selection of bandsawblades to buy

[killerbeast]

i just bent my only blade on the band saw. the one that came with it. so now i´m looking at getting some more blades, but the great ? for me is witch blades to get ? how wide and with how many teeth.. i plan on sawing stock for spindle turning and bowl blanks, down to pen blanks..

So any and all information will be more than welcome (me being the complete band saw novice)

[Grumpy John]

Hi Rasmus
Having just bought a bandsaw I've been preparing bowl blanks for the past 3 weekends. My timber is all very green (only been felled about 4 weeks ago) and ranges from Blue Spruce, Mellaluca and Blackwood some pieces being 400mm dia. I've found the best blade to be 4TPI and 3/8" wide. Hope this helps.

Cheers
GJ

[killerbeast]

i does thank you..

[artme]

I second what Grumpy says.

Thought you had vanished KB or have you been glued to the lathe?

[NeilS]

Killerbeast - On deeper bowl blanks (up to 12") I prefer a deep gullet 3TPI and for most diameters a 3/8" wide blade will do. Larger diameter bowls (18"+) would be OK with a 1/2" wide blade, but, unless I have a lot of them to do, I don't usually bother to change the blade.

As a rule of thumb, I try to have at least six teeth in the cut. So, if I was cutting lots of smaller diameter spindle blanks (which I don't usually do), I would be going for a lot more TPI, especially with pen blanks. Of course, rough tooth marks left on the blank from too few TPI are not an issue for woodturners (unlike joiners who want a better 'off the saw' finish). However, too few teeth in the cut will be detrimental to the blade.

Rake angle is another consideration, especially if you are cutting a lot hard wood (they need a more positive rake angle), but that is probably not enough of an issue for you to bother with in your part of the world.

Then again, this may all be academic if you can't readily source custom made blades for your bandsaw. The lower TPI blades aren't usually premanufactured as stock parts for the smaller bandsaws and have to be made to order by specialist suppliers here, which I don't know about over your way. Maybe someone on the forum could help with that information.

Hope you find a solution to meet your needs.

Neil

[rsser]

To add to that, if you are cutting blanks from hard wood, the experts advise that a bimetal blade will more than repay the initial higher cost.

And if you are cutting circular blanks and intend to mix that work with straight cutting, either alternate the circular blank cutting direction or have two blades. Circ cutting is likely to dull the blade tips on one side and so give you trouble with straight cutting.

[killerbeast]

Thanks all :-)

Artme : Ohhh no :-) but i spend most my summers building stages and doing security around the country. so i havent had that much time to turn nor to write :-) i i hope to have more time in the next couple of months.. im getting behind i my turning :-)

[joe greiner]

What Ern (rsser) said, but if you're doing a substantial amount of cutting both circular and straight, using two blades is probably better. This also forces you to set proper tension for each blade.

Joe