Best resaw blade ???

[Jeremy Scuteri]

I tried asking this before, but I didn't get a response.

Those of you that like the Laguna Resaw King: what size blade and bandsaw are you using?

thanks,
Jeremy

 

[junquecol]

Bruce, There is no comparison between the two blades you asked about. The Laguna is so out of the woodslicer's league it's not funny. Laguna was and is the best blade I've used on my bandsaws. I just bought a bowlturners blade from Highland and it's unusable. Blade has more kinks and a crooked weld. Last one I bought from them was fine although they don't last long.

I didn't ask, Phil did. I would call Woodcraftbands on Monday and see what they recommend.

 

[Woodman2k]

Sorry for the confusion ,Woodcraft Bands is now my go to although I'm still trying to get use to them being closed on Fridays.

 

[Woodman2k]

Jeremy,
It was a 1" on a 514 Grizzly 19" bandsaw. I also used the same blade in 3/4" on a Rikon 14" with the 13" resaw.

 

[scsmith42]

The best bandsaw band that I have used, bar none, is the Resaw King from Laguna.

Ron, in answer to your question I use them on a 30hp a Grizzly horizontal resaw. They are light years better than any non carbide band and Lennox tri-masters (which are darned good bands in their own right).

Someone indicated that they had poor results with some RK's. My own first results were disappointing and I complained to Laguna (after spending 1,200 on four bands I was understandably upset). Laguna resharpened them and their performance exceeded my expectations by a wide margin.

I know that a few years back there were some problems with the OEM coilstock but hopefully this is behind them.

The cut quality is so good that it only requires .015 of sanding to remove the kerf marks, plus the bands are thin to start with.

After I switched over to RK's my resaw yield increased 30% and my post resaw costs (sanding) were eliminated.

I'm a believer.


Scott

 

[Phil S]

Solved - I was getting frustrated and went slightly overboard with the solution.
First I ordered a Laguna Resaw King

Then I added ceramic guides

and then I installed both on a new Hammer N4400

Felder/Hammer currently has a great price on this saw plus they gave me a nice credit for doing three demos on my Hammer K3

VERY nice saw. 3 1/2 Austrian horses (those are stallions not Chinese ponies) and so quiet you can barely hear it running

 

[danmart77]

Phil
I have 2 Laguna Resaw King blades and 1 Lenox Trimaster carbide blade. If you want the best cut around, the Laguna is nothing like the Tri Master. Lenox is miles ahead.

Considerations: How much resaw work will you do? I do lots of veneer grade cutting on highly figured wood. I have too much invested in the wood to loose on the cut. I always go to the Tri Master when things are close. Laguna needs work on the surface before use as veneer. This is a pain with curly maple and walnut like photos below.

Laguna vs Lenox
Laguna wins on the ability to get it resharpened as many as 4 times. Laguna does a great job for 40 bucks.
Lenox does not sharpen the Tri Master. I have cut over 1000 linear feet of 8" or wider boards and it shows no wear.

Highland blade
I had 2 on my 20" delta and they were dull after 2 hours of heavy work. Might be good for small work and occasional veneer work but for heavy volume its not the blade to count on. For a few bucks more, the Lenox bi-metal blades run rings around the Highland blade.

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o
panels cut from one of the boards above with the TM

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Lid cut from a 12/4 slab with the Tri Master

Stock I am resawing.

1/16 veneer for fronts right from the saw

big mama delta in background

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Its a tough call but everybody's needs are different. If I was just using the blade to cut 12/4 stock down for basic timbers, I'd probably think of it differently. Best of luck.




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[scsmith42]

Dan, it's interesting that my results were different than yours. We cut many tens of thousands of linear feet of veneer with the Lennox Tri-masters before converting to the RK's. I had to sand around .030 per side to clean up the kerf marks from the TM's, but less than .015 per side from the resharpened RK's. I think that I wore put several TM's and the kerf was consistent on all. Are you using a dedicated horizontal resaw or something different?

BTW - gorgeous work!


Scott

 

[redknife]

Congrats on your new saw and setup, Phil.:icon_thum

 

[smallboat]

Nice stealth gloat, Phil!

I don't understand emoticons, so you can interpret the font color as envy.

 

[pviser]

I would be interested in hearing from someone who has used a wide (say 1") carbide-tipped blade for resawing.

 

[Mark Johnson]

I am using a Lennox Trimaster carbide (1 inch) on my saw (an 18 inch though). I have cut some slices at 1/32inch without tons of difficulty. I am not sure that this is really a"peel " though. The cut is not "jointer" smooth. Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve, but I am pretty satisfied with this blade.

 

[gritz]

Bruce, There is no comparison between the two blades you asked about. The Laguna is so out of the woodslicer's league it's not funny. Laguna was and is the best blade I've used on my bandsaws. I just bought a bowlturners blade from Highland and it's unusable. Blade has more kinks and a crooked weld. Last one I bought from them was fine although they don't last long.

I cut a lot of bowl blanks and recently had a "come to meeting" talk with the folks I know at Highland. I stopped buying their blade and now use Timberwolf. I changed to a .032, 1/2", 3 TPI blade, and reccomended they do the same for their bowlturner blade. I see they did not take my suggestion.

 

[danmart77]

Are you using a dedicated horizontal resaw or something different? scott smith

Scott
I am using an old Delta/Rock 20" bandsaw. You can see part of it in the bottom photo. I use the 3tpi pattern on the blades. Funny thing is, I have not needed upgrades on the old guide system to get good results.

