BS blade for this?

[Craig Behnke]

I'd like to get some feedback on good choices for a BS blade to do some curved cutting through hardwood up to 8/4 thickness, but here is the catch: i'd like for the blade to have no, or very minimal kerf, so it leaves the wood as smooth as possible so that I can do minimal clean-up sanding and piece it back together for a glue up with a tight joint.

See the picture below for an example of what i'd like to accomplish. I did some cutting boards where you stack them, make some curved cuts, then swap pieces between the two to get a contrasting effect. When I did this cherry and maple board, the curve cuts were really clean/smooth. I placed in a very thin (1/16th?) strip between the cuts and it jointed incredibly tight. Problem is, It wasn't my BS and I forget what blade was on it. Any suggestions appreciated.

Curve 2.jpg

[John Bailey]

I'd use a 1/8" (1/16" if I could find one) with a lot of teeth, like 14tpi. Also, as thin kerf as you can get.

I don't know where you would find these blades. I get all my blades from Iturra Designs and they have a 1/4" .020 kerf Starrett blade that I think would do the trick because your curve is not very sharpe. I would think it would be worth a call to Iturra, Highland Hardware and Suffolk Machinery to see if they had a 1/8" .020 kerf blade.

[Jim Matthews]

Try a "fish" blade for a restaurant or buther shop.

David Charlesworth recommends them for just your reasons.
A word of warning; it's not an all purpose blade - you'll want to be close to your dimensions before cutting with a small kerf blade.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/te...ision_band_saw

[Myk Rian]

Just take a blade and smash the teeth in a vice to flatten it.
Before the usual poo-poo people start chiming in, it works.