Just finished setting up my new Harvey 14" bandsaw. As I built the cabinet to go between the mobile base and the saw, I used the bandsaw to resaw a piece of dunnage I had in my shed to use as the front cross-member in the case.
My old bandsaw is a Craftsman 10" with a 3/8", 7tpi blade without an aggressive kerf. My new saw came with a 3/4", 4tpi blade with what seems to me to be a relatively aggressive kerf. Here is a picture.
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The older saw shows a bit of washboarding, but this new blade shows a LOT:
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Is this characteristic from a blade of those specs? Or is this a lousy blade?
Since I'm new to the whole sophisticated-bandsawery thing I don't know. Just looking for information.
One more thing: as I set the square to shoot the first picture above I noticed I have some work to do to get the blade perpendicular to the table. It's off by probably 1/8" over the six-inch square height. Could that be a factor?
When we are trying to make a rustic piece we will resaw planks to get this look.
We purposefully bent a single tooth on the bandsaw blade to get the deeper grooves.
Maybe look for damage on the blade?
Or, maybe the set of the teeth is exaggerated?
I think your setup is off to get that rough of a cut. Google "alex snodgrass bandsaw clinic" and follow his instructions. Table, fence, blade, guides need to be perfectly aligned if you want smooth resaws. If you get your setup dialed in and still have bad results maybe the blade needs looked at.
Fairly standard for cheap blade in softwood. Highland Woodworking's Wood slicer resaw blade give you an incredibly smooth resaw. It is relatively inexpensive to buy. My only beef is that it dulls relatively quickly. Even dull it cuts better than above but will start to burn pretty badly in hard woods. I usually wait for them to have a free shipping promotiomn unless I am ordering enough to get free shipping anyway.
Thanks all. I will look at the videos, and I acknowledge I need to dial in the saw. For this project the roughness didn't matter since it is hidden but no - generally I'm not looking for that "rustic" look.
Your question asked us to evaluate your new bandsaw & blade based on a photo of the wood, but you didn't tell us anything about the wood except that it was a piece of dunnage. What is the wood? Have your tried another? A piece of rock or metal could have damaged a tooth at the first touch.
Your question asked us to evaluate your new bandsaw & blade based on a photo of the wood, but you didn t tell us anything about the wood except that it was a piece of dunnage. What is the wood? Have your tried another? A piece of rock or metal could have damaged a tooth at the first touch.
Lazyman and Ruscal both said what I would have. That Alex Snodgrass video is pretty helpful and I would definitely recommend trying out one of the woodslicer resaw blades.
I had almost the same thing happen to me a while ago…actually it was REALLY similar to what you are experiencing. I had a new (to me) 14" bandsaw, I was using the 3/4" blade that came with it, and I was having trouble getting it to cut through the piece and when I opened it up it looked just like yours (mine was even a little burnt looking)
What I found out was that the 3/4" blade was just a little too much for my saw, i replaced it with a woodslicer and tuned it up a little based on that video and it solved my problem.
Doesn't having to plane after bandsawing defeat the purpose of the resaw? I thought the whole point of the bandsaw was the narrow (1/16") kerf. If you have to plane another 1/16" off to get smooth faces then effectively the combined kerf and ripple yield less than my 3/32" TK blade.
I have a TK blade on my saw that leaves an almost perfect face even when cutting in from both edges. At most I have a very thin ridge that sands out without planing. I can get three full 1/4" pieces out of a 15/16" S2S board.
In my experience, if the blade is sharp, I get no drift and as long as the result is flat (no bowing or drift and the cut is square), I would never have to plane off as much as a 1/16th to smooth it. The most would be just slightly more than the tooth set on one side which is almost zero with a sharp HW Wood Slicer so sanding is usually all that is needed.
Lots of good advice from the jocks here-coming from all different directions.
I think the first step should be getting the saw adjusted properly-that means-
1) proper blade tension (not too tight)
2)proper blade tracking on the bandsaw wheels (should be in the center usually)
3) thrust bearings adjusted to the correct distance (i.e. usually .015 or 1/64 from back of the blade)
4) proper adjustment of the blade guides (guides should be just behind the gullets of the blade, and between .001 and .003 from the blade)
Don't rush out and buy a new blade until you've adjusted your "new saw". I've had great results from $15 cheap bandsaw blades when the saw was adjusted properly.
If you do decide it's the blade, purchase a 1/2 inch 3 TPI Hook tooth blade. It's the one recommended by Mark Duginske (Bandsaw Book) and Michael Fortune (FWW magazine article on tuning up your bandsaw) for resawing and general bandsaw operations.
I'm not sure what Snodgrass recommends as I still have to watch all of his video.
Lots of good advice from the jocks here-coming from all different directions.
I think the first step should be getting the saw adjusted properly-that means-
1) proper blade tension (not too tight)
2)proper blade tracking on the bandsaw wheels (should be in the center usually)
3) thrust bearings adjusted to the correct distance (i.e. usually .015 or 1/64 from back of the blade)
4) proper adjustment of the blade guides (guides should be just behind the gullets of the blade, and between .001 and .003 from the blade)
Don t rush out and buy a new blade until you ve adjusted your "new saw". I ve had great results from $15 cheap bandsaw blades when the saw was adjusted properly.
If you do decide it s the blade, purchase a 1/2 inch 3 TPI Hook tooth blade. It s the one recommended by Mark Duginske (Bandsaw Book) and Michael Fortune (FWW magazine article on tuning up your bandsaw) for resawing and general bandsaw operations.
I m not sure what Snodgrass recommends as I still have to watch all of his video.
The Snodgrass video I watched was at a trade show and he didn't recommend specific blades. It was very good - I watched it through.
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