New Band Saw, Some Questions

[azguy]

I just acquired a Grizzly 14" bandsaw and have a couple of very basic questions. When cuttingt walnut, maple and other hardwoods:

1. How many teeth per inch is best?
2. Saw is two speed. 1500 and 3200 fpm. Which speed for hardwood?

And any other tips would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks all

[timberick]

It depends on how smothe you want the cut and if you are scroling pretty tight turns. I find that less teeth are better for me. You have to have 2 teeth minimum in your wood at all times so for 4/4 wood you have to have 2 teeth per inch. There used to be a skip tooth 3/16 blade that I loved. It cut fast and turned tight. The more teeth you have the slower you cut and the smother the cut. These do not turn as well and I am a hurry up guy.

[Claude]

I have an old Craftsman 9in saw and run a Timberwolf blade from Suffolk Machinery on it. I use a 3/16 inch 4TPI blade on it and cut basswood, purpleheart, walnut, cherry, maple, etc. up to 3.5 inches thick. My "feed rate" into the blade is slower with the harder woods than it is with basswood, but not by much. I like the 3/16 inch blade as I can make fairly tight turns with it. If you're planning on doing some resawing, then you'd do better with 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch blades.

You can always call the folks at Suffolk and ask what they recommend, depending on what you're trying to cut.

Claude

[azguy]

Thanks gents......very helpful as usual