Carbide bandsaw blade recs -

[tadol]

Looking for any advice, experience, or recommendations on carbide resaw blades - I’d used them on specialty resaws in the past, but I’ve gotten a bandsaw just about completely set-up just for resawing, and have already dulled out a regular steel blade after not too many feet of cutting. So, I think I’m ready to pop for a carbide blade - but because of their cost, I’m hoping to gain from any first hand experience other have had with them -

I want to use this saw solely for resawing, and to handle hardwoods up to a max 12”. It’s a 20” saw, so should be able to handle the blade thickness & tension, and I’m running the factory Davis & Wells guides which I think are pretty good, and I know can handle 1”, maybe 1.25” -

Lennox? Laguna? WoodMizer? Or others I may not have heard of? Advice welcome before I drop the big bucks -

[Howard Klepper]

Lennox Woodmaster CT. The 1"x 2tpi has .035" blade thickness with .051" kerf. Reasonably priced.

Have you replaced or tested the tensioning spring? They can weaken over time. You don't want to have your spring near being fully compressed in order to get sufficient tension.

[charles Tauber]

The Laguna is a nice blade. I’m on my third. The first broke prematurely, had it welded, it broke again. The other two have lasted a long time and done a great job. The downside, in addition to cost, is that they have an unusual tooth pattern that requires specialized equipment to sharpen that few other than Laguna have: you pretty much have to send them to Laguna for sharpening.

[H165]

Lennox Woodmaster CT

This is the blade both I and my brother-in-law use in our Agazzanis. We've not found a better blade, possibly because we like them so well we sorta stopped looking.

[M Hayden]

How does the Lenox WoodMaster stack up against the Lenox TriMaster? I’ve been using the TriMaster on an 18” 3-1/4hp Jet and it’s been excellent.

[tadol]

Howard - yes, I don’t know how good my tension spring is. It seems adequate for regular steel blades, but with heavier bodied carbide blades, it may not be. Since I have 2 of these 50+ yr old saws, I’ve ordered a blade tension meter to see how well they do tension up. If really inadequate, I’ll be calling spring shops -

And I am seriously tempted by the Lenox blades, as I can order them from a local saw shop, which I hope means they’d be there to back me up if any problems -

Charles - thats exactly my concern with the Laguna. There have been a few threads on the internet about breakage problems with the Laguna, and the need to send them back for repairs and sharpening. But many people do seem satisfied, as well. Laguna support/customer service is sometimes questionable, based on some personal experience -

h165 / Matt - I would really like to hear from anyone with experience with the Woodmaster vs the Trimaster - Lenox doesn’t even do a very good job with these for thick resawing -

Agazzani - (droooll . . . . )

[Howard Klepper]

On my old 20" Delta (RIP) I ran a 1" Lennox Aluminum Master, on the recommendation of an online friend in the specialty wood biz. It had a triple chip grind rather than an alternating set, and took a very small kerf with a very smooth cut, which I wanted for valuable exotics. It had more tpi than a typical 1" wood resaw blade, constant tooth spacing, and smaller gullets than the Woodmaster or TriMaster, but I figured, hey, I'm not in a hurry like a production shop. I was happy with the blade, although the saw had trouble tensioning it enough due to the old spring. I had to tighten it near to bottoming the spring and it could have used a little more tension, which is why I'm aware of the issue. I might have been better off with the 3/4" version that was also available, but the results I got were good. It was a pretty good idea for sawing hard exotics for guitar backs and sides.

They don't make that blade anymore. There is now one called the CastMaster for sawing aluminum castings, but I don't know how similar it is. It doesn't come in 3/4". Your saw's frame will have no problem with tensioning a 1" resaw blade, though, and springs are replaceable

[Alan Carruth]

One thing that helps reduce the bite of buying a carbide blade is the ability to re-sharpen it. I rigged up a holder for a Dremel tool that keeps it at a fixed angle to the table, and allows it to move in and out using the slot in the table as a guide. I depth stop can locate off either the tips of the teeth below the one being sharpened, or the gullet if it's a blade that doesn't have an alternating tooth count. You set it up to remove just a little material from the front of the tooth, using the flat surface of a diamond cut off wheel. I have mine set up perpendicular to the axis of the blade, and it works very well. I can usually get three or four sharpenings out of a Lenox blade before the blade itself breaks. It takes roughly a half hour to sharpen one on the saw, so there's no time spent in setup of the saw itself. You may need to adjust the fence for the drift angle after sharpening.

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by Alan Carruth

One thing that helps reduce the bite of buying a carbide blade is the ability to re-sharpen it. I rigged up a holder for a Dremel tool that keeps it at a fixed angle to the table, and allows it to move in and out using the slot in the table as a guide. I depth stop can locate off either the tips of the teeth below the one being sharpened, or the gullet if it's a blade that doesn't have an alternating tooth count. You set it up to remove just a little material from the front of the tooth, using the flat surface of a diamond cut off wheel. I have mine set up perpendicular to the axis of the blade, and it works very well. I can usually get three or four sharpenings out of a Lenox blade before the blade itself breaks. It takes roughly a half hour to sharpen one on the saw, so there's no time spent in setup of the saw itself. You may need to adjust the fence for the drift angle after sharpening.

If honing perpendicular to the blade works, then what about just jointing the teeth with a flat diamond hone set on the saw table and spinning the wheels backward by hand with the blade tensioned and guided as usual?

[tadol]

Alan - it’d be great if you could post a pic of your sharpening rig -

I know the Lenox are not resharpenable by local shops, and the TriMaster has a unique tooth configuration which would make grinding the faces of the teeth a bit problematic, but I do like that it has larger carbide teeth (not thrilled that it has a wider kerf), so maybe it’d last longer? The Woodmaster might be a better option if I want to try resharpening myself - and it’d be cheaper up-front. Interestingly, both seem to use the same backing stock - so longer lasting carbide might also mean more time to create stress cracks? I only resaw occasionally, but have some nice exotics that I know will be very dulling on normal blades -

[M Hayden]

The tri-master lasts....well, a long time. I’m using a 1” trimaster that’s three years old and shows no sign of getting tired despite a lot of use from lutherie to furniture to rough carpentry.

It’s on a 3hp Jet 18” saw, and it’s cut everything from soft pine to hard exotics. The kerf is not thin, but the finish off the saw when it’s dialed in is unbelievable, and I like that it cuts straight and clean.

I also have a 1/2’ trimaster on a Delta 14”, and it is likewise great, and not given to wearing out.

[tadol]

Good rec Matt. I got my tension guage this weekend, and discovered that I can only get my saw to 12,000PSI before my tension wheel bottoms out on the wheel guard - the spring is far from fully compressed, so - before I spend the money on the blade, I guess I’m going to figure out what I need to do to get another 3 to 8,000 psi on it -