Carbide Bandsaw Blades

[kevin nee]

Hello, I went to a friends shop and cut up some material (thick oak burl) and was blown away by the way it went right thru the 6 to10 inch material. It also delivered a beautiful cut surface. No drift or burning, just a no nonsense quality cut. Now I will be getting a carbide tipped bandsaw blade. He bought the saw used and the blade came with it. I am looking to get one for my 18 inch jet bandsaw and am looking for suggestions on brand names, tooth count and blade width.
Thanks in advance, Kevin

[Mike Cutler]

Kevin

1st question is what are looking to do with it?
I have a 1", Lennox 2/3 vari-pitch TriMaster blade on my 18" Rikon. The saw and blade are specifically setup for re-sawing on this saw. The quality and consistency of the cut is very, very, good. I don't think you can go wrong with Lennox

[Jim Finn]

I use "Supercut" carbide impregnated blades to re-saw 8" cedar, walnut and maple. These blades do not last forever but much better than any, steel only, blades I have tried. I use a 1/2" 3 TPI blade for my 14" saw and the cost is under $29 the last time I bought some.

[Tim Bridge]

I have the Laguna Resaw King blade on my 18” saw.
Cuts like budda

[John K Jordan]

I have the Laguna Resaw King blade on my 18” saw.
Cuts like budda

Thick green wood or dry wood?

JKJ

[Darcy Warner]

A carbide band is over 300 bucks for my large saws. I cut a lot of curved parts and carbide won't work for that.

Bimetals are nice for when I cut lots of tropical wood.

[John TenEyck]

Lennox Woodmaster CT 1" x 1.3 tpi on my 17" Grizzly. It cuts exceptionally smooth; perhaps not quite as smoothly as the Trimaster, but a whole bunch faster. It was about $150 for a 162" blade which is pretty cheap for what it does and how long it will do it.

John

[Bruce Page]

1” Lenox tri-master 3 tpi. It’s the only carbide bandsaw blade I have used but it cuts just like your friends.

[Andrew Hughes]

Looks like Lennox is offering a low priced Resaw blade. The Woodmaster Gt I might get one i like have a good carbon steel blade esp one that can be resharpened without a heavy burr left behind. I haven't been happy with any of the bimetal blades after they are back from sharpening service.

[Derek Cohen]

I have a Hammer N4400, which is a 17 1/2" wheel. For resawing I use a 1" Lenox Woodmaster CT. The finished cut is not as smooth as a Trimaster, but it does cut quickly. What I would emphasise is that these are thick and stiff blades. They require an awful lot of tensioning. When I replace the existing blade, I plan to do so with a 3/4" - I believe that will still cut as straight, but it will require less tension, and this will improve the quality of the cut. Bottom line: ensure your bandsaw can manage the tensioning needed for a carbide blade. The Resaw King is a thinner blade and requires less tension than the Lenox blades.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rick Alexander]

I have the Lennox vari-pitch TriMaster 1 inch on my 19 inch Grizzly and yes it cuts great. When it finally wears out I'm thinking I'm just going back to 3/4 standard resaw blade. Not worth the money to me plus changing that >$300 blade is nerve racking and a pain in the batookie because you're so nervous about breaking teeth. A well set-up/adjusted saw will re-saw just fine to me without all that expense. Either one of the results off them have to make a trip to the drum sander either way so I'm not convinced it's worth the expense.

[Ted Phillips]

I love the performance of the Lennox TriMaster carbide blades as well. However, I have broken the last two I owned (at over $100 apiece) after only a couple of months' service. I'm going back to trimetal blades.

[Morey St. Denis]

My opinion is those Lenox and most other brands of Carbide tipped bandsaw blades were initially intended largely for specialized industrial metal cutting. The Laguna Resaw King alone appears uniquely engineered specifically for woodworkers. Believe the recent Jet woodworking bandsaws presently utilize steel frames, but likely bear cast aluminum wheels on your 18" size. I concur with Derek, that you'll need to pay particular attention to the requirement for adequately tensioning the various CT blades for best performance.

