Thread: Bandsaw Choice - Blade Width Capacity vs Motor HP

From my experience a very good quality blade from say McDivens here in Melb. such as their Tungsten blade is what I have been using for resawing work on a quality bandsaw for some time. Whilst I have been using a 27mm blade both at home and at my wood group with 3 Hp motors likewise smaller good quality blades at our club work fine with a 2 hp bandsaw. The other issue we have experienced is the ability to hold good blade tension especially with larger blades. It is therefore important to ensure you do purchase a quality saw with a strong frame if you are planning to do a lot of resaw work. Our club recently bought an industrial grade SCM bandsaw specifically for accurate resaw work and it also works just fine with the McDiven Tungsten blades.
Cheers,
Paintman

Originally Posted by FlaminGunz

I plan to get proper blades made up from Henry Bros or somewhere local in Melbourne.

Try a personal visit to McDivens in Melbourne. I went there recently and they couldn't have been more helpful working out what I wanted to do (mainly resawing hardwood) with my first big (16") second hand bandsaw and providing the correct blade. I got a free lesson in various aspects of bandsawing. Won't be going anywhere else in future.

Thanks for the tip about McDivens, definitely sounds like a worthwhile trip across town.

Now to just choose the bandsaw!

Mc Diven in Melbourne are good and not to bad at Williamtown for Melbourne folks you can talk to them and they will recommend type of blade that fits the situation.As far as bandsaws go the more power and non flex is what to look for you be surprised at the useful uses you will find.

I do a reasonable amount of resawing for panels for my boxes and only use a 1/2" 4 TPI bi-metal blade and never have any problems cutting straight nor the speed at which it cuts. I do these cuts on both soft and hardwoods up to about 180mm wide. My machine is an older Carbetec and I think it is only 1hp so it shows that resawing can be done with almost anything providing it is set up well. The club I go to has a slightly bigger Laguna with a 3hp motor which they run a 1" blade on and I often hear that one stall with pieces that are no where near the capacity of the machine.

The blade size is down to the frame of the machine as can it take the tension. Most makers tend to overstate the size blade the saw will take. Like Treecycle said a 12mm 3 or 4 tpi blade can do a fair job at resawing. Years ago I bought into the big blade advice only to find a smaller blade did a better job on my saw. Having the right tension is more important than the blade size. Horse power is also important so dont stint on that and of course blades need to be sharp. I also just use bymetal blades and I get a few resharpenings out of a blade. I can run a 16mm blade on mine but most times I run a 10mm 4tpi as an all round blade that can do most of what I want. Getting to your question I would go for the horsepower and run a blade that the saw can tension.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

The blade size is down to the frame of the machine as can it take the tension.
John

Thanks - Great advice.

The machines I'm looking at are Sherwood, Carbatec, Woodfast level, they seem solid compared to my dinky 14" model on a stand - But not next-league level up in quality like a Felder, SCM etc. I had thought the largest blade would be the best bet, but perhaps HP and just a good, sharp 19mm blade is the way to go, or at least not any better/worse of an option.
Gives me a few more models to choose from.