What size band saw blade do you suggest?

Tom Baugues

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Lafayette, Indiana
I want to try my hand at some band saw boxes. What size blade and teeth should I look to get. I'm guessing about 1/4 inch and about 6 teeth per inch. Does this sound about right or should I have more teeth per inch?

Thanks,
Tom
 
The tooth count needs to be selected based on the thickness of the wood you're cutting. Ideally, you should have three to four teeth in the wood at all times - less and you risk breaking off a tooth, more and the gullets between teeth will fill up too fast. So... if you're sawing 3/4" stock, you'll need between 4tpi and 6tpi.

You can do work like this with as narrow a blade as 1/8"; that'll give you tight curves if the blade has a good set to it. A 1/4" blade with a wide set can turn pretty sharp curves, too, much wider than a 1/4" blade with very little set.

How tight would you like to make those curves?
 
i use a 6 tooth 1/4" on my smalle Bsaw and have cut everything upto 2"white oak with it. and tim i made some nice tight curves threw your parts this spring those roads are fun to drive on at dusk with a decoy in frt:)
 
Tom
I use 1/8" - 1/4" & 3/16" blade from Timberwolf - I've really never paid any attention to the # of teeth, I just order the width.

The 1/8 breaks easily, its real important to have the tension and guides set up as perfect as you can. Actually this is true for all widths , but especially the 1/8"

The two books that help me are Sculpted Band Saw Boxes and Building Beautiful Boxes With Your Band Saw both by Lois Keener Ventura.

To quote a line I read on the internet, "They should not be called Band Saw Boxes - They should be called sanding boxes" I can cut one out in 15 minutes - I'll spend a week or more sanding it.

Please post your results

Jiggs Elphison
 
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