Shopsmith Forums

I bought new band saw blades a couple weeks ago and am just now getting around to testing/using them.

Without making any comment, I would appreciate comments from any and all of you. The image that I have attached is of the very first cut made by this blade. It is in a piece of pine; old wood that had been used in the RV that I am working on.

The blade used was a 1/4" 10TPI Raker Tooth(521986).

Comments please.

It appears to be what I would have expected.

You will have to tell us how it felt feeding it. It looks like consistent feed rate so I assume it felt 'good' using straight feed pressure.

Dusty
That looks like a typical cut that one would get from the bandsaw.
I personally like the SS bandsaw blades. I think that they do a very credible job.
If the bandsaw is properly adjusted and aligned the blade should exit the cut uniformly from top to bottom or very nearly so.
Does yours do that? If not then the blade may be leaning and this will cause excess strain on the blade. Your cut seems to indicate that all is OK.
Bill V

I don't believe the photo is clear enough to make much of a opinion on the cuts. Many many factors contribute to cutting with a bandsaw, the blade is but one of them.

Yes the blade selection makes a difference, and if you are like me I only have a fraction of the blades I could have and often even then go with is already mounted rather then fiddling with a blade change. Exceptions are for when I know I want to do some particular project that requires a tighter turn radius then can be done with the blade I have on or for say a project that will need resawing as it main function. Even then as I mentioned I have to go with the closest match of blade and function because I can not stock all the combinations of blades that are out there.

I have a whole binder with bandsaw information I've collected over the years but in most cases I don't even go there. The simple rule is to add more teeth for a better finished cut. This is sort of rule #1 or is it #2 buying better blades is more like rule #10 or #12.

For 3/4" stock a 4 tpi blade cuts fast but the surface will be ruff, if you went with say a 14 tip blade you would have an nicer finish but it will cut slower.... But then trying to resaw with a 14 tpi blade would most likely result in a disaster since the dust will not clear well enough....

Blade evaluation will take time, hundreds of cuts from now I think you will have a much better idea about the blade then you do now. Improvements are often small and easy to over look. Perhaps the blade will perform better in tight curves or in cross cuts or well you will have to fill in that information. Maybe the improvement will be in how long it lasts or the fact that if you abuse it it will still be ticking long after another blade would have broken. Yes sometimes results show up on your first cut but not always.

So as they say, that is my story and I'm sticking with it.

Ed

OK. Maybe my expectations were set inappropriately high. I paid a bit more for a saw blade that was advertised as a Premium Bandsaw Blade but maybe the "Premium" is not based on smoothness of cut. Right now I am not overly impressed.

I have them and I have no basis upon which to return them so I will use them. Maybe in time I will become impressed; however, I now have enough bandsaw blades that it is doubtful I will ever need more (unless these break at the weld). If that happens - they are guaranteed.

Then again - the old adage may hold true. "The right tool for the job".

Maybe I choose the wrong blade for what I am going to be doing. Here is what I had to choose from:

1/4" Combination Bandsaw Blade
1/4" Combination Blade - 10 TPI Raker Tooth - .025" thick: General purpose blade for wood, plywood, plastics and soft, non-ferrous metals. 1/2" minimum radius.

C. 1/4" Combination Bandsaw Blade
1/4" Combination Blade - 6 TPI Hooked - General purpose blade for wood, plastics, plywood and soft, nonferrous metals. Great all-purpose blade with deeper gullets and positive rake for fast chip removal and fine cut. 3/4-inch minimum radius.

D. 1/4" Combination Bandsaw Blade
1/4" Combination Blade - 14 TPI Raker - 3-tooth set sequence (left-right-straight) for fine finish cuts. Cuts wood, plastics and nonferrous metals. Excellent metal-cutting blade. 3/4-inch minimum radius. Not recommended for resawing.

G. 1/4" Combination Bandsaw Blade
1/4-inch Combination Blade - .025 -- 6 TPI Hooked - General purpose blade for wood, plywood, plastics and soft non-ferrous metals. Standard with the Shopsmith Bandsaw. 3/4-inch minimum radius.

H. 1/4" Combination Bandsaw Blade
1/4-inch Combination Blade - .025 -- 14 TPI Raker - For finer finish cuts in wood, plywood, plastics and non-ferrous metals. 3/4-inch minimum radius.

I mounted one of my old blades earlier today and got a smoother cut. I'll let you know the TPI when I get back out there.

I'm going to mount all of my old blades and check them out. Several are discards I know. I have, in the past, cut a lot of aluminum. Blades don't last long when cutting metal but I never discard them. It is time to do that.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym6oIaaVMBs[/youtube]

Dusty,

First, the cut you show looks reasonable to me for a 1/4" blade. All the blades you listed said Plastic (OK) and non ferrous metal (huh). I assume you are talking about the SS blades (Premium vs. Non). I looked on the SS site and all the blades say wood, plastic and non-ferrous metal. I don't think I would EVER use a wood working band saw blade on metal. OK, they are rated for that by the description but...

My Timberwolf blade for non-ferrous metal that I have looks totally different from the wood blades. It looks like a hack saw blade for the band saw.

I just can't imagine using a wood blade on metal.