LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Ripping on a bandsaw

3K views 29 replies 11 participants last post by  pintodeluxe 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I set up my bandsaw for some ripping operations on my lunch today. After some considerable tweaking, I can get perfectly straight rips. However the cut quality sucks. My only 2 blades are an Olson allpro 1/4" and an Olson allrpo 5/8" skip tooth resaw blade. I am obviously using the 5/8 blade, but as I mentioned, the cut quality is nasty. Is there a bandsaw blade that leaves a reasonably smooth finish after ripping?
 
#4 ·
Seems like the 1/2 woodslicer is a good choice. I'll have to look into that. With my 5/8" resaw blade, I get a pretty good cut quality on resewing, but terrible for ripping.

Is the woodslicer one of those low tension blades?
 
#6 ·
no. the WS it's not a low tension blade.

consider that (obviously) the faster you rip, the poorer your cut quality will be. Also with bandsaw blades the blade sharpeness plays a much higher factor in the cut quality when compared with a TS.
 
#9 ·
Is the cut rough or wavy? If you are getting a wavy cut and you centered the blade on the wheel try pushing the blade back on the wheel so the gullet of the blade is centered on the wheel. It will give more support to the teeth and will stop the blade from rocking, which cause a wavy cut.
 
#10 ·
Hey Joe, I have been using the Wood Slicer blades too. I just love it.

Now you are asking what is the smoothest cut? This blade does not give me the smoothest cut. That is not what I am looking for. I want a repeatable and accurate cut that I can trust. I can slice off 1/8" thick by 8" tall maple with ease time after time. Without getting hot. They are a little rough, but that is what a low tooth count blade will give you.

What I want it for is resaw, and not rip. I guess the only difference is the thickness of the cut. ??

Steve
 
#12 ·
Do you think it's a tension problem or maybe incorrect installing of the blade or blade quality?. I have 1/2" 4TPI Haltbar blade. It works the best.
 
#13 ·
Chuck, I am getting a wavy cut. It's slightly back of center, but I can move it back a little more if need be. I may try that.

Also on the guide bearings - how close should they be? there are many schools of thought. I am not getting any drift, however I may just be lucky because my fence is not perfectly square to the blade anymore. I shimmed the front rail to bring it down a bit.
 
#14 ·
it does look wavy.

try adjusting the blade so that the gullets are centered on the wheel.

As for the guides - I set them a paper thickness away from the blade (place a piece of paper between blade and move guide until it makes contact with paper).

that said, you could probably improve the cut quality, but you still won't get a jointed surface quality so you'd still have to put it through a 2nd-stage to clean that up.
 
#16 ·
technically I don't think that's possible because of the teeth geometry differences between the TS (carbide precision ground) vs. the band (teeth with SET in both direction, blade is flexible even with high tension), you would always have a lesser cut quality on the BS compared to a RIP blade on a TS. TS are originally a ripping machine - thats what they are designed to do. Bandsaws are a multiverse machine that can also rip to a certain degree (depth limitation and cut quality limits)
 
#18 ·
Did you check what TWW and MW say about their resaw blades? Mark in particular has one that outputs amazingly good resawn lumber, but I can't remember the name right now. He has a video on the matter on Youtube. Actually, there are resaw blades with very little to no set (those for resawing dry wood). Your feed rate will also play a big role. If you can do it, the best option is an autofeed. I'm thinking "Little Ripper" + DC geared motor + threaded rod (what I have in plans for my own bandsaw actually).
 
#19 ·
Joe, I hear you on the wife+comfort zone. that's a good thing and a good reason to head over to the band saw.

I think autofeed and whatnot is great idea for resawing if you resaw day in and day out (slower feed rate) but for ripping stock quickly, I think it's over kill.

rip-> hand plane it flat (or run both parts in your planer given that each part has 1 flat surface to register) ==> done
rinse and repeat.
 
#25 ·
The cut quality also depend on the TPI, the more TPI the slower the cut but the better the quality. The teeth are smaller and shorter and they do not flex that much.
For resawing you want a small TPI (I use 3TPI) because you have a lot of dust to move out.
For ripping you do not have as much dust to move so the gullets can be smaller and you will have a better cut quality.
Everything is about compromises.
I use a band saw for ripping to go fast, not for cut quality.
If you want cut quality use the TS.
 
#26 ·
Bert, the blade I have on there is a 3TPI. I'm going to see if I can get a higher TPI blade. I agree about cut quality, but I think a bandsaw could make acceptable cuts. It is less about speed and more about safety as my wife is not comfortable ripping on a table saw.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top