A couple months ago I bought a height extender for my bottom of Delta’s line of 14″ bandsaw, and put on a new Delta 4TPI blade. Then a couple weeks ago, I was over at the nearest sawmill and the owner gave me four, three foot long cut offs from some 8″X8″pine beams he was using to make trusses for a trophy ranch house in Aspen.
I brought them home and started resawing them down to 5/4 boards. I thought something was wrong when it took me over five minutes to resaw the first board, amd KNEW something was wrong when I tripped the thermal overload on the saw motor on the second board. I assumed that 8″ stock was just too thick for my lowly 3/4 HP motor running on 110V power, but just to make sure, I called Suffolk Machinery and on the advice of the gent I talked to, ordered a Timber Wolf 2 TPI 3/4″ blade for my saw. Well it came in today and I put it on and tensioned it according to Suffolk’s directions and gave the beams another go. WOW! What a difference! Cutting each board took a minute and forty seconds plus or minus, and the motor never broke a sweat.
This opens up a whole new world of woodworking for me. S4S pine at the lumber yard is five bucks a board foot, and you can get in 3/4″ thickness or 3/4″ thickness, take your pick, and most of it has some twist or warp. The sawmill will sell me 8″X8″ mill run beams for three bucks a linear foot. I’m in hog heaven!
Chris
Replies
"This opens up a whole new world of woodworking for me. " Yeeeeehaaaaa! Nice blades, aren't they? I haven't tried a 3/4" yet, but the half-inch and smaller have worked incredibly well. No blade drift is the icing on the cake!
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" .... :>)
ChrisB, interesting difference that blade made. If you don't mind (my first post, excuse any ignorance on my part), did you experience any issues with the motor bogging down with the resawing activity?
I am working with some spruce resawing on a 3TPI 1/2 inch blade, and it is taking longer than I anticipated for that activity. I'm just wondering if you saw a big difference in the behavior of the saw with the new blade? I'm using a Woodcraft special - figuring if the blade is the big variable there, I'm buying that TW blade pronto.
Same config - base Delta 14" with the riser.
Thanks!
Cris
I switched from a new Delta 1/2" 4TPI to a new Timber Wolf 3/4" 2TPI blade. The difference was dramatic. The Delta not only bogged down the motor, it came to a dead stop twice, which is why the thermal overload tripped.
The timber wolf ripped 50 feet of 8" thick beam and the motor was barely warm to the touch.
Chris
Chris,
I have nothing but praise for the Timberwolf blades. They are everything Suffolk says. And the advice that Suffolk offers regarding using bandsaw blades is great.
I am a bit surprised, however, that they advised you use a 3/4 inch blade for that task. I have found that going to a narrow blade improves the cutting action. I have resawn maple and tropical hardwoods with 3/8 and 1/4 inch blades with no problem at all. I think the wider blade actually puts much greater load on the motor.
Not to take anything away from the Timberwolf blades, you should also look into blades from BC Saw & Tool in Toronto, Ont., Canada (416) 251-2236 (you can't order on their web site). They are less than half the price of Timberwolf and perform just as well. And you can get a quantity discount. They operate beautifully at low tension just like Timberwolf.
As long as a bandsaw has a sharp blade and the blade is correctly positioned on the upper tire so that it cuts absolutely perpendicular to the feed direction, there will be no drift, the cut will be amazingly smooth and the motor will not labor at all.
Rich
I am new to this forum and was just reading through some of the posts when I noticed the Timberwolf blade issue. I had used a number of different manufacturer's blades before purchasing a half inch 3TPI. I will certainly purchase the Timberwolf again. Resawing hard maple on a Delta 14" with riser has never been better! One thing though... a 3/4" blade will certainly put a lot more stress on the bandsaw frame than a 1/2" or 3/8".
ChrisB
How fresh were your old blades? Were they the same tooth and rake? The rerason I ask is I've owned a bunch of timberwolf blades and while they are good blades I don't know that they are as dramatic as you seem to indicate..
I do a lot of heavy sawing with mine.. large timbers, white oak.. Dulls blades fast espcially when they are several years old and dried well. (plus they probably have a lot of grit and stuff that I fail to get off completely)..
Anyway the cheapest blades I buy cut just as well as a slightly used Timberwolf.. well sorta.. I don't buy those $6,$7 dollar blades I guess they are more like $12 dollar blades.. I can only get a few more timbers cut with a timberwolf than the cheaper blades. I can change blades quickly and so there is little for me to find in a timberwolf blade that a new sharp blade doesn't offer..
I'll chime in with a plug for the TW blades, I like the low tension required and they track very well. I re-sawed a bunch of 8" and 10" curly cherry on a 14" Delta with a riser block, 1hp motor and Carter guides, 1/2" 3 tpi blade and it never once bogged down.
It really depends on the saw you have. I have a MM16, which is really meant to deliver high tension. I tried the Timberwolf and had very bad cuts. I switched to the very expensive, but also extremely long lasting Lenox Trimaster carbide blade. Lenox recommends 25-30,000 psi, which is within the range of the heavy Italian imports (MiniMax, Laguna and Agazzani), but beyond what with the Jet and Delta steel bandsaw, and all the 14" saws. The cut is almost as smooth as a tablesaw blade.
That is interesting... When I get a spare $1500.00 for a new saw, I'll factor the added cost of carbide blades into the purchase. The old Delta has cut thousands of green wood bowl blanks, hundreds of feet of veneer and other stuff over the past 15 years, I may be old school, but I loveit
Another excellent blade choice is the Highland Hardware blade. This blade is quite thin and has a variable tooth spacing. It seems to take little power when resawing, and is practically silent in operation. The cut surface is smoother than I've had with any other blades. FWW had a blade comparison article a few months back, and this blade rated very highly in their testing. The only drawback to the blade is that it ain't cheap, but you'll wonder if somebody hadn't snuck into your shop and replaced the motor on your bandsaw when you first use it.
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