Best deal on bandsaw blades?

[Wild Turkey]

I picked up a Laguna LT18 at an auction recently but it only came with one odd-ball blade. (lots of teeth, with very little set)

So I'm shopping for 140" blades.

I've look at Lenox (Tool Center.com) and Timberwolf and all I've really done is get confused.

T'wolf has a "3-blade" deal that looks good, but I'm wondering if I need all three.

I don't think I'll do a lot of "detail" work (I haven't used a bandsaw much) so a small blade isn't real attractive to me, but I can see where it would be useful.

I do think I'll be doing some bowl roughing, possibly with green wood, but do I need a special blade just for that?

I might do some resawing but I doubt I'll use the saw's full capacity -- if I do I'll get a resaw-specific blade.

So what blade/blades do you use the most?

[ronkan]

I have a MiniMax 16 with a Lenox Trimaster mounted. Use it for resawing and ripping. Works well.
For cutting greenwood like bowl blanks you should have a blade specifically spec'd for that. If you are only doing an occasional blank the Trimaster would work albeit not as well and reuiring some serious cleaning before using it for other kinds of cutting. The greenwood blade would not work well for resawing.
Changing blades is a pain so try to imagine what you might do most frequently and buy that blade first, but you may find that with your new saw you find many more uses for a bandsaw.

[frigator]

I only had two blades....a narrow one for curved work and a wide carbide resaw blade. You may resaw more than you think...making bookmatch panels, cutting 1/2 drawer stock. I was able to get a small bandsaw for curved work and just kept the carbide on the minimax. That way never had to change blades. Could just go to the saw and go to work. The carbides are costly and last longer on a bigger wheel and make sure you detension. Timberwolf was what I used.

[EdL]

I like dealing with T-wolf......call them, tell them what you want to do, they recommend the blade. They keep everyting on record, what saws you have and what bands you bought for it, saves me the headache of doing it myself.

Ed

[Wild Turkey]

Thanks for the help.

Looks like I'll do some spending tomorrow

[Arlin Eastman]

I get Timber wolf blades from Grizzly and only get two kinds for what I need. My bandsaw needs 162" blades and I get 1/2 x 3tpi and 3/4 x 2/3tpi blades.

I do not remember seeing 140" blades and I will check tomorrow

[Wild Turkey]

143" is as close as Grizzly gets to my blade.

[mdhills]

I am currently using a 1/2" diemaster (6/10 vari-tooth) from spectrumsupply as my general-purpose blade. A 3/8" would also be a good choice.

I also have a woodmaster CT.

Matt

[SteveS]

When I am roughing out log sections my preferred band is a Lenox 1-1/4" C-sharp 1.1 tpi. It's good for cutting thick green wood and is very reasonable price.

[Steve N]

WT, there is plenty to that answer, and price shouldn't be the main reason to purchase. Things you want are listed below.

1) Blades made just for you, and what you plan to do, not some pre-packed POS that is someone else's idea of a good blade.

2) Somewhere with several blade material choices, all jobs don't require carbide teeth.

3) A real person with understanding of BS blades, and what makes a certain one the best bet for your job. Here I will throw in, a good guy would not factor how much the best blade will be. I only say that because there is a person in Florida I believe, who is historically very hard to reach, and will upsell you even if it doesn't benefit you, it does however benefit him. He may be mentioned as the "BS blade God"

4) Good pricing

5) Dependable hours, and shipping within the time he tells you it will take

6) Awesome welds, this is a lot more important than a lot of folks will admit. Shoot, some don't even know it.


I've been real happy, and several others here have voiced the same