Wood Magazine 32 by Larry Clayton

Author:Larry Clayton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Wood, Home and hobby woodworker
Publisher: Meredith Corporation
Published: 1989-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

If you're like me—amazed by the array of tools and accessories on today's market, or new at buying things for your shop—you've turned to the right page. Effective with this issue, I'll provide you with the information you and I need to go shopping with the confidence of a pro for this or that woodworking tool, material, or accessory. Take for example, bandsaw blades—maybe you've heard the terms skip-tooth, hook-tooth, three-tooth, 16-tooth— what's it all about anyway? Stay tuned as we get to the bottom of this matter.

Product/Techniques Editor

BANDSAW

YOUR TWO OPTIONS IN BLADE MATERIALS

Like carbide-tipped circular saw blades, bimetal bandsaw blades (those with carbon-steel teeth backed by a spring-type steel) offer you longer life than carbon-steel blades, but at a higher price. Bob Candiano of American Saw & Mfg. Co. told me, "Bi-metal blades cost two to three times as much as carbon-steel blades, but you'll get twice your money back in smoothness of cut and blade life." On the other hand, Chuck Olson of the Olson Saw Co. says, "1 can buy three carbon steel blades for the price of one bi-metal blade, so I can keep a greater selection of carbon-steel blades on hand."

Who's right? Since I'm the kind of woodworker who's constantly changing blades and rarely giving one of them a great amount of wear, I'm going to stick with carbon-steel blades. On the other

hand, if you stay with one blade for nearly all your work, then buy that blade in bi-metal. Here are a few other things I found out that also will affect which type you buy:

• Because bi-metal blades flex less, you should use them only if you own a two-wheel bandsaw with l4"-diameter or larger wheels. Otherwise, over-flexing will cause tiny cracks in the blade that can lead to poor performance and breakage.

• If you prefer the lower price of carbon-steel blades, make sure you buy the flex-back type for a two-wheel bandsaw with 12" diameter and smaller wheels. Otherwise, buy a hard-back carbon-steel blade.

• If you own a three-wheel band-saw, you should buy only flexible-back carbon-steel blades. The reason: The tighter radius of their wheels can promote fatigue cracks in stiffcr blades.

MEASURE UP THE BLADE BEFORE PLUNKING DOWN YOUR MONEY

As I quickly learned, you can't order a bandsaw blade until you know the correct blade length. My local distributor passed along this simple method: First, grab some string and a felt-tipped pen. Then, wind the string around the wheels, following the blade path. Mark the suing at an overlap point as shown at right, remove the string from the bandsaw, and measure the distance between the two marked points (record this figure inside the bandsaw cabinet). While you have the saw opened, make note of the wheel diameter (this information will come in handy later).

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