Band Saw for Milling

[zendo]

Not sure what happened to my message on bandsaws.... I repeat here ... I used a narrow blade hobby bandsaw for the Lute last year but need a more powerful one for milling tassie blackwood.... feedback on what others use would assist greatly. I expect a one inch wide blade on a machine with 2 speeds would suffice.

[woodrat]

Hi Robert, I have milled a lot of blackwood into sets and I have always used a 1/2 3 TPI Bi metal blade. Key here is sharpness. I have deep ripped 8+ inch backs on both my bandsaws. One is a 14 inch Jet that has a 6 inch riser block and a 2 hp motor instead of the original 1hp motor and my other one is a 40yr old cast iron 18inch Aussie made Woodfast.
I have some more to do in the near future and I have ordered 2 of the WOODSLICER blades from Highland Hardware in the States and am going to give that a go as they are highly regarded and available now at good prices thanks to the strength of the A Dollar.
I sharpen my own blades with a diamond slipstone. I put the blade on the machine backwards after I turn it inside out and have a jig which is essentially a block set at the tooth angle of 60 Degrees. I have screwed a couple of guide rails to the block and I give each tooth a couple of passes until I see bright steel. It is very simple but works well. I hope this info is helpful to you.

Regards

John

[ernie]

Don/t believe the hype on the woodslicer . I used them on my minimax s-45 1.8hp. They dull very quickly, especially on hardwoods and don/t last long. For a better bandsaw blade I would get starret 3 tpi blades from BC saw in toronto canada. Or try an expensive carbide blade from lenox, they last much longer , and are cheaper in the long run cheers.

[Dominic]

Hey Zendo, try a search of the archives on bandsaws, resawing and blades. There has been quite a few discussions about various aspects of bandsawing guitar woods. Also lots of discussion on blades.

I am not sure I am with Ernie on the blades, I use the woodslicer blades and for the price they are great value. For around $30 bucks you could get 4 compared to the more expensive blades. I have found them very effective for resawing, thin kerf, very accurate and clean cut with only a little sanding required to flatten. For the amount of work I might do (up to 10 sets not hundreds) they are hard to beat.

Cheers
Dom

[J.F. Custom]

Hi Zendo.

It really depends on what you are trying to cut. A 14" would be the smallest machine you would want to attempt such work on but they are not really designed for 1" blades. Most have a limit of 3/4" but even that stretches them. Also, you don't necessarily have to use a 1" blade to re-saw but that is a whole other discussion. I use a 17" bandsaw, two speed, 2HP, 12" depth of cut for my re-saw work, but that may be over the top for many home workshops. I'll echo Dom here and suggest a search as many of these issues have been discussed previously.

Further - just another opinion on the Woodslicer blades which I did give a little review on on this forum.

Overall, I have to agree with Dom. The blades cut beautifully, smoothly, accurately and with minimal waste. For the price which is comparable to basic very average blades here in Australia they are still good value.

I say that despite the fact that I also agree with Ernie in that they do dull off pretty quickly. Possibly a pay off for such thin blade material. Of course this largely depends on what you are cutting and how much of it. For the average user doing a few sets at home, they will perform fine and chances are you will be very happy. Probably not a commercial solution but then, those with more to do can probably justify the expense of a Lenoxx TCT blade which also cuts well, but lasts a long time.

Two things worth mentioning though - the Lenoxx TCT blades have a larger kerf so there is more waste/loss. For particularly rare or expensive timber, the minimal waste (0.7mm?) of the Woodslicer is very appealing. The other point worth mentioning is that the Woodslicer puts less strain on the bandsaw frame to bring up to tension. This therefore may make it more appropriate for smaller bandsaws. I feel I am really stretching my 17" Carba-Tec to the max trying to bring up the tension on my 1" Lenoxx TCT blade. There are other options here - the Lenoxx 3/8", 3/4TPI TCT blade won't put as much strain but was twice as expensive again due to the number of TCT teeth.

