Thread: Which blades for my new Bandsaw

What do you mean by fine work?

If you mean a finer finish that this depends as much on how sharp the blades are and how quickly you push the wood through.
High TPI blades will force you to go slowly so may have a better finish but a decent finish can be had with even a 3 or 6TPI blade.

Narrower blades are useful for smaller radius curves and wider blade helps with resawing.

Some blokes find they can get away with just one blade which has the major advantage of not needing to change blades and go through the entire setup procedure.

I have the bp355.

I use 3/4" 3 tpi carbon blades and 1/4" 4 tpi carbon blades. Mostly the 1/4" blades live on the machine. Ill bother to change to the 3/4" when i need to do a bunch of resawing, but for the odd piece here n there, i can manage resawing with a 1/4" blade.

Sorry, by fine work I mean curves, bandsawn boxes etc.

Have a chat with Henry Bros, they are very knowledgeable and sell excellent blades

I bought a 1/2" 3tpi blade from Carbide Tools in Landsdale. I've used it for resawing up to about 100mm and general cutting. I'm quite happy with the blade and the service I've received from them

Thanks Godfrey, how much was the blade? They're not far from me.

Originally Posted by Godfrey

I bought a 1/2" 3tpi blade from Carbide Tools in Landsdale. I've used it for resawing up to about 100mm and general cutting. I'm quite happy with the blade and the service I've received from them

Might I ask a question about bandsaw blades here; I also have the BP 355 and am due to upgrade the blade...

Bit of a novice question- but the only thing that determines whether the blade will fit is length? Is this correct-- i.e. I believe the BP 355 is 2750mm. The stock blade is 2750x 16mm...Does this mean I have to get a 2750mm blade but am free to play with width and TPI?


Cheers

Andrew

Using the stock bearing guides and wheels, you can use blades between 1/4" - 1". but a 1" blade needs to sit forwards of center on wheels to give clearance between back edge of blade and machine housing. Sitting forwards of center is ok but the blade will want to cut at an angle different to the fence.

I have a bunch of blades, from 6mm up to 25mm.

I tried resawing with the wide blades.
Once those start wandering in the cut, never mind what the tension, it's a bear to try to get them 'back on track'.
with the wider blades I had to use the round ripping attachment to the fence so I could adjust for funny angles of
cut (like Kuffy said) but with the 6mm blades I can use the ordinary fence and I get very little variation.

I find I never swap out the 6mm blades any more. I buy the best quality I can get in terms of hardened teeth and
high quality steel from a specialist outfit that does nothing but knives and blades. It pays off. Cleaner cuts and
a lot fewer breaks.

Originally Posted by hellofellow

Might I ask a question about bandsaw blades here; I also have the BP 355 and am due to upgrade the blade...

Bit of a novice question- but the only thing that determines whether the blade will fit is length? Is this correct-- i.e. I believe the BP 355 is 2750mm. The stock blade is 2750x 16mm...Does this mean I have to get a 2750mm blade but am free to play with width and TPI?


Cheers

Andrew

Yupp. You'll need to completely reset the guides if you go to a different width, obviously, but the 2750 is the one immutable spec for your blades.
Everything else is up to you when you buy a new one.

Originally Posted by P.W.H.

Yupp. You'll need to completely reset the guides if you go to a different width, obviously, but the 2750 is the one immutable spec for your blades.
Everything else is up to you when you buy a new one.

There are also physical limitations on small BS which limits selection to about a 1" wide blade.

Most small BS can't generate sufficient tension to drive a wide blade straight which may explain why you had problems.
If you look at dedicated resawing BS they are built much more rugged so they can generate high blade tensions.
The guides might also limit the support they can provide to wider blades.

This affects very few BS users but one disadvantage of narrower blades is that the BS cannot be braked as quickly.
I'm reluctant to slow a 6 mm wide blade rapidly with the footbrake on my BS, but I am happy to stop a 19mm wide blade in ~3 secs.

Originally Posted by Dazm

Thanks Godfrey, how much was the blade? They're not far from me.

It was $26.50 inc gst. My blade is 3340mm long so yours might be a different price. Carbide Tools make them up for you so you'll need to contact them a couple of days beforehand. I've had mine resharpened by them and they did a really good job. I get my jointer blades done there too.