General purpose bandsaw blade

[DaveBozeman]

Can I get some suggestions for a good general purpose bandsaw blade for my Jet bandsaw?  Who knew there were so many types.. lol

Probably a 1/4" , non carbide, for typical 1/2" to 1" soft and hardwoods..

[R Clark]

You're likely to get a range of answers.

For me, I use Timberwolf blades.  I usually keep a 3/16" or a 1/4" with 10 TPI on my Delta 14" saw with riser block.  However, there's a 1/2" 4 TPI blade on it right now.

[dg152]

I agree, there are a lot of choices! But that's a bit like asking which table saw blade is best. First, decide what kinds of things you will want to do on your bandsaw. Do you want to re-saw wood? Do you want to do intricate cuts with tight curves? Then visit some manufacturer sites and see what they recommend for your purposes. You might try the Timber Wolfe site. They have a wide variety of blades available and an excellent customer service dept to help you make the right choices.

[jlanciani]

My go to for small saws (14” or less) is a Lenox diemaster 2 bimetal in 1/4” x 6 tpi.

[BattleRidge]

I typically keep the bimetal Lenox Diemaster 2 blade, 1/4" 6tpi on my Laguna 18BX and it provides a range of cutting options that covers the majority of my everyday needs, and the bimetal construction provides a longer life quality cut.  My other blades are the Lenox Diemaster 2, 1/2" 4tpi, and the carbide tip Laguna Resaw King, 1".  I bought my Lenox blades at bandsawbladesdirect.com and they had a good price (free shipping on orders over $100 which applied when I purchased the 1/4" & 1/2" together), provided surprisingly quick service and a quality product.  I am quite satisfied with each of the blades and have no reason to change my selection so I can't provide an actual side-by-side comparison to other brands or blades.  

I will be reclaiming and sawing / resawing a lot of wood from a former one-room schoolhouse where there will be a risk of undetected nails (even though I try to be quite diligent in finding them first) and for this I plan on getting an alternative and cheaper blade.  My thought on this is that while it may not provide as long or as quality of a cut, should I strike metal and ruin a blade, I'm not really out much.  Once I have gone through a portion of the wood and am more confident of what I am dealing with, I may adjust my blades and techniques.

[MichaelMouse]

Can I get some suggestions for a good general purpose bandsaw blade for my Jet bandsaw?  Who knew there were so many types.. lol

Probably a 1/4" , non carbide, for typical 1/2" to 1" soft and hardwoods..

Half inch and 3/4 want more teeth per inch than resaw or wet wood like turners.  Something >6TPI but <12 in a hook tooth pattern would be my choice.  Timberwolf is OK stuff, use them for general purpose since I ran out of my Olson stock.  For resaw or wet wood, go with an alternate set tooth pattern, with fewerr teeth so the deeper gullets will haul away the waste.  3-4TPI pretty good choice.

[DaveBozeman]

Thanks very much. Gets me on the right track.

[jteneyck]

I've used several different blades on my 14" Delta w/ riser.  Both Timberwolf blades I had (1/4" and 1/2") broke, and not at the weld, so they're out.  Olson MVP bimetal worked really well and lasted a long, long time but the cut surface was pretty rough.  Still, they were the most durable blades short of carbide I've used.  Diemaster 2 blades cut smoother but I don't think they lasted long enough to justify the price.  Now I'm using some Starret blade stock that was given to me and I'm very impressed with both the durability and cut quality.  This is just carbon steel stock but it has proven very durable.  

I prefer a 3/8" x 4 tpi blade for general use.  It cuts aggressively enough that I can resaw 6" stock with it and is narrow enough to cut most curves.  

John

[mdhills]

Can I get some suggestions for a good general purpose bandsaw blade for my Jet bandsaw?  Who knew there were so many types.. lol

Probably a 1/4" , non carbide, for typical 1/2" to 1" soft and hardwoods..

Give these guys a try:   
  1/4" 6tpi as general purpose
  You might also want to have the 1/2" 3tpi blade on hand for if/when you saw thicker material.

Supercut is one viable source: http://www.supercutbandsaw.com/gold.html
(and many others can be good, too).

It is generally worthwhile to have backup bandsaw blades; they do dull.

Matt

[Alan S]

If you plan to resaw, keep a blade specifically for that.  When it gets dull for that purpose, it can be demoted to ordinary ripping and curves; it should still seem sharp for that. 

My work fits with those above who suggested 1/2" 3TPI and 1/4" 6TPI as particularly useful.  One thing I learned from an article by Michael Fortune is that you do not need three teeth in the stock as is usually prescribed: for straight cuts or moderate curves even in 1/4" thick stock the 3 TPI blade is fine, if you don't cut too fast.

One approach is to get a variety of inexpensive steel blades.  If you use one more than the others, replace it when it wears out with a longer-lasting bimetal blade.  (The same approach might subsequently lead to carbide blades, but I've not got there yet.) My two most used blades are a 1/2" 3TPI Olson MVP (I did resharpen it, and it cuts better than new) and a 1/4" 6TPI bimetal blade of Lenox stock from Woodcraftbands.  I've found them to be a good, inexpensive source of blades. 

I got the .025" thick band of the Olson MVP rather than the .035" of the Lenox Diemaster because I was not sure my old Delta would properly tension the thicker blade.