Carbide tipped bandsaw blades

[Jim Ledger]

I'm considering getting one for cutting abrasive wood, Angelique, in particular. From what I read they can't be sharpened, in addition to being quite expensive. However, it might stay sharp for a long time, in which case there will be a break-even point, beyond which it would be cheaper than carbon steel blades.

Has anyone had any real experience with one, or have any helpful information? The blade would be a 3/4" 3tpi, triple chip, running on a 20" Powermatic saw. The lumber would be 1 1/2" to 3" thick, cutting bevels and easy curves.

[Gary E]

If I were you I'd FIRST find the LOCAL guy your going to have sharpen the carbide blades... You will most likely need 2, one to use while the other is being ground.

Arnt there HSS blades available?... they last a lot longer than the lowly carbon grades.

[Tom Wilkinson]

Jim, I bought a carbide tipped resaw king blade from laguna tools. It is resharpenable and the cut is beautiful. I've used it to resaw 12" wide sapele to 1/32" thick. The cost was high, $320.00 for a 202" blade but I saved nearly that much money in wood in reduced waste from the blades I had been using. Set up time is much quicker since you don't have to acccount for blade drift.

It has stayed very sharp, though I odon't have a tone of usage on it, but I wish UI had sprung for it years ago. Penny wise and pound foolish.

[Kermit]

We use carbide bandsaw blades for resawing expensive woods into veneers about 1/16" thick. They can be resharpened, but not every saw guy is set up to do it. If you are not in an urban area, you might have to ship them to someone. Check the web for folks who do that. I think ours go halfway across the country and back. They are spendy, so think about your long-haul and whether it's worth it to you. BTW, don't break one. Most shops won't mess with fixing 'em. I turn busted ones into bowsaw blades. I've got a lifetime supply from the two that we've broken.

[PeterSibley]

Tom's right about drift .I had a machine the used swage tipped blades ...they look like a carbide tip on first appearance being centralised ..ie no set .Not having to worry about the drift from inaccurate setting was just one of the advantages.The blade was a 21 gauge x 3 1/2 wide resaw .

Stellite tips can be good too , not as hard , but tougher .

[gary porter]

As Tom said, Laguna has a good carbide bans saw blade. I have two and have had them resharpen one of them. They seem to do a good job of it as it works very well. I use mine for resawing woods like Ebony, Padauk. etc. If I were to buy a blade now thats what I'd buy. For most everything else I use the 1/2" Wood Slicer from Highland, I use a lot of those but no sharpening... use em loose em.
Gary

[Mrleft8]

Curious..... Carbide B/S blades must have come a long way in the last 20 years.... Last I heard, unless you were cutting nails, they weren't worth their weight in scrap iron....

[Tom Wilkinson]

You do need a decent size saw to run a carbide tip blade. 18" is probably the lower limit as the bands will break in short order, the radius is just too small. I'm running a 32" saw so it's not an issue.

[Mrleft8]

Are we talking a horizontil mill here, Tom.... Or a vertical shop type saw?

[Jim Ledger]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

If the blades can be resharpened that would be a plus. It makes little difference where the company is located, so long as they do a competent job. This kind of sharpening is beyond the capabilities of most local sharpeners, anyway.

Are all of you doing resawing, primarily, with these blades? The capabilities sound impressive, which is reassuring. Are you familiar with the tooth configurations you're using, as I'd be interested to see if what you're using is what I'm considering getting.

It sounds like you're cutting dry wood, whereas what I'll be cutting will be air-dried at best, and maybe wetter than that. This might affect the cutting and require a different tooth pattern.

[Tom Wilkinson]

Are we talking a horizontil mill here, Tom.... Or a vertical shop type saw?

No, This is a big ole 32" vertical saw circa 1918, similiar to the old crescent saws. I do a lot of resawing with it, as well as general roughing out parts. I was amazed at how smooth the finish of the cut was when I first started using it. Great for doing bent laminations where you want the glue lines to disappear. I can go straight from the saw to glue up. I almost always had to plane them between those steps before, especially on wider stock.

I saved the cost of the blade on the first project I used it on. Admittedly it was a big project, sliding conference room doors from sapele along with wall paneling to match, but I was able to save wood that would otherwise been send to the scrap bin. I used to use timberwolf and highland hardware's blades with decent results but always felt that I was really pushing the limits of waht those blades were designed for, and they never lasted very long in comparison. Blade drift was always an issue, as well as bowing during the cut, I beleive that was often due to the blade getting to hot.

[ToddFwbf]

I use to have bi-metal blades (http://www.lenoxtools.com/enUS/Products/BI-METAL.html) made up for my band saw. I had to buy them from machine shop tool supplier (I used them on my vert. band saw) but see they're readily available now. Lately I've stayed with HSS though. Re-saw and bent lams have not been a problem although I tend to use mostly native hardwoods.

Todd

[PeterSibley]

You do need a decent size saw to run a carbide tip blade. 18" is probably the lower limit as the bands will break in short order, the radius is just too small. I'm running a 32" saw so it's not an issue.

The industry rule of thumb is blade thickness x1000 = wheel diameter , blades thicker than that (in relation to the wheel ) will work harden and break well before their time .If the setup is big enough blades will last indefinitely .

On my horizontal I had 32 " wheels ,42 thou blades and moderate tension .I was getting about 500 hours per blade ...guessing there .I reduced to 32 thou and had no more cracking .

[Captain Blight]

Why don't you give my old neighbors (http://www.eidesaw.com) a call and see what they have to say on the resharpening issue?

[Mrleft8]

Why don't you give my old neighbors (http://www.eidesaw.com) a call and see what they have to say on the resharpening issue?
WOW! Those are sky high prices for re-sharpening! For a 60 tooth blade I generally pay under $20 including shipping to Michigan.

[Captain Blight]

Yes, you might find better service, but you'll never pay more at Eide Saw. But they've always been good to me, and have often given me a price break knowing I was but a poor floor/door/window maker.

[Mrleft8]

Ah..... OK I was mis-reading that ad.... I thought those were sharpening prices.... Now I see those are prices for new blades. THOSE are decent prices.

[Captain Blight]

Put the bottle down, Lefty, and stay out of the shop until you can only count five fingers on each hand.....

[Emma56]

Jim I think Lenox Band saw blades . Are the way to go :)

[john welsford]

Should work fine, in fact you'll probably wonder why you didnt do it ages ago as the cut is markedly smoother than a conventional bandsaw. I sharpen mine by hand with wooden softjaws in the vice and a medium grit diamond lap. Dont let the edge go off too far before you do it, You need patience but its not hard to do.

JohnW



I'm considering getting one for cutting abrasive wood, Angelique, in particular. From what I read they can't be sharpened, in addition to being quite expensive. However, it might stay sharp for a long time, in which case there will be a break-even point, beyond which it would be cheaper than carbon steel blades.

Has anyone had any real experience with one, or have any helpful information? The blade would be a 3/4" 3tpi, triple chip, running on a 20" Powermatic saw. The lumber would be 1 1/2" to 3" thick, cutting bevels and easy curves.