

Wow......that is going to be a lot of curlees Tony!

[Mike Cruz]

Sounds like you really like that blade, Roger. I'm thinking that I need to order another blade for my 20" Delta. Was thinking of just reordering the same one that I have on now (can't remember the name Woodmaster II or something like that). I like the one I have, but hear that the one you have is fairly inexpensive. I like that because, with cutting blanks out of green wood, you find the occasional nail, wire fence, or bullet (though lead doesn't hurt much). I might check those out...

See ya that the next meet!

[Roger Chandler]

Sounds like you really like that blade, Roger. I'm thinking that I need to order another blade for my 20" Delta. Was thinking of just reordering the same one that I have on now (can't remember the name Woodmaster II or something like that). I like the one I have, but hear that the one you have is fairly inexpensive. I like that because, with cutting blanks out of green wood, you find the occasional nail, wire fence, or bullet (though lead doesn't hurt much). I might check those out...

See ya that the next meet!

I have not used the Woodmaster II Mike.........I cannot make a comparrison for you with that blade, but some of the discussion back last year mentioned that blade as a good one.......I have used the Timberwolf a great deal, and it is a really fine blade........on turning blanks, this Woodturner's blade from Highland is the best I have used to date......other kinds of things......flatwork and such, I like the Timberwolf.

[Jamie Donaldson]

Why not just sharpen the old blade Roger? I do that on my MiniMax, and with a 148" blade it only takes about half a day!

[Erik Johanson]

I have some pics below of a few blanks I prepared and the cut-offs on the floor........what a mess! Now I have to do some clean up!

you call those cut off's I see them as potential bottle stoppers, pens, etc. Although I am as frugal with my wood as I am my money. Great looking blanks.

[Dan Hintz]

you call those cut off's I see them as potential bottle stoppers, pens, etc. Although I am as frugal with my wood as I am my money. Great looking blanks.

The vast majority of my blanks for peppermills on down to pens come from cutoffs destined for the landfill at prior DAMP meetings. That one piece sitting on top alone looks like it has some great figure in it.

[Roger Chandler]

Trust me guys...........those pieces that are big enough for a pen blank or bottle stopper will get utilized.....some might become a knob or something on another box or something, but I am not one to let wood go to waste!

[Roger Chandler]

Why not just sharpen the old blade Roger? I do that on my MiniMax, and with a 148" blade it only takes about half a day!

I do sharpen my blades Jamie.......the one I took off has been re-sharpened twice.......might have one more in it......after about 3 sharpenings, there is hardly no gullet left......and tooth size gets pretty small.

[Bill Bulloch]

I use the Woodturners Bandsaw Blade from Highland. As-a-matter-of-fact, I just put a new one on my saw yesterday. I like how aggressively it attacts the wet log, however I have had two of them break on me at the weld. In my fifty years, or so, of woodworking these are the only bandsaw blades that have ever broken. Fortunately, both lasted long enough that I consider I got my monies worth out of them.

[Roger Chandler]

I use the Woodturners Bandsaw Blade from Highland. As-a-matter-of-fact, I just put a new one on my saw yesterday. I like how aggressively it attacts the wet log, however I have had two of them break on me at the weld. In my fifty years, or so, of woodworking these are the only bandsaw blades that have ever broken. Fortunately, both lasted long enough that I consider I got my monies worth out of them.

Bill.......a question for you......do you think that possibly the tension of your bandsaw was not set properly, and was the cause of premature failure? From 50 years of woodworking, no doubt you have plenty of experience with these things......just wondered if the tension should be less or more with the Woodturners Blade from Highland Hardware???

[Reed Gray]

If a blade breaks at the weld, it is a bad weld. I take a pile of bimetal blades (Lennox diemaster) to a local saw shop and they sharpen them for me. 4 or so 150 by 1 1/4, and teeth at 3/4 inch apart, and a couple of 96 by 1/2 by 3 tpi cost about $40 to have sharpened. They do a way better job than I can do.

robo hippy

[Mike Cruz]

Maybe I could figure out a way to use my chainsaw sharpener to work on band saw blades!