Back Tooth Bandsaw blades

[edma194]

It makes sense for the front of the blade. I still don't see how those back teeth are helping, except to effectively reduce the blade width.

From their website:

"The teeth on the rear of the blade are not sharp to handle but have the effect of clearing the back of the cut by widening the kerf, enabling a much tighter curve to be cut making them an ideal choice for preparing timber for the lathe."

I'd have to see that happen. If those back teeth aren't sharp enough to ruin your blade guides then they aren't going to be doing much to widen the kerf. It'd be much easier to use a narrower blade.

I don't think I'd try to cut out a bowl blank in one big circle either. Maybe this is for using a circle cutting jig to do it, but I'd cut a lot of tangents before trying to follow the circle, and there wouldn't be that much excess wood left to cut off.

[jsburger]

It makes sense for the front of the blade. I still don't see how those back teeth are helping, except to effectively reduce the blade width.

From their website:

"The teeth on the rear of the blade are not sharp to handle but have the effect of clearing the back of the cut by widening the kerf, enabling a much tighter curve to be cut making them an ideal choice for preparing timber for the lathe."

I'd have to see that happen. If those back teeth aren't sharp enough to ruin your blade guides then they aren't going to be doing much to widen the kerf. It'd be much easier to use a narrower blade.

I don't think I'd try to cut out a bowl blank in one big circle either. Maybe this is for using a circle cutting jig to do it, but I'd cut a lot of tangents before trying to follow the circle, and there wouldn't be that much excess wood left to cut off.

If you watch any turning videos they do it all the time with no problems. You have to use the proper blade. I use the SS circle cutting jig without "back teeth" (obviously) with absolutely no problems. It works perfectly.

[edma194]

If you watch any turning videos they do it all the time with no problems. You have to use the proper blade. I use the SS circle cutting jig without "back teeth" (obviously) with absolutely no problems. It works perfectly.

That's not a hearty endorsement of a back tooth blade. I don't mean to be overly skeptical, just trying to understand it, never heard of it before. I don't think I'll be needing one though.

[RFGuy]

OK. I misunderstood a bit on how this blade is supposed to work. The video below explains the intent of this blade. I erroneously thought that those back teeth were meant to help clear out sawdust from the kerf during the cuts. Instead the intent is that those back teeth are meant to cut slightly. It is supposed to allow you to make tighter cuts, e.g. circles in deep material which is why it is suited for bowl blanks. This is why the text description mentioned that it widened the kerf, i.e. as you cut a tighter radius with it those back teeth cut on the outside kerf line to widen it as you go (enabling a tighter radius of cut). No real advantage to a blade like this for re-sawing since it is all straight line cuts. Given this new information (for me), it looks like this blade may have an advantage, but I don't know how much it would help. In the video they show Axminster brand bandsaws being used for it. Below is a pic of what the rear thrust bearing looks like on the Axminster AT2552B bandsaw. I would think eventually that back tooth arrangement would destroy the collar of that bearing, but they may just consider this normal wear and tear, i.e. they may consider it a consumable that can be replaced if you use this blade.

AxminsterBandsawBearing.jpg (29.58 KiB) Viewed 601 times