How To Pick The Best Blade For The Bandsaw - Size Matters!

 

I am frequently requested what type of blades I personally use on my small bandsaw. And the reply is - this will depend.

A bandsaw blade needs to be matched towards the job in hands and, to some lesser extent, to how big the bandsaw.

You wouldn't attempt to rip a couple" board having a neither tenon saw, nor crosscut plywood having a greenwood saw. You'd pick the best blade to do the job, and this is also true for any bandsaw. Simply because the device is powered does not necessarily mean that certain blade will cut everything, it will not.

Therefore we need an array of blades, depending on what we're doing. Fortunately, despite there as being a wide array of blades to select from, are going to 99% in our normal use just 2 or 3 different blades.

Since issue with a Rikon 10-305 Bandsaw is to buy it to chop straight, you can easily believe that the broader the blade the greater, and to some extent this is correct. You'll probably improve results having a ½" or ¾" blade than the usual ¼" one. However the temptation would be to go as wide because the wheels will require. That is one inch or even more. The issue then is the fact that couple of consumer-grade bandsaws are sufficiently strong to tension this type of wide blade as well as an insufficiently-tensioned blade is probably to not perform well. You are able to rip perfectly well using the correct ½" blade on any bandsaw, if it's setup correctly around the machine.

On the other hand, it's really no good expecting so that you can cut tight bends having a wide blade. If you're doing plenty of curved work, you will have to fit a narrow blade. A bike will go round a significantly tighter corner than the usual bus can!

Typically you need to use as couple of teeth as possible away with although making certain there are a minimum of 3 teeth within the wood. So for home woodies making furniture, 3 TPI will work for ripping solid timber. How come less teeth better? Since the sawdust should have somewhere to visit which is the gullets behind one's teeth which do that job. Ripping produces lengthy curls of sawdust which need to go somewhere. So my standard ripping blade is 3TPI Skip tooth. Which means one's teeth would be the size they'd be whether it were 6TPI, but almost every other the first is missing. What this means is the gullets are often in a position to carry away the sawdust and that i obtain a smooth and clean cut.

As crosscutting, however, or using much thinner material, then 3TPI is just too coarse to obtain a smooth cut. Here, the sawdust is finer so we can pull off smaller sized gullets without one getting blocked. 6, 8 or 12 TPI might be more appropriate.

If cutting sheet metal like brass, that TPI count might have to go as much as 24. That will still provide us with 3 teeth in 1/8" material.

I suggest that whenever purchasing a new blade, buy two exactly the same. There's anything frustrating than breaking a blade and getting to prevent although a substitute comes to the publish!

So It is best to begin with a ½" 3TPI Skip blade for ripping along with a ¼" 6TPI for crosscutting and curved work. Which should enable you to get through much of your tasks. After that you can add other blades whenever you'll need them.