bandsaw blade for laguna 16hd

[casey herring]

Hey everyone,

I bought a laguna lt16hd (2004) last summer and have never really known what to do about a blade for it (145"). I have just been getting by with the 1inch blade it came with and a 1/2 inch blade i bought at a local place. I do not know either of the brands. I am looking for an all around blade to do reasonable straight cuts, and average curved cuts. I make Maloof/Mid-century furniture and I have always thought if I could just get the right blade for my application I would be a lot happier with the quality of my cuts, and perhaps spend less time at the spindle sander!

It is my first bandsaw and I really don't know much of what I am doing, but I have watched the laguna youtube videos on setting up the saw, and I believe I have been running it well setup in regards to the guides. I am never sure about tensioning so if anyone can help me understand that better as well I would greatly appreciate that!

I would greatly appreciate any quick thoughts of blades that come to mind. price does not matter, just want to find a good blade to stick with for a while.

Thanks!

[Erik Loza]

Casey, for folks who are just getting to know their bandsaws, I suggest a range of blades. 1.0", 0.50", and 0.25" cover most needs. There is not one which will do it all. You will possibly end up with half a dozen different blades, depending on what your expectations are in terms of feed rate, finish quality, etc.

Personally, I like Timberwolf blades (Google them). Very forgiving on proper blade tension (where most owners new to industrial bandsaws go wrong) and also, quite affordable. If you want a fine finish and are willing to sacrifice feed speed, the Woodslicer II from Highland Hardware and the Lenox Diemaster II are both excellent. Ask six users, get six different answers as to what is the "best" blade. You will need to experiment and find your own.

Best of luck with everything,

Erik

[Jebediah Eckert]

I just picked up a used Lt16HD (2002) and was getting ready to post a similar question. I don't even know what size to order at this point but I have emailed Laguna to find out. The manual is a, lacking........... I'm not sure if mine would be a 145" as well?

Erik's response is certainly helpful. I have read on here how good the Laguna Resaw blades are good but $200+, phew, not for me.

[Jim Andrew]

If you have a local saw shop that sharpens blades, they can order blades for you. I went to B&S saw shop in Salina Kansas, and had them order 3 new 3/8" wide blades for me. They used to weld up blades from stock blade material, but they order them now, and the welds are not noticeable on the saw, running. Really miss that clack clack clack of the weld going through the guides. The blades were very reasonable, and I find I can resaw with them. Plan to try resharpening using the Jack Forsberg method, thanks for posting that video, Jack.

[Erik Loza]

This is just my opinion, so take that for what it's worth: Unless the owner has a compelling need to use something expensive like a carbide blade, I would not spend that kind of money on the front end. At least not at first. Reason being that I have seen many times, guys get the mindset of thinking that because they now own a hot rod of a bandsaw, they need a hot rod of a blade to go with it. But the reality is that exotic blades like the Trimaster or Woodmaster CT do a great job under certain circumstances but that I have also seen guys ruin brand new ones by thinking they could do everything with it, which they can't.

The good thing about top-teir Italian saws like these is that they can make even a mediocre blade perform well. My suggestion for guys who just want to learn how to get the most out of their machine is to buy an assortment of inexpensive blades and learn on those, then decide if the need for a brazed-tooth blade presents itself.

Years ago, we flew David Marks in to do a seminar for us in Austin. His topic was veneer cutting for bent-lam projects. Very thin strips and very fine surface finish for these arched furniture legs and so on. He demo'ed this with a 0.50" Diemaster II, which is probably a <$40 blade. I asked him why he didn't use a carbide like the Trimaster. His response was, "Because I have to pay for the blades myself".

Erik

[Jebediah Eckert]

Yup, I can see falling into the expensive blade route. But the actual price shocked me out of that thought.

