Resaw Rate

[jackellis]

I've got a 14" Ridgid with a 1/2" "generic" 3TPI blade on it. Resawing a four foot long 3.5" wide piece of /4 ash into a 3/4" piece and a 1/2" piece seemed to take about five minutes, for a feed rate of about 10 inches per minute. I'm wondering whether that's reasonable.

Though not table saw quality, the cut is relatively straight and relatively even. Certainly better than wasting a good 1/2" of ash by laboriously planing with an AP 1301.

[Tom Miller]

That seems a little slow, if the stock is only 3.5" along the cut. I was reading a bandsaw blade test in a back issue of FWW, and while cutting 9.5" wide soft maple, the different blades ranged from 15s to 25s per foot, with a feed force of 7.5 lbs. Make your own adjustments for stock species, etc., but I think you're at best operating at half the rate you could be, if not 1/4.

The first thing I'd do is try a Timberwolf blade at www.suffolkmachinery.com or a Woodslicer from Iturra. (You can do a search to get more info on these.)

Regards,
Tom

[LCHIEN]

technically speaking there's two things I can see that limit the cut rate.
One is power limits and the other, material removal.

Did the band saw seem to be laboring and the blade slowing significantly when you pushed harder?
That would indicate lack of power, only to be resolved with a bigger motor.

Did you push hard and nothing seemed to happen?
That would indicate a material removal problem - where the material balls up and fills the gullet between teeth. The material can't escape out hte sides so it has to ride the length of the cut to drop out at the bottom. The ball of cuttings between each tooth then becomes as tall as or taller than the tooth, keeping the tooth from making contact, literally. In resawing this is exacerbated by the travel distance being so long. That is why 3 TPI and skiptooth construction is favored for resawing.
In this case a properly contructed blade will work wonders. Call the experts at www.sulfolkmachinery.com, tell them the application and get a good resaw blade.

[jackellis]

The saw will slow down when I apply more pressure. This saw has a 1 HP motor which ought to be enough, except perhaps that the belt might be slipping or the shop vac I use for dust collection that's on the same circuit might be a problem. Have to look at both.

I'm also wondering whether using a fence that might not be adjusted for drift correction could be a problem.

[LarryG]

If by "generic" you mean one of the $10-12 blades from HD/Lowe's/etc, i.e. Vermont-American or similar, put on a Woodslicer (~$30) or the identical-but-for-the-name copy from Iturra Designs ($~20) and you'll be AMAZED at the difference.

[ragswl4]

Similar Problem

I had a very similiar problem with my grizzly G0555. I had a 3/4" - 3TPI Timberwolf blade installed. I was really perplexed with this as I did not suspect the blade. Unfortunately I can't pinpoint what my problem was but here are the changes that I made.

1. Only ran the saw on the circuit, I too was running a shopvac on the same circuit at the same time. Changed to DC running on its own 20 amp service.
2. Found two bad bearings on the blade guide and replaced. ( I probably ruined the bearings by pushing too hard on the wood as I tried to resaw some Lyptus, pretty hard wood).
3. On advice from a forum member (Ken Massingale, I think) I purchased and installed a 1/2" 3-4 TPI Iturra blade (same as Woodslicer) and made sure all the guides were set properly.

I now re-saw with no problems with a pretty good feedrate, much better than before and the blade leaves a lot less saw marks than the Timberwolf. I doubt that any of my problems were directly associated with the Timberwolf blade.

One thing was that the 3/4" blade was too much for the saw, although Grizzly says it will handle that size blade and it was the blade that the Timberwolf folks recommended. If you are using the stock blade that came with the saw that is the first place I would look. Don't go bigger than 1/2" and make sure that the blade is tensioned properly. I think you need to apply a little more tension to the blade when re-sawing, especially on wide stock. I hope others chime in on this as I am no expert but this is what worked for me. Loren gave good advice.

[bthere]

I think that, generally, you are going to have to adust the rate of feed to the particular board you are cutting and to the blade you are cutting with. It is somewhat a matter of feel. Pushing just before the point of the saw starting to labor is about right.

The saw could be bogging down with a generic blade that isn't set precisely or is not quite as sharp as it could be. Do you notice whether the cut surface is straight vertically or does it have some curve to it? If it isn't straight, I would look to blade probelms, and possible double check tension.

Like others have mentioned, I like the Woodslicer, but it seems to dull relatively quickly. The Timberwolf blades are nice, but don't seem to give quite as smooth a cut as the Woodslicer. For short board resawing, I have used some of the Olson blades, and they seem ok, just not as good as the Timberwolf or Woodslicer.

[drumpriest]

I agree with Larry on this one, try a woodslicer and you will be amazed. I went from a 1/2" 3tpi timberwolf to the same as a woodslicer and was amazed at the difference. Not that the timberwolf was bad, just the woodslicer is that good.

[cgallery]

I can attest to differences in bandsaw blades. My 9" Inca uses the .018" thick (I think) blades. I've tried blades from Delta, Sears, Olson, and Morse.

The Olson blades cut very slowly. Almost like they are dull when brand-new. The Delta and Sears blades seem a little better. But the Morse blades allow me to cut to the full capacity of the saw (about 5-1/4") no problem using the 3/8" 6-TPI blades. In fact, they cut so fast that they seem impatient, like they want me to feed faster.

And the benefit is new blades are only about $5.50 at Menards. And they seem to last a long time, too. I know Menards carries Morse (MK Morse) blades in other sizes, has anyone tried these blades on their larger saws?