Advise on bandsaw blade

Posted by Henry S on April 11, 2015 at 11:39pm

Hi Gang!

Well I spent my allowance on Craftsman 10" bandsaw off of craigslist for $90. Its barely used runs fine, but it has an extremely TPI count - it was used for some type of hobby crafting.

For general cutting - trimming of hardwoods what is a good general count for TPI ? I'm bouncing between 6TPI or 14TPI.

Otherwise I cannot wait to get started on my CBG - I will of course have to do a full setup on the saw so I plan to put on a new blade as well.

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Replies

  • Rooster April 16, 2015 at 3:36pm

    Henry, I have the same saw. Still using the stock blade, but I set my saw up after watching a video on youtube and the difference is day and night in how it cuts. Just look for  "Band saw clinic with Alex Snodgrass". Hope this will help :)

  • Tommy Phillips April 13, 2015 at 5:10pm

    Generally speaking, you want to have no fewer than two teeth in the wood at any one time.  For 6 TPI, that means cutting down to about 1/3 of an inch (you can get by on 3/8).  If you only have one tooth in the wood at a time, you get a lot more chatter.  Most of the time I keep a 1/2 inch 3 TPI blade on my Grizzly.

    A 14 TPI blade is for very thin wood indeed.

    Why not just use more teeth on thicker wood?  Many teeth means smaller teeth, which means smaller bites from each tooth, and you get more friction, more heat, and you are more likely to burn the wood  (and more heat is more likely to extract resins and such from the wood, gumming up the blade.)  Also, smaller teeth means smaller gullets, which means that each tooth only carries a tiny bit of the dust out of the cut at once, leading to clogging.

    In general, you want to use the fewest teeth you can for the thickness of wood you are cutting.

    Is your new saw one of those bench-top 3-wheel saws?  I have never used one, but I have heard that they are harder to align and keep aligned than a standard 2-wheeler.  Alignment is very important, especially if you are making curved cuts.

    Like most tools, bandsaws have a lot of subtleties that can take a long time to learn, if you are doing sophisticated cuts and operations.  Fortunately, the bandsaw is pretty easy to use to get "good enough" cuts.

    Also, I find the bandsaw less bloodthirsty than the tablesaw.  That alone makes it a good choice for a small shop.

  • Scott W April 12, 2015 at 11:38pm
    Perhaps equally important as TPI is the setup. Be sure to check an online manual and use a feeler gauge to set the thrust bearing and blade guides at the right tolerance when under tension. It will cut so much better if setup correctly. Enjoy'
    • Henry S > Scott W April 13, 2015 at 12:11am

      Totally agree - I think band saws are great tools but they need to be setup correctly. I will do a full adjustment with the new blade.

  • Henry S April 12, 2015 at 6:24pm

    Thanks for the comments - looks like this saw will only take 1/4" blades so I will start with a 6 TPI and see how it goes. For real straight cuts I'll rig up a fence of some sort.

  • Wiley Rutledge April 12, 2015 at 10:57am
    You might want to try a skip tooth blade which should give you a cooler, smoother cut and possibly a bit more flexability in curving cuts while not affecting straight cuts.
  • MadGomer April 12, 2015 at 7:46am
    I'm with Jim, unless you're planning to cut a lot of intricate curves in thin material, you'll be better off with a thicker blade (see what your saw can accept before you buy it of course). 6 TPI isn't bad, if you avoid forcing the work through it you'll end up with a reasonable surface finish. Enjoy!
  • Jim Dickison April 12, 2015 at 1:21am

    Yeah... 6-8 TPI is good for hardwood. Also, on my 9" bandsaw, I replaced the 1/4" wide blade that came on it with a 3/8" wide blade. Tracks much straighter! The 1/4" blade wandered all over the place.

  • Henry S April 12, 2015 at 12:38am

    Well here is some useful info here 

    http://www.allbandsawblades.com/nubmer_teeth.htm

    Looks like I'll shoot for 6 or 8 TPI

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