Grizzly 17″ HD BS & Timber wolfe blades
Thanks to those who reccomended the Timberwolfe blades. What a difference a blade makes. I must preface my statement with the fact that this is the first large BS I have worked with, so there is no previous history for me to use a comparison. The 3/4 AS-S works like a dream. I shaved some pretty thin stuff and it was all uniform with very little marks. I plan on getting the other blades of various widths I purchased on it soon. I have some green logs that I want to try cutting some bowl blanks out of, so I will put the HP to the test. Looks like the decision to buy the Grizzly was a good one. At $750.00, I’ll take the extra cash and put it to another toy, or I mean much needed tool. (One of these day’s I’m going to slip up and use the word toy in front of the wife.)
P.S. I borrowed a machinists straight edge. and placed it on the table. To the left of the blade, it was dead on with no gaps! Parallel to the right of the blade about 4 inches, I found one area aproximately two inches in lenght, that I could place a .0015 feeler blade under the straight edge. This was where the slot is milled in the table for the blade to be installed. I don’t know if this would be enough to consider this a ding, but for the work I will do, I consider it dead on.
Replies
Congradulations on your new saw. I wouldn't worry about the dip in the table. If it was a router table or shaper, then you can have problems. I was wondering if you had used Grizzly blades on your saw before using the Timberwolves. I have the 16" Grizzly bandsaw that I love, never used anything but grizzly blades. Have not had any problems with them. I use blades from 3/16 to 3/4" wide, all have given me good service in the four years I have this saw.
I'm not questioning the quality of any other blades. Many posts that I've read say to trash Grizzly blades and buy Timberwolf or some other quality blades.If you have used a Grizzly blade on your saw ,could you comment on your findings?
mike
I have 17" Grizzly bandsaw and as with your experience, I only use the cheap carbon blades from Grizzly. When I resaw into veneer however, I use a 1" Lenox carbide tipped blade (expensive). The cut is faster, more accurate and a lot cleaner.
With a 1" blade though, the weld on the Grizzly carbon steel blade is pretty bad, this not being a problem with the smaller blades.
On the smaller blades around 1/2" the less expensive carbon blades do a good job though, and at around $10, I'm not sure if there is any value in upgrading to something more expensive?
Willie
I did use the Grizzly blade first. Now keep in mind that the blade that comes with the saw is a 1/2" (I think). The TW resaw blade is 3/4" That could cause some of the impression, I'm not sure. The biggest difference I saw was three fold. First, the effort to cut was (IMO) much easier. The second noticeable difference was marks left behind. The TW is cleaner. the final difference was uniform cut. As to life of blade, I cannot speak to that, I have not had it long enough. The TW blade is thicker and the uniformity of cut was right on the money. However, I am comparing a 1/2" to a 3/4" blade like apples and oranges they are hard to compare. The cost for the 131.5" blade was around 20$. I bought 3 (of various sizes) and got the fourth free. I really liked the way TW CS treated me as well. I called and explained that I had just bought the saw and wanted recommendations. I asked to price the carbide blades. The guy I spoke with was very helpful and asked a lot of questions about what application I would be using the saw for. I explained that I was a hobbyist and would use it primarily for resaw and for cutting bowl blanks, but wanted something that could cut some logs as well. He steered me away from the carbide saying that for the cost I could buy many steel blades before I approached the price of a carbide blade. I have never bought a Grizzly blade so I don't know if $20 for a blade is outrageous or not?
I used my Grizzly blade quite a bit before finally ordering some Timberwolf blades for my Grizzly 1019Z (14") saw. There was a huge difference. What type of sawing do you generally do? Do you resaw very much?
The TW blade resaws much, much more easily, cleaner and with less drift than the Grizzly blade did. The difference is somewhat less noticeable when doing general cutting, such as cutting a shape in plywood.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
I have the G1073 16" bandsaw. I do quite a lot of resawing with the grizzly 3/4" three tooth blade. I sharpen these blades with a dremel tool and chainsaw grinding stone. Very quick and sharper than new.As far as the type of sawing I do, not a lot of plywood, mostly hardwoods for furniture. I build a lot of game tables, just finished one with honduras mahogany. The chess board is maple and bubinga, resawed these woods with ease. I have this saw about 4 years, still have original blades I bought, about 10 alltogether. I posted the question because so many people have posted that Grizzly blades are inferior , I found them quite good myself. I'll qualify this by saying I haven't used timberwolf blades. There is no drift with this saw until a blade starts to dull, then it's time to resharpen. I only sharpen blades with 6 teeth per inch or less, others are not worth the time. The 113" 3 tooth blade takes about 12 to 15 minutes to sharpen, so it's worth the time for these blades.
mike
Do you user a jig, or just practice and technique?
Edited 6/8/2004 11:37 am ET by bones
Bones, I imagine your referring to sharpening bandsaw blades.I remove the blade and place it in a saw vice. Any vice will do, let the teeth protrude above the vice about 1/16" from the bottom of the gullets.Because bandsaw blades are filed in the rip configuration it is fairly easy to do.Install a chainsaw grinding hone in the dremel, I believe Dremel makes two diameter hones, I use the bigger one.Hone the teeth that point away from you first, every other tooth. Hold the Dremel square with the blade and level, then moving in and out about three times usually is enough.You will hone the gullet and the front of each tooth at the same time. When you are done reverse the blade by folding it inside out. Hone these teeth the same way.Reverse the blade again and install.If you are not perfectly square or not perfectly level , don't worry the blade will cut better than new anyhow. If you have a broken blade lying around practice for two minutes and you'll see how easy it is.Make sure you have more than one hone on hand, they wear down quickly. I usually can hone between one and two 133" blades with one hone.
Let me know how you make out
mike
Thanks, I'll give it a try some time.
Mike,
I'll be willing to bet that less than 5% of bandsaw owners sharpen their own blades.
You should contact Grizzly and tell them about your success with their blades, they might pay you for an endorsement or at least send a couple of free blades your way!! With all the bad press their BS blades get on this forum (and others, more than likely), I would think they'd jump at the chance!!
Regards,
Mack
"WISH IN ONE HAND, #### IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
Edited 6/8/2004 9:23 pm ET by Mack
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