Bandsaw blade for cutting strips
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for what bandsaw blade to use to achieve a glue ready surface in one inch thick material. I would like to be able to rip strips of wood and not have to plane them before gluing them together for cutting boards. My 3 tpi hook tooth blade produces a very coarse surface. Carbide? Finer teeth? Is it even possible to produce a glue ready surface?
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Replies
I have done some bent laminations out of Ipe that have whitstood the rigors of weather on a boat in the northeast for 8 years now. They were glued with epoxy from 1/4 laminated strips straight from the bandsaw using a carbide tip Resaw King blade. The finish is close to the one obtained from a quality table saw. Blade tension and alignment are key.
I've used a lot of bandsaw blades for resawing. The best I've found is a 145" x 1-1/4" Resaw King carbide tipped blade. It's very smooth. But I wouldn't be happy using it as a glue surface. Thin strips always go through the drum sander after.
I get glue ready surfaces off of the tablesaw with a sharp 40 tooth combination blade. I don't plane or joint those before glue-ups.
As an aside, my first carbide 3/4” Resaw King snapped during a light resaw (it went off like a .22 and scared the ….) My second Resaw King snapped while ripping thin stock. Tension and setup were all good it wasn’t at the weld. I’m done with brand and now using Timber Wolf instead.
Sounds like carbide is the way to go. If not a perfect glue surface , it will hopefully be better than the blade I have on now. Maybe I will try the Lenox Tri-Master since I have heard better things about it.
Thank you everyone!
I love the Resaw King. I had two carbide blades from Lenox break on me, and won't use them again.
The Highland Woodslicer give an excellent finish, and I've never heard of one breaking.
Use a tablesaw if you want a glue ready surface
The tablesaw is the tool for this job. That being said if the bandsaw is what you need to use that can work. If you cannot get a smooth cut now, the blade may or may not be the culprit. Do you have another blade you can test with? It would be depressing to spend the money on a carbide blade only to find out that your saw still gives sub-optimal results.
The Resaw King gives me a good result. I would be OK going straight to glue up with a gap filling adhesive like epoxy or urea-formaldehyde glue. If you want to use something like Titebond III for your cutting boards you will want a really smooth set of mating surfaces. I have TB-III cutting boards that have been in service for over a decade with good results.
Like so many things we do there are trade-offs. The tablesaw can give you a PVA glue-ready joint but has a wider kerf creating more waste. A bandsaw can give you a good surface but your adhesive needs to be compatible.
P.s. The Woodslicer blade mentioned is always on hand for me when I need a clean cut with a minimal kerf. Great for when I am trying to milk 'just one more part' out of a blank.
The glue-ready surface is affected by other factors than just the blade you use.
If you are only ripping strips from a 1" thick board, I would think you could use a finer blade; maybe up to 4 TPI, (if I'm understanding what you want to do correctly). That, in itself, will not necessarily give you the smooth cut you desire.
Bandsaw setup has a lot to do with how smooth the cut is, including blade tension, proper guide setup, and speed of feed. If the rest of the setup is correct, then feeding the board slowly and without excessive forward push, will give you a much better surface. At least it does on my bandsaw, even with a 3 tpi blade. Pushing the wood through quickly tends to make the blade wander, thus creating a much rougher surface.
As for the blade itself, I get good results with a 3 or 4 tpi skip tooth blade. Starrett blades have given me good results with a fairly long life. I have used Highland Woodworking's Wood Slicer blade, but its life seems to be shorter than others and the result isn't really significantly better.
I suppose it's possible to get a glue ready surface from ripping/resawing on a bandsaw, but I haven't achieved it yet and use either my jointer, planer, or drum sander to smooth the cut surface, depending on the size and thickness of the wood.
If I'm understanding correctly and you are ripping strips from a 1" thick board, ripping these strips on a tablesaw safely would be possible. With a good quality combination blade, it should be possible to rip thin strips as long as you use some kind of a method to feed the wood through like a push stick specifically made for that purpose or even Microjig Grr-Ripper. One leg of the Grr-Ripper is a 1/4" wide so should work for anything down to that thickness. Less than that, it will not work for. However, there are numerous thin rip jigs online to make or even buy that would allow you to rip off the outside of the board rather than between the blade and fence. Just don't try to do thin strip ripping on a tablesaw without something to hold the board other than your hands. (By the way, it's likely that others will disagree this can be done, but I believe it is safe as long as you use something to protect your hands from injury, like a push block or jig, but the bandsaw is, of course much safer.)
"ripping these strips on a tablesaw safely would be possible. With a good quality combination blade,"
On a tablesaw, a ripping blade, thin or standard kerf is the preferred tool for a glue ready surface, straight from the saw. A carbide BS blade will give the best finish for that tool but I personally wouldn't consider it glue ready for the OP's purpose.
I bought a carbide blade for a project involving 120 laminations 4' long x 7" high.
I found the surface was not good enough for gluing. I also found the feed pressure was much higher than the blade I normally use (Infinity Rip blade).
And, the kerf is much wider, so I was able to get one extra sheet per 8/4 board.
I put the Infinity blade back on and hung the carbide up. And it's still there. For me, spending $200+ on the carbide was not worth it.
If you decide to use the tablesaw...in over 40 years of woodworking, I've never found a blade that will do a perfect job creating a glue ready joint. I've always jointed my edges so I don't worry about it anymore.
Freud makes a Glue Line Rip blade that I believe has 30 or 30+ teeth ground to create a smooth surface when ripping. I think Freud make both a standard and thin kerf blade. Personally I've had better success with a quality 40+ tooth combination blade for 1" or less thick boards. I've done it with hard maple, oak, and walnut with no issues. If the wood is thicker than 1" it would be questionable.
Some of the result is going to depend on your tablesaw. If there is noticeable runout on the arbor, then the result will be inferior. Stopping in the middle of a rip to change the position of the push stick or your hands can also create a section where the surface will have saw marks.
It's a very difficult task to rip without some remaining saw marks. In the end, it depends on the blade, the saw, the woodworker's skill. It's just too difficult so I've invested in ways to get rid of the marks rather than try to get the glue ready rip right off the saw.
Been using the blades off of Sawblade.com for Resawing! Did not have any problems with it for whatever finish product I want to it to have.