Bandsaw blade question

Re: Bandsaw blade question

Dick Coers

A piece of caulk or soapstone brought slowly up the side of the teeth will identify a wide tooth. You can bend it in if necessary. Check the weld area first. A little offset there is pretty common.

Re: Bandsaw blade question

John K Jordan

That kind of pitch is typical for a band sawmill blade I use on my Woodmizer. Great for cutting through wide stock but the cut is never smooth. I guess that's why they call it rough sawn lumber.

But I know nothing about that bandsaw - does it have precision guides? The guides on the band mill are simple flanges which likely contribute to the rough cut.

JKJ

Re: Bandsaw blade question

Barry Irby

The guides are pieces of phenolic that come up close to the blade.

I will set up something to see if the teeth are badly set or damaged. this is a carbide blade and I paid about $100 for it, I think. I was hoping it would be the only blade I would ever have to buy.

My idea was this was to be my straight cutting resaw bandsaw the Delta 14" was for curves and general purpose.

Thanks Dick, will pay attention to the weld.

Thanks Ralph, will set up some sort of feeler

Re: Bandsaw blade question

John K Jordan

>>>... see if the teeth are badly set or damaged. this is a carbide blade ...

If you cut fairly fast you get constant roughness or repeated areas with a scar with smoother areas between?

If you make a cut down a board are both halves equally scarred? Seems if the problem is from a single offset tooth just one side of the cut would be rough, or at least rougher than the other.

I didn't see where you said this was a carbide blade. The carbide blades I have cut smoothly. If you find a rogue tooth causing the problem, a misalignment at the weld, or a bend in the steel you might see if the seller will replace the blade. You could probably dress a single tooth using a diamond hone.

To check for an misaligned tooth I might try to rig up something with a dial indicator. I haven't tried this but just imagining: perhaps a smooth, flat, thin "stick" from nylon or HDPE long enough to span three teeth, fixed just above the table with a means to float or pivot, a dial indicator holding the stick lightly against the side of the teeth. Move the blade in reverse by hand and watch the indicator for deflection. Might have to check both sides of the blade.

Re: Bandsaw blade question

Barry Irby

Both sides are pretty equally rough.

The blade has Stellite teeth. IIRC the one that came with it had Stellite on every other tooth and ordered a similar one because that one was obviously damaged. The seller sent me a more expensive one with Stellite on every tooth. I am assuming Stellite is somebody's version of carbide. Since I bought this saw from the son of a deceased woodworker there is no one to talk to and the original blade was damaged so there is nothing to compare to.

Since posting this I went back to YouTube and looked at more videos about the saw. Both the Hitachi B 600 and it's descendant the 76 model.

There is discussion of using the saw to quickly break down stock and mine does that easily and well. There is also a comment about getting rid of those (explitive) Stellite blades and switching to Lennox blades an Inch wide and the Carter guides necessary to do that. I have no idea if the parts are still available. I have some guide parts that the son threw into a box and gave me, but no idea if they are complete.

I am not inclined to experiment with a Lennox Blade which would cost north of a hundred bucks and fiddling with the guides or buying new ones if available. I bought this saw to get out of switching blades constantly on my Delta 14" saw with riser. I am concerned the Lennox blade might do an excellent job of slicing veneer but not be good for stock breakdown.

Frozen in indecision.

Others experience

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I don't know if the 3" saw I saw is your model but I have seen two 3" saws sawing this stock. One at Cormark sawing the thin stock for Woodcraft stores and another at IWF demonstrating sawing thin stock. I do not know what blade was on these saws. They both had feeders, an important factor in cut smoothness. They cut smooth pieces.