Can't cut walnut

Sounds like the blade is dull. Another thing that happens when you resaw is that the wood pinches the blade. You may have to insert a small wedge into the kerf to prevent the wood from closing up on the blade.

Purchase a new blade designed for resawing and you will get happy fast ! It is not the wood—

I was just dealing with this problem over the weekend (resawing walnut, smelled like burning, and with timberwolf blades as well). Turns out the problem is that I forgot to replace the 8 tpi blade I was using before with the 4tpi blade for resawing. Burning at 8tpi turned into a hot knife through butter at 4tpi.

Also, at the very least you’ll want to clean (and possibly resharpen) your blade before continuing, since you probably now have burnt walnut on it.

-- Steve -- University Heights, Ohio

Thank for the input. I will check it but I am pretty sure that I have a resaw blade. It is 3/4 of an inch thick, and pretty sure that it is 4 tpi. I will check it though

Assuming your blade is sharp, the problem is probably a chip clearance issue. That is, a combination of the feed rate and gullet size (which is usually related to tpi) means you’re generating chips faster than you can clear them out the bottom of the cut.

There’s a general rule for how many teeth to have in the material. I think it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8, but someone with more knowledge than me might want to verify that. So for my 2” walnut I’m resawing, 4tpi works great. However 4 might be too much for 6” stock, for example.

You might try calling suffolk machinery directly (the people who make timberwolf blades). I’ve found them to be very helpful in guiding you towards the proper blade for your particular application.

-- Steve -- University Heights, Ohio

I used TW blades and switched to the Wood Slicer from Highland and what a difference for resawing. They don’t like nails though…

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Are you feeding the wood in a fixed position? Sometimes the blade starts to wander off line and will bind. Try free handing the cut, no jigs or fences, or best a single pivot point by the blade. Watch your feed rate, don’t hurry or force wood. Good luck…...........

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

I had a similar problem the first time I tried cutting hardwood with my bandsaw – turns out that the blade was simply not tight enough.

Yeah the blade was wondering over the material, but I was forcing the cut. The material I was cutting was around 10” wide. So I might need a blade with fewer tpi. I will call Suffolk to see what they suggest.

Under some condition you might have the blade in upside down. Where the teeth are pointing up. It that’s the case make sure that you turn the blade inside out.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I go thur blades like crazy but I cut burls and there is a lot of grit in the burls. Definitely sounds like a dull blade.
Just one pass on a hard serface can dull all the teeth. But I cut walnut all the time. I just have to have a sharp blade.

-- Greg, Southern Oregon, www.oregonburls.com

Karson, been there done that. You may think that its a rookie mistake but I’m sure the best of woodworkers have done that atleast once. What size BS are you using? If it’s a 14”, the combination of the 3/4” blade and the walnut may be a little much for it.

-- Scott, South Carolina

yeah it is a 14” bandsaw and the blade is turned correctly.

I have cut close to 6” walnut with my 1/4” timberwolf without a problem though I did have to slow the feed rate down significantly. I would be interested in knowing what you find out.

-- James - What's your excuse this time??

Alignment has been a big issue for my bandsaw. Truing the blade made all the difference. Try setting the blade by turning the guide shaft left or right on a scrap piece, worked for me.

-- $tudie

I was using a 3/4” resaw blade on my 14” Jet with riser. That is just too much blade for the saw.
I switched to 1/2” amd the results improved significantly.
I, too, used the Woodslicer from Highland Woodworking but have recently used a 4TPI 1/2” from Morse and got great results at a less expensive cost per blade.
While TW was (is) good for general BS work I have never had any luck with one as a resaw blade.

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I just installed a Wood Slicer Blade from http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodslicer-resaw-bandsaw-blades.aspx and it cuts like a dream. I’ve shown the results of my resawing to a couple of other woodworkers and we are all impressed with the quality.

FROM THE HIGHLAND SITE:
Our famous Wood Slicer bandsaw blade cuts smoother and quieter than any other resawing blade on the market. Its outstanding performance is due to its 3-4 tpi variable tooth pitch design, in which uneven spacing between the teeth nearly eliminates vibration during a cut. The Wood Slicer’s tooth pattern damps harmonic resonance extremely effectively; the result is superlatively smooth cuts and much, much quieter operation than ordinary bandsaw blades. In tests here at the store, our Wood Slicer averaged 8 decibels quieter than a popular brand-name 1/2”, 3-tooth blade cutting 2” walnut, and 14dB quieter in 6” walnut. Since noise intensity is halved with each 3dB decrease in sound level, our Wood Slicer Bandsaw Blades will subject your ears to no more than 1/4 of the sound intensity of the noisier blade, and at best can reduce nose intensity to less than 1/16 of what you might usually endure. Unless you’re actually fond of listening to a bandsaw blade scream though thick stock, our blade design will be the best you’ve ever heard on your bandsaw.

