I've just got a bandsaw (seems to be a bit of an epidemic at the moment!) and it came with a blade fitted as standard. I've been following the discussions here recently on blade sizes, and I'm wondering how the blade width is measured exactly, so that I can determine what I've got fitted and decide whether I want to upgrade or not.
So, is it measured to the tip of the teeth, or the hollow between the teeth (I'm sure there's a 'proper' name for this) ?
Width tip to back, but go closest, without splitting hairs. Upgrade doesn't count in blade width, but in blade design and tooth configuration. Blade width is about the diameter circle it'll cut.
Gullet(s).
Hi Alun
The standard blades are normally for sawing dry wood with a narrow smooth kerf. The blades we need for sawing wet wood do need a wide kerf for clearance and it does not have to be a nice smooth cut. The standard idea is to have a minimum of 3 teeth in the wood you saw, so for furniture making where 1/2" and 3/4" wood is sawn regularly you need 8 or more teeth per inch (tpi). We saw thicker wood normally so a 3 or 4 tpi is best and if you have more than one speed on your saw, you can safely go to the higher speed, the more teeth going through the wood make for a faster sawing feed. The size of the saw (measured from its back to tooth point, not from the back to the gullet) is important only for the tightness of the curve you want to make, for a tight curve you need a narrow blade and a wide blade helps for making straight cuts. Also now is a good time to get a book on bands use and tuning.
Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo
Alun Saunders wrote:
I've measured the standard saw blade that came with the saw, and it appears to be a 3/8" 3tpi blade, so I'm OK there it seems.
Regarding the speed, it is a dual speed saw, a Record Power BS300, and according to the manual ...
"The BS300 has two blade speeds 360 m/min (1190 feet/ min) for hardwoods, some plastics and certain non ferrous metals and 780 m/min (2580 feet/min) for all other timber."
I figured that since most of the wood I would be cutting would qualify as "hardwood" I'd use the slower setting, but are you saying I should be using the higher setting?
Hi Alun
If you have enough power, yes use the higher speed for wet thick wood.
Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo
Alun Saunders wrote:
It's a 1.25hp motor apparently.
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