Goodbye Resaw King - Welcome back Woodslicer

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Jeremy Scuteri

Moderator
Jeremy
A couple years ago I decided to "upgrade" my bandsaw blade to a Laguna Resaw King. I have spent countless hours trying to get it to perform satisfactorily. I have sent the blade back to laguna for resharpening, swapped the 1" blade for a 3/4" blade and tried Ethan's honing method. I never got good results resawing with the fence. It is supposed to be a great blade, but my experience is quite different.

I finally got fed up and ordered a woodslicer from highland woodworking (which is the blade I had before the resaw king). I got my 1/2" woodslicer the other day. Put it on the saw, set the fence to match the drift angle and I had a great looking resawn board on the very first try. I can't say enough good things about the woodslicer blades. They aren't expensive either.


Anyone want to buy a 131.5" long, 3/4" wide carbide toothed Laguna Resaw King with 2 vouchers for free sharpenings? I'll make you a good deal. :)


At this point, I am just happy to have good resaw capability again.
 

Kent Adams

New User
Kent Adams
I'd buy it, but unfortunately doesn't fit my 1412. I have one of the Resaw Kings and mine works very well. I don't have any drift though with my BS. I wonder if the drift is the issue? I used Alex Snodgrass' method of setting up my BS when I first bought it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

Maybe I just lucked out?
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
Jeremy don't feel bad. I had a similar experience. I was doing a demo of resaw work with a Lenox Tri-Master and there was a Laguna guy I met on Sawmill Creek in the audience and he told me the ReSaw King was better. Well?

He made a 2 for 1 deal on a 141" blade and dropped the price to 100 bucks for 2. I bit the worm. Got the blades and they were worthless. These were blades selling for 150/ea at the time. After countless phone calls I gave up and hung them on the wall for 8 years.

On a visit to Scott Smith's place he told me about his similar troubles and Laguna fixed his troubles.

I called Laguna and told them my story and they said it couldn't be true. Send the blades back. When they looked at them they called me and told me the blades were made in Germany and they weren't final ground in the USA. They apologized, sharpened them and sent them to me with a 40.00ea resharpening fee. What? I called and told them I was an active member of 3 forums and I would make it my business to "bad mouth" Laguna at every opportunity and tell every student I came in contact with how bad the service and quality Laguna follows up to the user. A couple hours later I got the sales manager on the line and he was just back sliding the whole time till I said: If you don't zero out that 80 bucks for what I thought was a make up fix- I am going to put this out there in bold print. Yea the resharpen was on Luguna.

I have used lots of blades along the way to cutting at least 10k of veneer and resaw work. There just isn't a blade I have worked with that cuts like the Lenox Tri Master. The Woodslicer would not last 250 feet with hard sugar maple before it goes dull. Most of the 1" blades I used to cut rosewood and curly maple would not last 2 hours before the black burns appear and then the wondering. If you are paying 10.00/bd ft for curly maple the high performance blade is not the real expense. Ruining wood and frustration count for something.

Laguna vs Lenox

Laguna can be resharpend

Lenox just cuts better out of the box and a long long time. No resharpening available. You have to go new when she wears out.

Its a tough call here.

If you are only doing a little resaw work the Woodslicer might be just the trick for modest work. If you get into some high price wood and you want to cut your own veneer, you will need to look at higher end blades to get the high quality cut for a long time. Decisions.

Good news
There is a Mom and Pop business up in the Greensboro/Reidsville area making bandsaw blades. The guy is in his 80's but working hard at making blades. I have two friends in the Charlotte area and another in Grb using his blades and they can't believe the quality of his stuff at a fraction of the price of the Laguna and Lenox blades. Bonus: he resharpens the blades.

I am going to plunk down a couple hundred on some blades and give some feedback in the next few months. Again, I don't give a head nod to anybody till I cut 1000 feet and it still cuts well. So it takes time.

After all these years, I don't care what another tells me about something he found on Youtube or something new from Blindfence Indiana for 30 bucks. It has to last and cut at a high standard and I have to see it.

Good luck and have fun
 

jazzflute

Kevin
Corporate Member
I mostly echo Dan's thoughts, with one twist. Somehow I have managed to break two Tri-Masters. (OK, I had a little help on breaking the second one, but no matter who was at the controls, it still broke.) I have gone back to the Lenox Woodmaster, both because I like the finish JUST a little better, and because it is less expensive. (I was going to say 'cheaper' but when you are buying 1" carbide blades at 184" lengths, that word REALLY doesn't come into play...)

