Bandsaw ?

[Al Willits]

Over in the "Carter, Iturra, Lenox, Starrett Comparison" thread they have quite the discussion going, way over anything I want to deal with, but reading their posts did bring up a few questions.

A ways back there was a thread on blades, and the Timber Wolf blade was mentioned many times, but in the C I L S C thread, it seemed to me that TW was not the blade I thought it was?
Is their a reasonably priced "better" blade I should look at?
I realize better quality may and usually costs more, and if a better blade stays sharper longer, it may well be the better deal.
I'm thinking mostly re sawing as that seems to me to be the most demanding on a blade...?

Also Mark Duginske mentions a European flat wheel for re sawing and that it evidently works better than the crowned wheel we use, if so, any reason why a person wouldn't change over?
Or..would taking a bit of the crown off the existing crowned wheel be of some help?
tia

Al

[Jim Becker]

I've always been very pleased with my TW blades, Al...they are very reasonably priced when bought direct from Suffolk and for me, they last a long time compared to the blades that came with my MM16. (Olson)

Also my MM16 has flat wheels...I could be wrong, but I think that all the Euro machines do and suspect that those emulating them also are, but check the specs of individual machines. And something you'll find interesting is that when using wide blades (such as the 1" Lennox Trimaster) the teeth are not on the wheel...the machine is tracked so that they hang over not quite to the depth of the gullet. What I notice here is that the teeth set stays intact much longer and the blade track better. For that reason, I also track the 1/2" TW I use on the machine for general utility in the same way.

[glenn bradley]

Maybe it's because I only buy 80" blades but they were not that much more money buying direct. I was actually very surprised they were as reasonable as they were.

[Pete Bradley]

Also Mark Duginske mentions a European flat wheel for re sawing and that it evidently works better than the crowned wheel we use, if so, any reason why a person wouldn't change over?
Or..would taking a bit of the crown off the existing crowned wheel be of some help?

This question comes up from time to time. On machines with crowned wheels, the crown is what keeps the band in the middle of the wheel. I don't think flat wheels are necessarily "better", as evidenced by the vast majority of machines that are crowned.

Pete

[Joe Mioux]

I have a 1/2 inch woodslicer coming soon. It is a 154" blade and the cost is under $30 .... I think.

Some of the experts in the other threads have made positive comments about the Woodslicer blade.

Joe

[Mark Singer]

Many guys have switched to bi metal blades....I think I will try them soon for my Jet 14" ...leaving the Trimaster on the Agg. I think the good ones are Olson MVP...these are about $31 and they last 5 times longer than normal steel

[EJ Gowlovech]

Where might one find the Olson blades - or at least see what they offer?

Thanks!

[Mark Duginske]

Band saws have evolved around two different wheel shape design philosophies (front wheel versus rear wheel drive on cars-both work) concerning the edge of the wheel. The edge of the wheel is either almost flat or curved, which is called “crowned”. Most 14” band saws have a very pronounced crown because these smaller saws were designed for running narrow blades. A crowned wheel helps to track a blade in the middle of the wheel which is desirable for narrow blades 3/8” or smaller. If the wheels are not perfectly lined up, the crowns on each wheel compete for control of the blade, and the misalignment causes vibration and shortens blade life.
Crowns are problematic for wide blades because the front and back of the blade doesn’t touch the tire and is not well supported. For the BAND SAW HANDBOOK I put chalk on the tire of a Sears saw and then ran it with 1/2” blade. I was amazed that I only removed about 3/16” of the chalk which means that blade is balancing on the crown.

If you have one saw, especially a 14” which all have crowned wheels, for resawing you should use the widest blade which is the 1/2” and run it with the wheels aligned (coplanar). Because of the crown the 14 easily tracks small blades. . I have a 14” for curved cuts and change the blades as need. CROWNED WHEELS EASILY TRACK NARROW BLADES

FLAT WHEELS EASILY TRACK WIDE BLADES. A flat wheel allows the blade to be tracked either in the middle of the wheel or toward its front edge. Flat wheels are best for wider blades because they give the blade more support. Although they take more care to track, flat wheels allow you to track blades in various positions on the wheel. Large blades track best toward the front of the tire on a flat wheel and can be tracked with the tips of the teeth off the tire. Small blades are best tracked toward the middle.

Flat wheels don’t care if they are not lined up with each other because they do not have a crown. The Italian flat wheel saws allow one to track very high quality wide blades with the teeth of the tire I have a 20” Italian saw with the 1" Lennox Trimaster that Jim Becker mentions. It cuts thick and thin. I do all my ripping of short piece on that saw which is much safer than a tablesaw.