Thread: Resaw Blades

Will need same advice very soon
So just tagging along for the ride

Matt


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My "grunt" blade is a Lennox Woodmaster from Henry Bros in Sydney. It was $80 from memory.

It has big teeth and giant gullets and mercilessly rips through everything. It leaves a very good finish too.

It rarely leaves the saw, then only for the fine 1/4" curvy-work blade or the Resaw King for very special work.

HB are happy to resharpen the LWM many times.

Originally Posted by cava

Advise from the wise required.

I currently have a 3/4 HP Carbatec bandsaw, and am considering toying with resawing some small branches/logs I have.

Typically, I am looking at resawing 150-200mm (max) dia eucalypts and acacia.

The question is, is 3/4 HP enough for this task? And if it is, what blade size, TPI etc should I be looking at?

Thanks all.

Well there's eucalypts, and there's EUCALYPTS!

Either way you could use a bit more than 3/4 HP.

The bandsaw is pretty lightweight. My bandsaw is weak as water, 14" H&F 2hp and I can bog the motor down whenever I feel like. I wouldn't stress too much about optimal blah blah and just buy a few 1/2" 3tpi or 4tpi carbon blades and be done with it. They are cheap, I think they cost me around the $12 mark each @ 2750mm long. This may sound odd, but I would definitely blunten the blade on some MDF before trying to resaw 8" high. A sharp blade wants to eat more and more timber and will literally pull the timber into the blade due to the rake of the teeth. A blunt blade will prefer to ride the bevel/roundover of the bluntness rather than trying to eat too much timber and overload the motor. Essentially you will probably be scratching your way through the timber, but I reckon it will work. I rarely have a sharp machine blade of any kind in my shop anymore, scratch scratch and she gets there in the end.

I know the bandsaw is very light weight - but I have to work with what I have.

$12 for a blade is a good price compared to Carbatec. Where do you get them?

There is only one place to buy bandsaw blades in the whole wide multiverse. McDiven's. Don't quote me on the price, the blades are so cheap in comparison to everything else I use and consume each day, it isn't worth committing any memory to remembering exactly what they cost.

McDiven Saws P/L specializes in all types of bandsaws

I have had good results in the past with bi metal blades on small bandsaws, 1/2" 3 tpi, run as fast as your saw will go.
I paid about $20, but that was a cashie with a local sharpening service. I usually get a better result with a new blade.
I do spend a fair bit of time tuning up the saw when I put on a blade for re sawing though.
Cheers

If you get the setup just right and have a sharp blade then with a slow feed it can be done but its still a big ask for 3/4hp.
I had a 3/4hp 14'' that had max 6'' depth of cut and would do a few full depth cuts with a sharp blade but as soon as the blade began to dull then it was no can do. There are a few home sharpening methods that have been chewed over on the forum using dremels or on the grinder. Google and youtube have loads. A sharp blade is always important on a bandsaw but more so if the horse power is low.
Regards
John

McDiven every time can't beat the service or price just tell them what you are doing and they will suggest blade [don't forget to tell them the wheel size]

3/4 hp but what size? 12/14/16/18?

14" and very underpowered.

A 10mm x 3tpi blade is a good general use blade but doesn't come in a bi-metal blade for that sized saw (that I would recommend for logs as you describe). The 14" goes up to a 3/4" blade, so I'd be looking at a 3tpi blade in bi-metal, but go slow and let the blade do the work.

You may also consider upgrading the motor, a 1.5HP is available for around $130 from Ebay

Originally Posted by dai sensei

You may also consider upgrading the motor, a 1.5HP is available for around $130 from Ebay

Neil I've got an old carbatec (generic style) 14" bandsaw from the 90's, can the motor on this be upgraded or will doing so require others mods as well?