Blades for Felder FB510 Bandsaw

[Rob L. Jones]

I would appreciate hearing your opinions about which three blades I should buy for my Felder FB510 bandsaw. Please let me know your choice in each of three categories below including brand, blade width, and number/type of teeth.

A. Curves - I have a 10" Rikon to use for scroll work and tight curves. The Felder will be used for other curve cuts.

B. Rips and Crosscuts - Dimensioning raw lumber down for jointing and planing.

C. Re-Sawing - Probably ~12" and under most of the time.

Thanks very much for your help!

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, 95% of the time, I have a 1/2" 3 tpi blade on my MM16 and I don't have a smaller saw in the shop. I use that setup for all three categories you cite unless I need tight curves and then I'll drop to a 1/4" or 3/8" blade.

[Rob L. Jones]

Jim, that sounds even better. Whose blade do you prefer?

[Jim Becker]

I use Timberwolf from Suffolk, but there are many good choices.

[Rob L. Jones]

Ok, thanks Jim.

[Rod Sheridan]

My most common blades are 1/4" , 1/2" and 3/4".

The 1/2" stays on the saw the most..I buy them from a local saw supplier.............Regards, Rod.

[Rob L. Jones]

Thanks Rod. This new ~20" bandsaw is replacing my old 14" and I am trying to get a feel for whether or not I should keep the Rikon 10" as a complement to the Felder 510. My shop is in the garage where I park the cars, so I could use the room taken up by the 10" Rikon.

Of course, it depends on what you're making, but I wonder what most people do that have a bigger saw. Do they just use one blade for everything, change blades as needed, or keep a smaller saw around to complement the bigger saw?

[Jim Becker]

There have been a few times that I wished I could have kept the smaller 14" saw for narrow blade work (I can do that on the big saw, but the setup gets more involved for really narrow blades), so if you have the space and don't need the money, i'll suggest you keep the Rikon for now until you at least can confirm your own needs.

[Rod Sheridan]

I only have one saw, I use it for blades from 1/4" to 1".

Your Felder will also take sanding belts, something you'll love if you make bandsaw boxes as you can belt sand the interior before glue up........Rod.

[Jacques Gagnon]

In line with Rod, I also only have one saw (S400P / MM16) and change blades as required. I have experimented with various blades for resawing and I suppose that the final choice has something to do with personal preferences. Your saw is capable of tensioning wide blades, so your options are quite flexible. I believe that my initial "less than enthusiastic results" stemmed from undertensioning the blade. Once I corrected this, resawing worked with 1/2 3 tpi and wider (as indicated by Jim).

Hope this helps!

Jacques

[Jim Becker]

The only reason I mentioned that having a small saw for scrolling stick around if it's practical is that when you get to the very narrow blades with these bigger, flat tire saws, you have to do some additional/careful tracking adjustments because you can't functionally run them with the teeth off the wheel like you do with wider bands. They saw well with the narrow blades for sure; it's just different/extra setup. I have and use a 1/8" wide blade for my MM16...

[Rob L. Jones]

That's interesting, Jim, because they say that on the little Rikon to position blades with the gullet in the middle of the wheel and not to position the teeth off the front of the wheel. Must be something to it.

[Jim Becker]

That's interesting, Jim, because they say that on the little Rikon to position blades with the gullet in the middle of the wheel and not to position the teeth off the front of the wheel. Must be something to it.

Saws with crowned wheels generally track in the middle. Saws with flat wheels generally track with teeth off the edge, but you can't do that with really narrow/fine blades, so you have to adjust things to keep them on the wheel while you are using them.