Bandsaw blades?

[Sidewinder]

I recently purchased my first bandsaw on craigslist for $150.00. It is a Craftsman 12" with a 1/2hp motor .It has a 6tpi 3/8" crafsman blade on it and I want to buy a new blade for it. I'm pretty sure I want to stay with a 3/8" blade for tighter fade transitions to narrow taller handles. What brand is the best and what tpi do you guys reccomend? If the genereal agreement is to go with a 1/2" balde I will, as I won't be making too many high radius cuts anyway, but from what I have read a 3/8" should do the job. What do you guys think?   Danny

[Bevan R.]

I perfer the widest blade that my saw can handle (14" Jet with a 1hp motor). That way the blade 'travels' as little as possable. In my opinion I would go with the 1/2 inch blade. You should still be able to do your fades with no problem. I keep a 3/4 inch blade on mine and my handles are 4.5 inch long between fades and I do not have an issue cutting them out.

Like I said, this is my setup and may not be the best for you. But I would get a blade and try it on some scrap and see how it works.

Bevan

[Lombard]

For me 1/2" blade 4 tpi. I recommend the blades by SL Fusco, pricey but worth every penny. My friend uses Timberwolf blades and they seem to cut well also.

[osage outlaw]

I use a 12" Craftsman bandsaw as well.  I use the 1/2 blades.  I like to cut straight acros the handle and fades and then come back and cut out them out last.  That seems to work better for me.

[Grunt]

Timberwolf 3 tpi 3/8. Find out the length of the blade you need before you call to order and get al least two.  I'm on my fourth bandsaw. I use a Yates American 20"  with a jury rigged 2 hp built in the late forty's. I order six blades at a time.

[denny]

Hi there, I used to have the same saw. It worked well for years. Grizzley, Timberwolf blade are elite, But there are cheeper ones that will do the job.Request a catalog or go on line Grizzley. Since I have a bigger saw and have tried 3/4 blade, but hard to cut radius, so I went back to 1/2 inch 4 to 6 tpi.. Hope this helps. Denny

[eflanders]

This must be a fairly popular saw as I have one too.  I have my saw very well tuned and I was getting the 80" Delta and/or Norton blades and they just plain dull far too fast and I only cut wood on it (no fiberglass).  I just ordered some of the Timberwolf blades based on recommendations from others.  One thing they told me that the wheels on this saw are just too small too handle the 1/2" blade because of the thickness of their blades.  They recommended that I use a maximum 3/8" wide, 3 or 4 TPI blade for the tough woods we work with.  So I ordered a 1/4" and a 3/8" wide blade and we will see how they actually work!    

[Timo]

I have a 14" saw and use 4tpi on a 1/2" blade. I get them from Grizzly. They hold up prety well.

[Sidewinder]

So it sounds like the wider blade keeps it from " wandering" when trying to cut straight. I did a test run on a hickory board bow I had laid out and I had a heck of a time keeping the cut straight with the 3/8  6tpi. It seems it flexed quite a bit, even though I had the tensioner set for a 3/8" blade. It also seemed like it wanted to run on the inside edge of the wheel. I am sure I am going to have a learning curve on setting it up and keeping it tuned.

I think I will order a better grade 3/8 and 1/2 4tpi and try them both and see which perfroms better.  Do I need a skip tooth, hook tooth or just a standard blade?

I was really tempted to step up and buy the 14" Ultimate Bandsaw by Grizzly, but I thought for a $150.00 this one should do well until I passed the learning curve on using it then if I feel the need to step I could. Besides, its in good shape so I think I can get my money back out of it if and when I do upgrade.

Any tips or special things I should know about keeping it tuned?   Thanks for the input guys.    Danny

[Bevan R.]

I think you did well on your bandsaw choice, myself. Learn the 'ropes' with this one and wait to get the 'Cadillac'.
Blade wondering is why I use the 3/4" blades. I usually have a 3 to 6 TPI blade on it but I also have a fine tooth (20+ TPI) with a narrow kerf for cutting the split in footings.

Bevan

[Timo]

Not sure how your guides are set up on the saw you bought,but mine has several roller bearings ,top and bottom that,once set, make it almost impossible to have blade wander,unless it gets dull. Then still it will do a good job on cutting out staves etc. They can be a real pain to get set.

I have an old saw that I use strickly for the real heavy stuff,ie cutting off sapwood and doing the initial grunt work on staves. I use the blades off my good saw for this,once they get duller than I like.

Good luck with the one you bought,and if possible, keep it for later(rough use) and get you a bigger saw like  you REALLY want for the finesse stuff.

[Sidewinder]

 Thanks for the encouqagement guys.

  I have recognized a pattern on how I learn things. Not having any experience with a bandsaw, I recentley purchased "The Bandsaw Handbook" from Grizzley, figuring it might be a good idea to get a handle on the machine before I bought one. I read it cover to cover (319pages).  Alot of times the first time I read something I just let it soak in, go out and give it a try, fail a little bit and then go back and refernece specifially what I had problems with. This was no exception. I needed to use it the way it was set up initially just to get some perspective on the instructions on the set up. I went out tonight and tuned it they way they instructed. I now have it cutting much better. That was an interesting excercise. I tweekd the top wheel angle as well as the guides amd  tensioner bearings several times until it all came together. Now it is doing much better and I look forward to making some forms and knocking out some bows. I guess what I needed was to understand the relevnace of what they were talking about in order to properly understand it.
  Thanks again for the input guys. I've decided to go ahead and get the 1/2" 3tpi blade.   Danny

[denny]

Danny I use 4-6 tpi carpenter skip tooth, as for ripping out the long. 1/2 inch that is ! Denny

[Sidewinder]

Thanks for the input Denny.