Ripping 12/4 Any tips??? Blade Recommendation??

[scott spencer]

...i obviously need a good general purpose blade but i may go ahead and get the rip blade also....

All the more reason to get the 30T WWII...it's pretty close to being both.

[Tony Bilello]

I can understand the use of bandsaws for certain applications but not for saving wood.
Here is what I come up with:
I can make a cut on my table saw and go straight to glue-up and only lose the 1/8" saw kerf.
Having said that, lets move to the bandsaw. Lets say the typical kerf of a bandsaw is 1/16". That leaves us with another 1/16" to spare. One sixteenth of an inch equals 2/32". That means that you guys can make a 5 foot long cut without wandering more tha 1/32" from either side of the center line and still have wood left over to run through a joiner on both cut edges and have the final board edges parallel and ready for glue-up.
Am I missing something?

[Sean Hughto]

Yeah, I think you are missing a few things.

First, a typical bandsaw blade is no where near 1/16th of an inch thick. It's less than 1/32, in fact.

Second, with a sell set up saw and a fence, one should be able to saw a straight line with a bandsaw. And if your feed rate is reasonable, the edge, while not glue ready, doesn't need very much work to eliminate the saw marks.

Third, in my experience, you overestimate the TS in that, the thicker the stock, the more difficult it is to produce a glue ready edge right off the saw - burning often happens on at least one of the sides, and hesitations or reactions in the wood create blade scores that need to be cleaned up. In other words, you lose more than the 1/8th kerf with a TS in many thick stock rips.

[Larry Rasmussen]

For my 10" saw a 3/32 Freud LU87R010 rip blade does an excellent job. I think it was about $42. I think traditionally recommendations would be tending to full Kerf blades for heavier work to avoid deflection. In my limited experience as a hobbiest the above choice showed no such tendancy. Frankly I had a hard time believing such and inexpensive blade would perform this well being a verteran of several $80 to $100 blade puchases over the years including Frued's earlier Glue Line Rip. Another advantage with the LU87 is that you could hopefully afford a 12" blade.

Food for thought not meant to be definitive for the situation.

Regards,
Larry Rasmussen,
Seattle

[Charles McCracken]

Heath,

Welcome to the group! For the stock you are ripping I recommend a dedicated thick stock rip blade which is typically flat grind and less that 24T for a 10". The Freud version is the LM71 series:
http://www.freudtools.com/p-37-thick...ipbr-nbsp.aspx
I know that it's not the versatility you wanted but I am confident you'll be happier and the results will be much better than with a blade with more teeth and/or ATB grind.

[Don Jarvie]

A new sharp blade and 3hp with a saw that is setup right should cut most anything.

Slow consistant feed rate and you should have no problem.

[Prashun Patel]

saw that one at rockler the other day. was hoping i could get away with something a bit more versatile.

'versatile' = combination or general purpose blade. These do a 'great' job at crosscutting, and a 'good' job at ripping. The best combo/general blades are reputed to be the Forest WWII and the Freud Fusion.

However, they rip best at stock that's less than 1 1/2 inches. When you get up into the whoa mother range, you really need a dedicated ripping blade. Anything north of 30 teeth is gonna burn.

That being said, if this is a one-off thing you're doing, get a $13 Oldham ripping blade from HD. It'll work fine for a couple jobs (albeit with a cleanup on the jointer after), but won't hold it's ability for as long as the better blades...

[Myk Rian]

I've been using a Freud Diablo 24t ripping blade. Thin kerf and does a great job resawing 3". I'll make one cut, turn the stock over to make the next, then finish up on the band saw.

[heath madsen]

update:

i got the 30 tooth woodworker II in full kerf. It does cut the 12/4 red oak but requires slow feeding and i get very minor burns here and there. sands out easily enough. has a very nice cut to it. 8/4 is no problem at all and is glue line smooth. much better than my old 24t rip blade. also is remarkably good on cross cuts including sheet goods. not perfect mind you but nearly so.

in all im very satisfied as a all around blade. seems the 40 toot gets all the press, but the 30 is wonderful if you tend to the thicker material.

im interested to try some cherry in 8/4 and see if it burns.

btw my coat trees came out great. ill try to post pics soon. gotta get to the shop.