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You may not like the answer, but a 14" wheel saw is pretty much limited to a .025" thick blade. Thicker blades (.032, .035. etc) will prematurely fail due to fatigue failures. That is the attraction of the resaw kings--they are .024 thick. I agree on timberwolf, I bought two of them, some years ago and the welds were poor and they dulled fast. I have done beautiful resawing with a Lenox 1/2" 4T diemaster bimetal blade and they last forever. I regrind them up to 3 times as well. For softer woods I use an Olson 1/2" 3T bimetal--another good blade. Lenox diemaster in 1/2" is only made in .035" thickness, hence the Olson. My go to general purpose blade is Lenox diemaster 1/2" 6T--I love this blade! Narrower blades for curve cutting are all carbon steel and I prefer hard back but some blade configurations are only available in flexback. Advantage to the hardback is they support higher tensions.
Having said all of the above, the bandsaw police won't come after you for running a .032 or .035 blade on a 14" saw. You just won't get the life out of them that they are capable of on a larger 18 or 20 inch saw. That and the potential for a scary if not dangerous/damaging experience when one of those fail at ~3500SFPM!
Bob
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I run a Rikon 14” saw , I’ve also had issues with the Timberwolf blades. I have had good experience with the 1/2” Woodslicer blade from Highland Woodworking
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I don’t have experience with the wood slicer but from what I have read the dull very quickly
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You can sharpen blades that are not carbide tipped. There is a thread around here on that somewhere.
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05-14-2025, 06:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-14-2025, 06:33 PM by kurt18947.)
I bought a Lenox Tri Master 1/2" 3 t.p.i. just to see what the fuss was about. It cut well on a Rikon 10-325 but I just checked prices on bandsawblades direct, the price was $204

, that did not include shipping. I didn't pay that but it was over $150 as I recall. The unique thing about the 1/2" Tri Master is that it is .025" thick. Most real carbide blades are .032 - .035 thick and are likely to fatigue unacceptably soon on a 14" wheel and a 14" saw probably can't tension them adequately. I'd guess the best bang for the buck is bimetal, diemaster or Olson MVP.
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05-17-2025, 05:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2025, 05:41 PM by Arlin Eastman.)
All I have used is Timberwolf and the only time they broke is when I was mishandling the wood or the guides were not set right or pushing to hard. Have had from 3/16 blade to 1 1/4" blades with no problem in 15 years unless it is what I mentioned prior.
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05-17-2025, 11:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2025, 11:31 PM by MstrCarpenter.)
I'm using Timberwolf blades on my 12" and 36" band saws. The 16" came with extra blades, so I haven't needed to purchase any yet. I've had no breakage nor other complaints. They've actually been quite helpful in helping me choose what I need.
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