Band saw blades Â*HELP

nadcarves · #1 07-09-2004, 05:47 PM

I have a used German band saw that takes 132.5 inch blades. Went to buy some blades, 43,46, 53 dollars since I have an odd size.Grizley has a sale. picked up 4 1/4 inchers 131.5 inches for roughly 40 bucks,cranked saw down, and they work.Have been cutting shore birds in OLD cherry, the ones with no sharp turns went like gang busters, once I started the ones with tight turns, the cut edge got blacker with each bird until I was making smoke.

s ,these are 6 tooth/inch blades,Griz has no 4's in their catalogue. What are my options? 40 dollar blades are out..Am going to try and lubricate with water,maybe add a tad soap to it.Know nothing about making blades. I can probably tell you more than you will ever need to know about chisels, band saws are dirty ,foul , dust makers...However they pay my wifes med bills and I will put up with them, Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can pass on , cordially Nad

Hi_Ho_Sliver · #2 07-09-2004, 08:05 PM

First Nad, check out http:// www.suffolkmachinery.com... they sell wolf brand blades...excellent blades and a very decent price..they also have all kinds of info and a tutorial on blades...as for yours not turning, take a block of wood with sandpaper on it and hold it to each back corner of the blade to soften and round the corners a bit, a sharpening stone will work too..anything to cut the sharp corner..but most of all check out the wolf brand blades.....oh by the way, they will make any size you want. I am impressed with the ones I got from them.....

AlArchie · #3 07-09-2004, 08:47 PM

All good advice from Dave. Â*Here's a couple more tips, Â*if you can find one get hold of a 'saw set' and use it on the teeth. Â*I've found that bandsaws, like most other saws, Â*loose their set quite rapidly. Â*No matter how sharp your blades are, if they are not Â*properly set they will wander and burn. You can find a good quality saw set at Â* Â* www.lehmans.com Â*for a reasonable price. Â*I picked one up there a few years back and it really helps.

Always loosen the tension on your wheels when done using the saw. Â*I could be wrong on this, but I believew that the blade tension forces the teeth to loose their set on the wheel side of the blade, causing the outside teeth to cut more aggressively Â*(or the inside less aggresively, however you want to call it) and thus makes the blade wander toward the outside of the cut. Â*I've corrected this by resetting the teeth on the wheel side of the blade........wander fixed. Â*By the way resetting all those teeth is time consuming and a real pain, but if you have more time than money, like me, it's time well spent!

Al

nadcarves · #4 07-09-2004, 08:51 PM

sent them an e-mail,on your advice, some time ago..NR, went back and the site under construction.Like the idea of rounding the back,same idea as a bullnose chisel vs a square end, tighter radius for the size.. the other possibility is just buy 20 cheapoes and figure the number of carvings per blade, until I figure things out.

AlArchie · #5 07-09-2004, 09:05 PM

One more......cherry can be really bad for gumming up a blade, so you might have to clean the sap residue off with a good stiff solvent.

Al

Hi_Ho_Sliver · #6 07-09-2004, 09:06 PM

take it from me, a cheap blade will give lousy service, will only be a small savings over a wolf brand and the frustration is not worth it! another problem is a buildup of resin on the blade, I use a brass brush and clean out the teeth occasionally, I have heard you can use cooking 'pam' etc as a lubricant, but I hesitate as I don't want to stain the wood...try suffolk machinery again...in fact just order a couple blades and find out....

Hi_Ho_Sliver · #7 07-09-2004, 09:09 PM

Al...I think we have one brain! ha ha we get the same thought and must be typing at the same time...are you my long lost brother?? Ma Gibbs...you been holding out on tellin' your adopted son something? LOL

AlArchie · #8 07-09-2004, 09:11 PM

Errrr.....ahhhhh, well I never was too sure about old Dad's daliances...never can tell!

hehehe

Al

nadcarves · #9 07-10-2004, 01:19 PM

Looks like I have to learn about band saw blades now.Time to sharpen blades, just flat out does not exist...Remember that I buy the Dr's and pill pushers a new car every year,and they not let me even kick tires...In all blades, the quality of the steel is in the cutting.All my shops are out of loons(?), so I have to make more.Since they are good sellers,I crank quite a few out every month,, same wood, same pattern. New blade in saw...O.K., every loon is app, 77 cutting inches on a band saw(18 inch loon)..I am going to cut six out, in series. If the blade is of poor quality, no. six should take MUCH longer,or have problems, when compared to a quality blade over the same 39 or so odd feet.Will pick up two better blades and run the same test. Should be interesting to see if quality in saw blades does not relate to quality in chisels...hype.. And should anyone out there have any 132.5/131.5 bandsaw blades needing testing, would be more than happy to send you my snail mail address, cordially Nad, and thanks for the comments

squbrigg · #10 07-10-2004, 09:20 PM

When I bought my new bandsaw this winter, a 14' Laguna, the folks there told me about a dandy company that makes and sells a good quality blade, in all kinds of sizes. They may have what you are looking for.

www.tufftooth.com

Bob