Official Luthiers Forum!

Good evening with Christmas time just around the bend I was wondering about upgrading my main bandsaw, and wanted to get opinions.
The saw in question is a Grizzly G0555LX 14".

At the moment I'm using the stock blade, which "SEEMS" a little wide for what I do. The most I cut with it is neck blanks and heel blocks... That kinda thing.

What would your general purpose luthier bandsaw blade of choice be?

Thanks for insight.
B.

I like to use a 1/4 inch 3 or 4 tpi skip tooth blade for general bandsaw work. The skip tooth design leaves more gullet space for sawdust when cutting thicker stock.

General purpose, quarter inch 6 TPI. Resaw and straight cuts, half inch wood slicer.

Pat

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Pat

3/8" 3 to 4 TPI is my general use choice. I'm rarely cutting curves that require a 1/4".

I usually keep a 1/4" blade in mine for general purpose work. I think the one I'm using now is a 6 TPI.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I sell blades to lots of woodworkers and most of them like having 1/4" 3-4TPI blades for work involving curves. 6TPI gives only a slightly cleaner cut, but considerably less blade life. Depending on what you are doing, the cleaner cut may be worth it. You should consider having several blades in several sizes around. If you have new blades hanging on the wall, you will change blades more often, and that will improve the efficiency and quality of your work. They go dull very fast on 14" saws. Happy sawing!

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Why does a 6 tpi blade have a shorter life than a 3/4? You’d think it’d be the opposite..

1/4 inch 6TPI Timberwolf is my all round blade. Works great and seems to last a long time. I also use a 3/4 inch Infinity Rip resaw blade, variable 3-4 TPI.

Dave

No one blade for all purposes IMHO.
I have found if you repeatedly use a bandsaw blade for curves, even cutting relatively thin materials it will quickly become a poor blade for straight cuts, no matter the width. So I just designate 1/4" for curve cutting and 1'2" for straight cuts.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

From my limited experience, I suggest OP install a 'name brand' blade as a standard of comparison. I've not been impressed with Grizzly's bandsaw blades, but today's products may not be yesterday's.

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Peter Havriluk

Heat is what kills blades. The more teeth, the smaller the gullets that clear the dust and the more heat that is created.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

I never remember how many TPI my blades are, but 3/8” seems to be what lives on my saw the most. It does well for straight lines, and I don’t have any trouble cutting the curves on my guitars.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

+1. I've used Timberwolf for the last 10 years. 3tpi 3/4" for resawing, 6tpi 1/4" for everything else (including quick tasks during the day).

Also, if you are switching blades often, be really careful with them as you take them on and off. It's surprisingly easy to tweak one and get it cutting funky.

This is my situation, too. I use a 14" Jet with a riser. 3/8" does straight cuts pretty well, but it also handles larger curves. For tighter curves, I keep a 1/8" blade handy. I hate switching blades, so I will go to a lot of trouble to make the 3/8" blade work.

I hear that!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.