2nd Derek's: "Emphasis that these are thick and stiff blades. They require a considerable level of tensioning." "Ensure your bandsaw can manage the tensioning needed for an industrial carbide blade."; but "That the Resaw King is a thinner blade and requires less tension than the Lenox blades."

Use of conventional resaw blades can demand up to 48% more spring force from your saw's mechanism and structural frame to equivalently tension the Lenox CT, Tri-Master or other conventional CT brands at identical width. Increased tension force is entirely due to differing thickness of the "backing" band that carries those carbide teeth.

I can offer a brief summary of features you'll likely want to consider carefully in reaching a decision on your first carbide tipped resaw blade:

Laguna Resaw King uses a backing band thickness only 2/3 that of all other conventional CT blades. Precise figures on band thickness are 0.6mm or 0.024" as compared to the nearly full millimeter or 0.035" & 0.042" found with others. A 2/3 thickness factor allows not more than 2/3 the spring force to achieve any targeted band tension loading expressed as normalized tensile stress units of psi.

Saw kerf (material wasted) typically is nearly 1/16" (1.3mm or 0.051" with Lenox) while kerf width for the RK is only about a millimeter or 0.041", fully 24% to 34% less material wasted! While resawing often demands greater power output due to typically taller cuts involved; you can anticipate up to 1/3 better pacing out of your existing motor when the blade is wasting that much less material. Believe you may have mentioned Oak and other burlwoods? Applies equally to all valuable or exotic hardwoods you might have occasion to resaw. Waste less, consume/spend proportionately less on extensive resaw projects...

Another great benefit of reduced backing band thickness over every other resaw blade marketed is in lower bending stress repeatedly imposed on the band, twice every cycle; especially that singular weld joint, and at each tooth's brazed carbide juncture to the band. Keep in mind that the calculation of imposed bending stress is a Non-linear equation with regard to thickness. Stiffness and therefore bending stress actually is an inverse exponential function relating exclusively to band thickness! Peak bending stress imposed on any band conforming to smaller tire diameters is exponentially higher; so a simple reduction by 1/3 in the band thickness typically relieves stiffness, power loss and peak band stress by half! This may likely explain Ted's premature failures with the Lenox product... Some will have no doubt noted that higher performance resaw blades are not generally recommended for use on tires under 16" diameter; though not much concern for your saw's 18" wheels.

It has been observed with large multiples of uniformly spaced teeth engaged in resawing often results in perturbed harmonic vibrations that can adversely affect noise level, surface quality, and sometimes further the need for secondary smoothness processing or planing after resaw. Variable tooth spacing goes a long way toward dampening this unfortunate occurrence. 2-3 TPI variable pitch spacing comes standard with all Resaw King configurations, a feature not available with more general purpose blade designs. Lenox Tri-Master reportedly affords their vari-tooth feaure only on blade widths of 1.0" and above while with the WoodMaster CT it's only found at 2" widths or greater for large band saw mills.

The engineering behind Resaw King clearly points to it being optimized for use in exotic and other valuable hardwoods; RK can accommodate marginal band saws as small as 14" and typical resaw blade widths of 1/2", 3/4", 1" and greater.

Reviewing the above mechanical considerations unique to resawing has led me to decide upon Resaw King blades as the best choice for my 17" resaw machine. Likely a number of people will no doubt report they are happily getting away with certain subtle misapplications in their resawing equipment, but there's little sense in aiming toward a situation where you'd attempt to cheat the clever mathematics and material science properly applied to our craft.

[John Lanciani]

My opinion is those Lenox and most other brands of Carbide tipped bandsaw blades were initially intended largely for specialized industrial metal cutting. The Laguna Resaw King alone appears uniquely engineered specifically for woodworkers. Believe the recent Jet woodworking bandsaws presently utilize steel frames, but likely bear cast aluminum wheels on your 18" size. I concur with Derek, that you'll need to pay particular attention to the requirement for adequately tensioning the various CT blades for best performance.

2nd Derek's: "Emphasis that these are thick and stiff blades. They require a considerable level of tensioning." "Ensure your bandsaw can manage the tensioning needed for an industrial carbide blade."; but "That the Resaw King is a thinner blade and requires less tension than the Lenox blades."

