bandsaw blade

[dave siegler]

For hobby stuff what kind of blade is best to dun in your band saw?  How many TPI and tooth type?

I recently fixed tracking on my saw and want to start using it more. 

[FLOYD CARTER]

For our use, we typically cut plywood or thin aluminum.  I use a fine-tooth blade that looks like a hack saw blade.

[Chris Brainard]

18, 24 or 28 TPI sounds more like a blade for a scroll saw. I do a lot of woodworking (have three bandsaws) and for models usually use 1/4" X .025" 10 TPI tooth blades. I cut plywood, hardwood, aluminum and brass with that blade.

[Dave Hull]

I like to keep an 1/8 wide by .020 or .025 thick, 14 TPI blade with regular (or reduced) set and regular teeth on the saw as standard. If I need to do other things, like making furniture, I keep a few other sizes and styles. I want a less aggressive blade that cuts a narrow kerf and doesn't chew up everything in sight.

This is on a 14-1/2" two wheel Delta saw which has plenty of rigidity for good blade tension.

If you have smaller wheels or a three wheel saw, go as thin as you can on the blade and they will break less often. (Fatigue) Also, go as narrow as you can to reduce the frame loads on these types of saws while still maintaining the required tension.
 
Cheap blades will track less well, all other things being equal. Cutting certain things like PC board material (perhaps for engine mounting pads) will trash a blade pretty quickly. It is usually inconsistent blade set that causes drift and tracking issues. Be sure your tuneup gets the blade up on the tires and not hanging on the edge of the wheel--where it will screw up the blade set.

I find Olson Blades to be pretty good. Last I knew, these are made in the USA, which I think is a pretty big deal.  https://www.olsonsaw.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/How-Tos-1.pdf

The best bandsaw blade selection and tuneup articles I have ever read were in Fine Woodworking a number of years ago. I followed the advice given and it really made the bandsaw work for me. Now if I could just do the same for my scrollsaw.....

Dave

[Chris Brainard]

I'm not a big fan of the 1/8" blades. The biggest problem I've run into is tracking. They aren't wide enough to really fit and stay in the blade guides and they're too fragile to tension as tight as I like. I run phenolic guides (Cool Block style) and bury most of the blade in them, running the thrust bearing at .030" clearance with no load. I also tension the blade at the 1/2" size blade setting (on my two Rockwell/Delta 14" saws). I haven't had any issues with the blades chewing up my cut and I haven't found much of the cutting I do to build a model requires tight radius cuts, in fact, just the opposite. Most often I'm cutting maple motor mounts, 3/32" or thicker plywood, 1/8" thick aluminum engine mounting pads, or 1/16" brass tank mounting tabs. Most of those type cuts are fairly straight. On the rare occasions where I need a tight radius or internal cut, I use the scroll saw.

I agree that a good blade is crucial, in fact, over 40 years ago when I bought my first bandsaw, I was so disappointed with the crappy cut on the factory blade (Rockwell/Delta) that I almost took it back. Fortunately, someone more experienced and knowledgeable set me up with the right blade. I still have that saw and have cut miles of wood on it. Don't underestimate the value of a good blade! Most of the ones I've seen at the box stores are like the crappy one that came with my saw. Olson makes excellent blades. I use those on my scroll saws. For the band saws, I buy 100 foot coils (Starrett and Sandvik) and silver braze my own. The silver brazed blades typically outlast the welded blades I used to buy.

A properly set up bandsaw is a joy to use and one of the most flexible tools out there. It's one of my favorite tools.

[dave siegler]

this is a 3 wheel Craftsman saw 57" blade.  Blade choices are limited.  It came with very fine blade that wandered.  I put on a Olsen 6 tpi (the only one I could get locally) and it tracks and cuts well but the cut isn't real smooth.  I think I can get a 14 tpi blade. 

I wonder if  I should get a finer blade. 

[Chris Brainard]

I had one of those same Craftsman 3 wheel bandsaws for a short while (sold it on Craig's List). After 35 years with the Rockwell/Delta I had gotten spoiled. The biggest problem I had with the Craftsman was it just wasn't ridged enough to tension the blade the way I liked. It was also underpowered and would stall the motor when making tight cuts in thick hardwoods. For model building, it should be ok since most cutting won't strain it. I use a 6 TPI skip tooth blade on my other Rockwell/Delta and it will cut through 6" thick oak. A finer tooth blade on your Craftsman will help. Don't go too fine or the teeth can load up with sawdust and not clean out. That can add a lot of drag to the motor and slow down the cutting...especially if cutting gummy materials. One "trick" you can do which will help a wider blade cut a tighter radius is to use a sharpening stone to radius off the back edges of the bandsaw blade. This is done while the saw is running. Hold the stone against the blade to grind the back edges (i.e. not the cutting edge). Knocking off that sharp square cut edge also makes it easier to cut curves smoothly since it doesn't catch on the edges of the wood the teeth just cut.

[Gary Dowler]

I have a bench top Ryobi band saw. I've used several blades, but I have had best results with a fine tooth blade for cutting metal.  Makes very clean cuts in all types of wood, from 1/4" birtch ply to the lightest balsa.
Believe it or not, a good sharp 10" blade on a table saw also makes extremely clean cuts in balsa.

Gary

[Dave Hull]

You have plenty of good choices. Olson stocks the most likely blades you would want. See the screen capture from their catalog below.

The catalog is at:    https://www.olsonsaw.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Olson-Cat-2018WEB.pdf

There are other manufacturers, but these are the ones I have used for a long time with good results. (I don't own any Olson stock, and I don't work there, either....so if I sound like a shill, it is because I like their blades.)

I would try both the 1/8" x .018 x 14 and the 1/4" x .014 x 14. The smaller the blade, the easier it will be to get adequate tension. Three-wheelers gain a lot of versatility in throat width, but give it up in rigidity. Running an 1/8" blade requires the saw to be well tuned, and use a blade with very uniform set, left to right. I had trouble with Big Box Store blades in this regard.

If you don't like these, Olson (and likely other blade manufacturers, when ordered direct) will weld up one of the type you do want to try. But don't try to run a thick blade on a benchtop 3-wheeler. They will not last due to the small wheels and the bending fatigue. That is another good reason to stone the back of the blade as Chris suggested when you first install the blade and adjust the saw--it makes it less likely that the blade will crack.

Like Chris, I love what you can do with the bandsaw....

Good luck,

Dave

[Bob Reeves]

Here you go, I had two small two wheel saws one used for wood and one used for aluminum that used the same size blades as the 3 wheel saws. This is the blade I used on both.

https://www.amazon.com/SuperCut-B56-875W38R14-Wheeler-Bandsaw-Blades/dp/B001J8IYB4/ref=sr_1_12

The one I used for aluminum would have been better with a coarser blade but this blade worked pretty good if I went slow. It was a fantastic blade for all the kinds of wood you will find in a model.