Quality of cut is simply fabulous. Resawn surfaces are extraordinarily smooth, with few torn or broken fibers and nearly invisible tooth marks. Testing the blades here at the store, we’ve produced 9” wide veneers no thicker than 1/32”, clean enough for glue-up and ready to begin sanding at 100 grit. We’ve never seen a resawing bandsaw blade cut this smoothly, and we’re willing to bet you haven’t either.

SHARPER
Our manufacturer has developed exclusive sharpening technology that gives Wood Slicers the sharpest teeth in the industry. Their highly precise grinding process leaves a crisp, burr-free tooth with clean, smooth gullets that transport waste efficiently and resist resin build-up. You’ll cut any stock, regardless of its hardness, faster and more easily than you’ve ever done before. The Wood Slicer you buy will be just as sharp as it was in the factory; finished bandsaw blades are individually wrapped to avoid damage during handling on the way to your shop.

HARDER
Wood Slicer teeth are phenomenally hard, with a Rockwell no. of Rc65-67, as hard as the edge of a fine Japanese chisel. After sharpening and setting, Slicers are sent through a high-speed, ultra-high voltage precision impulse hardening system which treats the face and cutting edges of each tooth without allowing hardening to extend into the gullet, which would create a potential source of fatigue failure.

STRONGER
The Wood Slicer’s 1/2” wide carbon-manganese spring steel bodies have twice the tensile strength of conventional 1/2” bandsaw blades, and they’re much harder as well. Our blade’s strength is complemented by the extraordinary quality of its weld. State-of-the-art flash butt upset welding produces a quenched and tempered metallurgical structure identical to the rest of the blade—no softer, no harder, and no more prone to failure. The technique is so effective that all Wood Slicer Bandsaw Blades are unconditionally guaranteed against breakage at the weld.

THINNER
High strength blades let us specify band thickness of just .022”, 12% thinner than usual, without sacrificing the stiffness and beam strength required for clean, accurate resawing. Set angle is absolutely minimal, and total kerf width is barely 1/32”.(Due to the blades’ minimal set the WoodSlicer® is not recommended for cutting green wood) This means you waste about half as much wood as with a regular bandsaw blade, and you demand half as much work from your bandsaw, which gives you less back pressure, faster feed rates, and lower impact on thrust bearings and lateral guides. Slicers’ rear edges are rounded and polished, extending the life of your thrust bearings and eliminating a potential source of fatigue cracks. Precise setting, polishing and rounding the back not only make for smoother cuts; they also nearly eliminate blade lead, making it easier and faster to set up your fence for straight, accurate resawing in any material thickness.

GUARANTEED
If you want to mill lumber to custom thickness or generate your own veneers, try a Wood Slicer blade for yourself. You’ll get results you never thought your bandsaw could deliver, with smoother, straighter, faster cuts than you’ve gotten from any other resawing blade. You’ll feel as if you just installed a larger motor on your saw, and you’ll love the minimal finishing required on your resawn stock. Your satisfaction is guaranteed.

WANT EVEN BETTER BANDSAW RESULTS?
When you order your Wood Slicer, we specifically recommend that you also replace the original metal guide blocks which came with your bandsaw with Cool Blocks. Made of composite phenolic resin impregnated with graphite, Cool Blocks set closer to your blade than metal blocks, giving a more stable and accurately guided cut. Cool Blocks eliminate friction and heat caused by metal to metal contact, so blades run smoother, cooler and far quieter than with metal guides. Cool Blocks enhance the performance of ANY bandsaw blade, and help ensure that you get the most out of your investment in a Wood Slicer.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Blade sharpness is one issue….tension is another….I have found when I do not tension a blade fully that it tends to wander and not cut cleanly and can overheat and smoke. If your blade is sharp…check your tension…and also the blade guides to insure they keep the tension directed towards the middle of the blade…I have seen some of the old nylon guides that become lopsided due to wear on one side or the other….I always recommend that you use bearing guides or at minimum the european style ceramics as the plastic will melt and stick to your blade…your wood…..it makes a mess and is hard to remove from the blade (virtually ruining it). My old 14” would cut through almost any wood I threw at it….I upgraded as I wanted a little bit more size for resawing and for cutting larger circles… (19” grizzly)....The new saw is 5hp – which is alot more then the 1.5 I had on the 14”....I have no problem going through any wood now….

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!