[Reed Gray]

Normally I am in the turning part, but glanced at this one. I also have had a Laguna 16HD for maybe 10 years, can't remember. Since I do mostly bowls, I am cutting green wood. For my 1/2 inch blades, I use the heavier ones .035 I think, and 3 tpi. They have a fairly wide set to them because green wood is harder to clear out of the kerf. If you are cutting dry wood, you want a finer tooth count, in the 6 tpi range. When I am cutting log blanks, I am cutting with a 1 1/4 inch blade with teeth at 3/4 inch apart. I do prefer the Lennox bimetal blades for what I do. They cut straighter, and stay sharp longer than the others. I did try one of the Lennox carbide tipped blades just to see what it would do. If I was cutting very fine veneers from 'if you have to ask you can't afford it anyway' type wood, I would go for the Wood Slicer blade from Laguna. I think the tips are stellite, and can be resharpened many times. You can get an almost flawless surface once you have every thing set up right. The Lennox carbide tipped blades can not be resharpened. If you have a local saw shop, chat with them. I also get my blades resharpened at a shop as well. They do a far better and faster job than I could ever hope to do. I think my blades are 150 inches. Oh, if you ever have to replace the belt, it is a royal pain. It won't fit over the wheel, so you have to remove the bottom wheel. I tried a link belt, and there are too sizes. Neither fit correctly, and I eventually went to the same sized belt, purchased from a NAPA store. There are 4 set bolts to line up the wheel and axle. You loosen up only 2 of them to get the wheel off, and you will need snap ring pliers.

robo hippy

[casey herring]

Thank you all for the responses, I am going to buy a few timberwolf blades and see how they do. do any of you laguna bandsaw owners have a rule of thumb for tensioning blades? do you just stick to what the guide says on the saw? I think I am going to get a 3/8 blade and 1/2 and see if I can pull off both curved and strait cuts that are needed every day. I don't resaw very often and when I do I leave plenty of room for error so Im not overly concerned with how it resaws,

thanks
Casey

[Erik Loza]

Casey, the scale on the saw most likely will not be accurate (read too conservatively), but can be calibrated once you actually get blades on there and get them cutting properly. For tensioning, the "flutter method" is easy to use and will get you in the ballpark. There must be some videos of it on Youtube. Generally speaking, you want the minimum amount of tension required in order for the blade to perform the way you want. That being said, the most common issue I see with guys who are just getting to use new Italian saws is inadequate blade tension.

Erik

[Clay Fails]

Casey, the scale on the saw most likely will not be accurate (read too conservatively), but can be calibrated once you actually get blades on there and get them cutting properly. For tensioning, the "flutter method" is easy to use and will get you in the ballpark. There must be some videos of it on Youtube. Generally speaking, you want the minimum amount of tension required in order for the blade to perform the way you want. That being said, the most common issue I see with guys who are just getting to use new Italian saws is inadequate blade tension.

Erik

16
OK Erik I'll bite. I have a Laguna 16LT HD and several good blades for it. So far I have just tensioned using the gauge on the saw. I'm happy with the results and the saw in general.

So what is meant by "inadequate blade tension"? Too tight? Too loose? I'm just trying to gauge whether you think in general most users have their blades too tight or too loose, and what makes you say that.

[Erik Loza]

Clay, I would say that the #1 cause of "unsatisfactory cut quality" from MM owners I talk to is from inadequate blade tension. Wandering cut, blade making contact with the guides, that sort of thing. My guess is that since many owners only have experience on smaller saws that don't have the frame strength of the Italian machines, they have never really gotten a 3/4" or 1.0" blade into tension range it wants. Your machine won't have any of those issues, of course.

Erik

[Allan Speers]

..... If I was cutting very fine veneers from 'if you have to ask you can't afford it anyway' type wood, I would go for the Wood Slicer blade from Laguna. I think the tips are stellite, and can be resharpened many times. You can get an almost flawless surface once you have every thing set up right. .......

Reed, I'm intrigued but stumped as to which blade you meant to refer to. The Wood Slicer is impulse-hardened steel, not stellite tipped, and AFAIK it's made by Highland Hardware. Laguna makes a number of excellent carbide-tipped blades, but I don't see a stellite tipped one on their website.

Can you clear this up, 'cause I'd love to know which blade you meant. Perhaps the (carbide) Laguna Resaw King?

[Erik Loza]

Wasn't the RK stellite-tipped, way-back-when? Never personally used one.

Erik

[Andrew Hughes]

Yep Erik your right the Rk used to be stellite,I like the old Rk blades they seemed sharper and cut very fast.I stopped the Resaw King because I kept bending new ones.I still have myself on restriction.

[Jim Finn]

I do a lot of re-sawing on my 14" band saw and have found that "Supercut" blades work well . They cut just as well a "Woodslicer" blades but these are carbide blades so they last a lot longer and are cheaper. A 145" carbide blade sells for $30 there.