Over the years, I have scratched my head on the "right" tension for wide blades. In the end, I have gone looser than tighter and had my best results.

There were a bunch of sales pitches 10 years back pushing the urethane tires for the BS. I tried them on my old 14" delta and they were OK. On the 20" they were a disaster. I got on one of the Delta "old tool" forums and found I had gone in the wrong direction. Every input was directing you to pull the urethane off and install new Delta tires. Change 2.

True enough - it was like magic. The big blades tracked as nice as I hoped. After 5-6 years, they need to be replaced. The old black rubber does dry out.

Glad to hear the Laguna blade works so well for you. I got into a discussion on Sawmill Creek about blades and the Tri Master was my golden goose. There was a guy who worked for Laguna and he took exception to my comments on a quality difference between the RK and the Tri Master. He sent me a new ReSaw King and a letter asking me to compare the 2 blades again. If I sent him the veneer samples I posted, he would sharpen another blade till the Laguna blade outperformed the Tri Master. Now how much fun can you have playin' verbal volleyball with a guy from California?

When all is said and done I have the highest regard for Luguna's efforts to please the customer. It might sound funny but the resharpened blade out performed the brand new one. Go figure.

Dan

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[danmart77]

I would be interested in hearing from someone who has used a wide (say 1") carbide-tipped bla de for resawing.

Paul
I use the 1"/3tpi Lenox blade and the Laguna same size. See #27 for a little more info. I have photos in my gallery under veneer and desk stuff.

Lenox and Laguna are expensive but they are worth every penny if you are cutting expensive material.

Dan

 

[mkepke]

Mark,
How has your experience been with the resaw king? What size bandsaw are you running and what width resaw king?

Sorry Ron - missed your question earlier.

I have been happy with the RK, although I haven't done tons of serious resawing with it. I have been abusing it by making it resaw SYP 2x12s :embaresse - the pitch buildup is tough on everything.

I am using a 1" RK blade on my Hitachi 16" bandsaw (CF75B).

I have a bunch of white oak I intend to resaw to make some big Shaker boxes over the winter, if I can ever get the new motor mounted on my Hitachi (I'm switching the 1.5HP universal motor for a 3HP induction motor).

-Mark

 

[jazzflute]

I use a trimaster, and I've had the woodmaster in the past. 1" for both of them 1/3 pattern. I think they do a great job resawing. I'm fortunate in that I have a bandsaw that can tension them enough that drift or bearing behavior is never a problem. I tension them to 30,000 lbs (checked with a Starrett tension gauge) and I really don't even need the guides; it just cuts as straight and fast as I push through it. Biggest resaw I've done is around 13" wide, but I can go up to 17". I can pull 1/32" slices all day; I also have the Laguna fence so I can adjust repeatably for the thickness and I don't have to keep jointing the face because I have the fence behind the wood. Much better yield that way.

K

 

[danmart77]

I use a trimaster, and I've had the woodmaster in the past. 1" for both of them 1/3 pattern. I think they do a great job resawing. I'm fortunate in that I have a bandsaw that can tension them enough that drift or bearing behavior is never a problem. I tension them to 30,000 lbs (checked with a Starrett tension gauge) and I really don't even need the guides; it just cuts as straight and fast as I push through it. Biggest resaw I've done is around 13" wide, but I can go up to 17". I can pull 1/32" slices all day; I also have the Laguna fence so I can adjust repeatably for the thickness and I don't have to keep jointing the face because I have the fence behind the wood. Much better yield that way.

K

Hello Kevin
Good to hear you jump in on this one. As a TM user I'm glad to hear you've had good luck with yours. Its funny.. I have to take a step back and "re evaluate" my earlier blade critique.

Yesterday I took a ride down to Scott Smith's wood wonderland. After lunch, we did the nickel tour or maybe I should say the dollar tour. If you like wood you need a towel to dry your eyes. Yes I do love 1/4 sawn wood.

To the point of your message. I love the TM and I have 2 RSKs from Laguna. I favored the TM for the high risk cuts. Yesterday debunked my position.

Scott put some oak on his veneer cutter(16" capability) and produced flawless 1/16" sheets from a board. He uses the Laguna RSK. If it didn't outperform the TM it was clearly its equal. Here's the catch that's worth the price of admission:

You can re-sharpen the Laguna several times to extend the life. In our discussion we laughed at the fact that his and my Laguna blades cut better after the first resharpen than the original blade on its first cut. This was something pronounced enough for 2 guys unknown to each other seeing the same thing.

The Laguna RSK
- you can resharpen 3-4 times
- slightly thinner kerf yields more sheets per board
- the Laguna is cheaper than the Lenox by a small amount

On blade tension:
From a long phone discussion with the guys from Lenox I was told not to go crazy with tension on the TM. Their concern was not the blade but the tires and wheels on my bandsaw. With a 20" wheel they told me to get it snug and try a couple runs. If it doesn't wander leave it be. I guess I use a looser tension setting than I did years ago and it seems to be working well enough.

Scott Smith's service options:
If you have a "precious piece of wood" to be re-sawn, contact Scott. When I cut the lid below from the 8/4 slab, I was tight. I would have gladly paid him a fee to lay the board flat and run his horizontal blade thru this rendering a flat face then cutting to thickness in 2 passes. I spent hours on this slab before I cut it down.

Still want to get up with you K when the day time job allows.

Dan

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