You have to weigh up all the considerations to make the right decision for your circumstances - no blanket statement will work for all.

Jeremy.

[MBP]

You should send stopper a PM. He does this for a living.
He has a nice small bandsaw for this kind of work, about 80hp I think, cuts very well.

[Allen]

I've got a carbide tipped Lenox blade on my 20" Jet. Damn it cuts nice. Scarf joints for a head stock can be glued up right off the saw.

[MattW]

You could try http://www.thode.co.nz/

They are NZ based, but have a factory about 500m down the road from me in Healesville VIC, which I presume supplies the local saw- milling industry.

I gave them a call the other day to inquire about a resaw blade for a 16" band saw. I haven't purchased anything from them yet. They were happy to talk blades for a while tho. Check out the wide band saw blades- what machine do they go on?!!

Might be worth a try.

[zendo]

You could try http://www.thode.co.nz/

They are NZ based, but have a factory about 500m down the road from me in Healesville VIC, which I presume supplies the local saw- milling industry.

I gave them a call the other day to inquire about a resaw blade for a 16" band saw. I haven't purchased anything from them yet. They were happy to talk blades for a while tho. Check out the wide band saw blades- what machine do they go on?!!

Might be worth a try.

Thanks Matt,

I wasn't clear in my message. I am looking at buying a new saw with an appropriate band and selling my hobby saw which is inadequate. My enquiry is for ideas of what saw might suit../ Carbatec have a 17" for $1650 but Hare & Forbes here in Brisbane have a 15" Basato4 by Scheppach for $900. I don't want a too powerful saw just one that will do the occasional job on some Tassie Blackwood milling Lute Ribs or Guitar Back and Sides...

cheers

[DarwinStrings]

I have a 17 Carbatec with a 3/4 inch 2 TPI bi-metal blade(from Henry's). For small volumes it will do the job if you get it tuned nice. It had a guide problem when it was new but they replaced the guide for me and is fine now.

Jim

[Allen]

The Carbatec one would be a better choice of the two.

[kiwigeo]

The Carbatec one would be a better choice of the two.

I agree......

[MattW]

I misread your post sorry Zendo and though you were after the blade. I am also looking to get a bandsaw for general stuff like cutting out templates and neck, tail blocks etc, but also want to be able to resaw a few sets.

From what I know so far, the larger bandsaws (17" and up) can tension up a wider blade which should give a more stable faster cut as the wider blade can have larger teeth and wont wander as easily. To drive the bigger teeth needs more power from 1.5hp at least but 2hp is better. A smaller 14" bandsaw would likely struggle to tension a blade much over 1/2 inch and would usually have a 1hp motor.

[Dominic]

I have the 17 inch from carbatec. Love it. For re-sawing I used a 3/4 inch woodslicer blade to cut a bunch of figured blackwood sets and it cut beautifully. Also cut some hard maple sets with no problems. Very square clean sets and thin kerfs. Unless you were a commercial concern I can't see how anyone would need a wider blade for guitar work. As long as you have spent the time to set it up properly for each blade I have found this saw/blade combo it cuts flawlessly. The 3/4 blade will also tension better than a wider thicker blade which may bend the frame before it gets to tension.
And I have a small 3/16 blade on it for general work and tight curves and even that blade I can use for cutting accurate thin slices up to around 100mm high. It has the same cutting height as the larger 19 and 21 inch saws which only have deeper throats. But at 410mm it seems plenty for me.
So its a very versatile saw and comes with 2 x 100mm dust outlets while the other saws like this only have one.
I can't see I would ever need another band saw. My bandsaw TAS is cured.
Cheers Dom

[Allen]

I can't see I would ever need another band saw. My bandsaw TAS is cured.
Cheers Dom

You haven't seen Micheal's collection of bandsaws yet Dom. That will give you reason to pause. The Jet that was just recently delivered to me was surplus to his needs....thankfully for me as he had upgraded the guides to Carters, blade to the TC Lenox and an all over tuneup to get it to his standards.