Dan, are the blades from GSO carbide, bi-metal or something else?

K
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
For future reference, at the Inlay workshop by Matt Furjanic (sorry if I butchered that Matt) he found good resaw blade that equals the woodslicer blade but is much less costly. It's the Kerfmaster by Spectrum Supply. He said he uses the 1/2" x 3-4 TPI. BTW, I don't yet have one myself as I do have the Woodslicer blade, so I'm only restating what Matt said. And no affiliation with Spectrum supply.

link: http://www.spectrumsupply.com/kerfmaster-2.aspx
 

golfdad

Co-director of Outreach
Dirk
Corporate Member
love my Woodslicer. Got one after we had the Intarsia class we had at Bill's.
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
I mostly echo Dan's thoughts, with one twist. Somehow I have managed to break two Tri-Masters. (OK, I had a little help on breaking the second one, but no matter who was at the controls, it still broke.) I have gone back to the Lenox Woodmaster, both because I like the finish JUST a little better, and because it is less expensive. (I was going to say 'cheaper' but when you are buying 1" carbide blades at 184" lengths, that word REALLY doesn't come into play...)

Dan, are the blades from GSO carbide, bi-metal or something else?

K

The guy has both blades. I hope to get up with him this week to get some pricing and info.
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
Jeremy, below is a link showing blade thickness versus bandsaw wheel diameter.

https://www.kmstools.com/blog/choosing-bandsaw-blades/

Unless you have a reasonably big saw, most of us have to be satisfied with a thickness of 0.025" and there are not many choices for a decent blade wider than 1/2". Thicker blades that are wider work, but they don't last long before stress cracking and you loose an expensive blade.

I have been around the block with this many times, as I cut a lot of veneer sized to 1/16" and the only thing I use now are Lenox Die Master II. They are bi-metal, last a long time and cut straight and clean. I don't even bother experimenting with setting the fence angle, I just set it parallel with the blade.

I did not have luck with the Woodslicer, it did not cut as clean and straight as the Die Master II, but more important re-sawing Pau Amarelo 12" high (Satin Wood) it only lasted a few slices and went dull.

I have tried just about every blade on the market, including carbide tipped, carbide embedded, steel etc., and as mentioned the only thing that really works for me with long life at around $45 a blade is the Die Master II.
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
The Die Master is a fantastic blade and tough to beat for the price. I have used them and the Lenox bi metal blades on a 20" old delta with good performance.

With the 20" wheel I generally use the thicker band and the wheel works well with the 1" wide blade.

Dan
 

Jeremy Scuteri

Moderator
Jeremy
I'll have to give the Die Master II a try. For the amount of resawing that I do, it will probably be a couple years before I need a replacement.
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
Soon as I go up and shake hands with the man and look at "what he really has" then I will put out his information. I've had a couple too good to be true adventures in the past and I don't want to send folks off in a wild goose chase.

I will put out the information gladly once I get up with him.

till then
Dan
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Seems I have been lucky. I have a Laguna Resaw King on my 17" and a Lennox Tri-Master on my 14" The Resaw King cuts much cleaner for me, it might be the saw or the setup, not sure which but it works great. I plan to keep the RK on the big saw until I need to resharpen
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
Seems I have been lucky. I have a Laguna Resaw King on my 17" and a Lennox Tri-Master on my 14" The Resaw King cuts much cleaner for me, it might be the saw or the setup, not sure which but it works great. I plan to keep the RK on the big saw until I need to resharpen

Stay with what works. Like Scott Smith, his bad blades from Laguna worked poorly out of the box but after a "resharpen" he's as happy as can be. Where his input seems important to me is - he cuts tons of wood with his blades and he can tell you first hand of the longevity of the RK. Can't question that Phil.

As I said earlier, I have the Tri Master for really special veneer cutting. Its the 1" x 032 size for a 20" inch wheel. I have been cutting with it for 7 years and it is still very nice.

If I start cutting down a pile of walnut out back from 12/4 to 4/4, I think I will get another blade to do the heavy work. It looks like I am going to use some of the blades froma guy here in NC to see if his blades are worth the experiment. Will post results

Dan
 
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