Bandsaw(s) Tune-Up
One of the truly exasperating aspects of the Gragg chair workshop was that my 10″ benchtop bandsaw was continuously malfunctioning, requiring us to go up and down two flights of stairs to the main floor with its two larger bandsaws instead of using the little beauty up on the fourth floor. Chairmaking does not require fancy band sawing but it is an important contributor toward making it an efficient process.
After much sturm-und-drang I discovered ex poste that the new 1/4″ bandsaw blades I’d had in the drawer for the 10″ unit were mismarked; instead of being the 56-1/8″ needed they were 59″. I could get them on the wheels and run true when turning freely but they would not stay there once battle commenced. I ordered new blades and they were the right size, so with a complete cleanup and adjustments, combined with new guide blocks cut from a rod of 1/8″ carbon fiber rod from my stash, the new blade installed and ran perfectly and now once agin the saw cuts superbly.
Meanwhile I decided to tune-up my 40+-year-old 14″ Delta bandsaw, a prize from a yard sale almost 20 years ago. I think it was $100 complete with rolling base. For a long time I had been contemplating adding a true rip fence to the saw, and finally made the plunge. Even though the Kreg fence is designed to be installed on the left side of the blade, with a little tweaking I installed it where I wanted it on the right side of the blade. Sweet. I also finally added a dust collection port in the lower wheel cover, which combined with a simple bent sheet metal cowl around the lower guide block unit, reduced the sawdust by roughly 95%.
I am contemplating but have not acted on purchasing a carbide tipped blade for the band saw; the ~$200 price tag is a bit stiff. If you have had any experience with carbide tipped blades for small bandsaws please let me know.
BTW here is an excellent short video on bandsaws that I discovered recently.
While I’ve not used the carbide tipped blades, I have used the Lenox die master blades (hss bimetallic) and been really happy with them, they are only marginally more expensive than carbon steel and seem to last significantly longer for my admittedly low usage. I’ve been scared of too many stories of people complaining of carbide bands breaking prematurely and complaining about not really getting their value, of course others rave about them.
Thanks for the video on bandsaw table alignment. I have struggled with this for years, and just freehand everything as a result. I now know how to adjust my table so that a fence will be useful! Much appreciated!
Since watching the video and adjusting my table on the bandsaw, combined with the new fence I use it more like a table saw than I do the table saw. In fact the table saw is beginning to look more like a plain old table…
Don, I’ve used the Laguna Resaw King Blade (carbide teeth, $200) before. It worked pretty well though over time many of the carbide teeth chipped off the blade completely. I now use the Highland Woodworking Wood Slicer blade which, depending on the length, runs about $30-40. It cuts so sweetly and at that price I can afford to replace it when it gets dull. Never going back to carbide. Merry Christmas!
Been using the 1/2″ 3tpi carbide blades from Highland for several years, mostly for resawing hardwoods into veneers, some for cutting laminating strips of Western Red Cedar for boat building and such like.
When the blade is set properly, cuts with no drift and pretty good surface. For some uses, I laminate with epoxy directly off the saw.
Cut veneers to 3/16″ X 8″ in hard maple with no problems (although rather slow cutting and some surface scorching).
Broke one weld: tried to resaw 6″ Ipe; not a good choice. Figures.