Bandsaw Blade Selection ?

I have found that for resawing fine wood and veneers, as opposed to milling logs onto rough lumber, a really wide blade isn’t necessary. I don’t think anything over 1” is going to add much and frankly, 3/4 or even 1/2 inch usually works just fine for resawing as long as the blade is sharp and the saw is setup well and running smoothly. If you have not watched the Snodgrass bandsaw video on YouTube, I highly recommend it.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Regardless of where you buy blades, highly recommend the blade resources on Suffollk Machinery/Timberwolf site.

Timberwolf blade selector table of all blades as a nice online reference guide. It shows the recommend cut thickness for both hard/soft woods, min radius, and kerf thickness.

When considering blades wider than 1”, you are entering into band mill or saw mill blade territory. The Suffolk Machinery pdf catalog is great educational guide on both band mill and vertical BS blades.

Optimum blade selection can be complicated.
For example blade width: As blades get wider, often the kerf increases. So when cutting thin veneer; you might not want a 1-1/4” inch blade with 0.050 kerf. Wider blades typically also have much fewer TPI, intended to re-saw thick lumber. But if you only need to resaw a 4 inch wide board, the 1-1.5TPI is too coarse IME. At same time a 2/3 TPI is too fine to cut over 12-14”.
If you have any plans to mill green wood, make sure you look at teeth configuration. Blades for kiln dried lumber, gum/clog up quickly on green logs. Highly suggest the Timberwolf AS blades for green wood.

I use Timberwolf blades for general purpose cutting. Use Wikus bi-metal blades for hardwood resaw that are made to order locally, and cheaper than ordering online. Own a carbide re-saw blade, but changing blades on large BS is like wrestling an alligator. Every couple of blade changes, I damage a carbide tooth that needs to be repaired. Being a Klutz who does not resaw lumber very often, use less expensive blades where I can reset damaged teeth set at home when klutz’d. Like I said, optimum blade selection can be complicated. :)

YMMV

-- If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all, Doom, despair, agony on me… - Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign released 1967

+1 on the Timberwolf blades. Their blade selector is great for getting the right blade configuration for the type of cuts you normally make. I have been very happy with every blade I have gotten from them and the one they added to their lineup for resawing leaves a fairly smooth surface but still can handle a pretty wide cut. If I was doing a lot of resawing I would probably go with the Resaw King but for occasional cuts the Timberwolf ones are excellent and affordable.

BTW, unless someone puts them on sale, I usually find that getting the blades directly from Timberwolf is the cheapest way to get them.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

I have found that for resawing fine wood and veneers, as opposed to milling logs onto rough lumber, a really wide blade isn’t necessary. I don’t think anything over 1” is going to add much and frankly, 3/4 or even 1/2 inch usually works just fine for resawing as long as the blade is sharp and the saw is setup well and running smoothly. If you have not watched the Snodgrass bandsaw video on YouTube, I highly recommend it.

- Lazyman

I agree,
I have a Grizzly GO513×2. It will take a 1” blade, but the largest I have ever used is 3/4”.
That is my go to blade for resaw work. But I have used a 3/8” blade to resaw 6/4 walnut, about 8” wide board.
And I could not tell the difference from my 3/4” blade.
FYI, I was to lazy to change blades that day. and the resaw work was two 3’ boards.
And I use the Alex Snodgrass method of tuning my bandsaw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

-- John