Use of conventional resaw blades can demand up to 48% more spring force from your saw's mechanism and structural frame to equivalently tension the Lenox CT, Tri-Master or other conventional CT brands at identical width. Increased tension force is entirely due to differing thickness of the "backing" band that carries those carbide teeth.

I can offer a brief summary of features you'll likely want to consider carefully in reaching a decision on your first carbide tipped resaw blade:

Laguna Resaw King uses a backing band thickness only 2/3 that of all other conventional CT blades. Precise figures on band thickness are 0.6mm or 0.024" as compared to the nearly full millimeter or 0.035" & 0.042" found with others. A 2/3 thickness factor allows not more than 2/3 the spring force to achieve any targeted band tension loading expressed as normalized tensile stress units of psi.

Saw kerf (material wasted) typically is nearly 1/16" (1.3mm or 0.051" with Lenox) while kerf width for the RK is only about a millimeter or 0.041", fully 24% to 34% less material wasted! While resawing often demands greater power output due to typically taller cuts involved; you can anticipate up to 1/3 better pacing out of your existing motor when the blade is wasting that much less material. Believe you may have mentioned Oak and other burlwoods? Applies equally to all valuable or exotic hardwoods you might have occasion to resaw. Waste less, consume/spend proportionately less on extensive resaw projects...

Another great benefit of reduced backing band thickness over every other resaw blade marketed is in lower bending stress repeatedly imposed on the band, twice every cycle; especially that singular weld joint, and at each tooth's brazed carbide juncture to the band. Keep in mind that the calculation of imposed bending stress is a Non-linear equation with regard to thickness. Stiffness and therefore bending stress actually is an inverse exponential function relating exclusively to band thickness! Peak bending stress imposed on any band conforming to smaller tire diameters is exponentially higher; so a simple reduction by 1/3 in the band thickness typically relieves stiffness, power loss and peak band stress by half! This may likely explain Ted's premature failures with the Lenox product... Some will have no doubt noted that higher performance resaw blades are not generally recommended for use on tires under 16" diameter; though not much concern for your saw's 18" wheels.

It has been observed with large multiples of uniformly spaced teeth engaged in resawing often results in perturbed harmonic vibrations that can adversely affect noise level, surface quality, and sometimes further the need for secondary smoothness processing or planing after resaw. Variable tooth spacing goes a long way toward dampening this unfortunate occurrence. 2-3 TPI variable pitch spacing comes standard with all Resaw King configurations, a feature not available with more general purpose blade designs. Lenox Tri-Master reportedly affords their vari-tooth feaure only on blade widths of 1.0" and above while with the WoodMaster CT it's only found at 2" widths or greater for large band saw mills.

The engineering behind Resaw King clearly points to it being optimized for use in exotic and other valuable hardwoods; RK can accommodate marginal band saws as small as 14" and typical resaw blade widths of 1/2", 3/4", 1" and greater.

Reviewing the above mechanical considerations unique to resawing has led me to decide upon Resaw King blades as the best choice for my 17" resaw machine. Likely a number of people will no doubt report they are happily getting away with certain subtle misapplications in their resawing equipment, but there's little sense in aiming toward a situation where you'd attempt to cheat the clever mathematics and material science properly applied to our craft.

Sounds a little like a sales pitch, have you ever used a trimaster Morey? I had a resaw master and a trimaster (in the “reportedly” available 2/3 TPI varipitch) in my shop at the same time. The resaw master went away and the trimaster earned a place in my shop due to the consistent and repeatable results that I achieved with it as well as its durability. The .01” extra kerf thickness is offset by the ability to take veneer directly from the saw to the veneer press without needing to clean up the back side of the veneer before glueup.

[Geoff Crimmins]

What's the model and age of Jet Bandsaw? What size is the motor? Keep in mind that a thicker, wider blade is much harder for the bandsaw to tension, and requires much more energy just to spin the blade. I have an older Jet 18" bandsaw with a 1-1/2 hp motor on it. It does fine with a 1/2" 3tpi carbon blade, but expect that it would break before it could properly tension a carbide blade. I expect that the current Jet 18" bandsaw would be much better, but you'd still have to choose your blade carefully. What bandsaw does your friend have?

--Geoff