Bandsaw Blade Question

Paul Douglass

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S E Washington State
Last Spring I helped my nephew haul some black walnut home from a couple trees he cut down for a friend. I need to resaw a couple pieces to make a rustic coat rack the friend wanted from some of this wood. The piece I have are around 8" at the widest point (I cut the logs in half with my chain saw). 5" thick at the thickest point. I want to try to cut a couple slabs out out of these pieces.

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I am wondering want blade I should get to best accomplish this. I have a 14" bandsaw (Grizz G0555x Extreme). I have been looking at the "Wood Slicer" resaw blade from Highland Tools:

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/wood-slicer-resaw-bandsaw-blades.aspx

Is this a good blade to use?
 
I used a Woodslicer for several years but recently started using an Ellis blade that is similar and lower cost. Check Ellis to see what their current pricing is.
 
...I have been looking at the "Wood Slicer" resaw blade from Highland Tools...Is this a good blade to use?

Not for the job at hand. The woodslicer is terrific at making nice veneers from dry boards, but not for prepping raw logs into lumber.

You'll want a hefty 3/4" blade with maybe 3tpi for cutting the log into boards. You'll also need to build some sort of jig to hold the log securely and keep it from tipping during the cut. Once you have a squared edge on the log, you can cut your slices off it.

Vaughn recommended Ellis. I've not used them, but have heard good things about them. I have used Timberwolf (Suffolk Machinery) blades, and a goo thing about them is their technical advice. Call them; tell them what you're cutting; and they'll recommend a blade. A tad pricier than Ellis, but they have no minimum order requirement like Ellis. Your choice...
 
This is just my experience and I don't resaw green lumber but, I found the Ellis blades usable but, not anywhere near the ball park of a Woodslicer. Ellis offers blades in a 3TPI that would probably do better but, a 6TPI is what I had available to try so, in their defense, this was pretty inappropriate for that height of a cut ;-). If you can tolerate a rougher cut a 2-3 skip tooth Timberwolf is much faster than either the Ellis or the Woodlslicer. The Woodslicer is smoother but, like the Ellis puts a lot of teeth in the cut once you get taller than 6 or 7 inches. When I am resawing 10 - 12 inch material, speed is not my primary concern and the Woodslicer can do it, a lower tooth count blade just does it better.
 
The Woodslicer I used is 1/2", 3tpi. So is the Ellis blade I'm using for resaw now. My first resaw blade many years ago was a 3/4", 3tpi and I was disappointed in it so I bought the Woodslicer. Resawing was much easier and cleaner with the WS. The Ellis 3tpi I'm using now works just fine for resaw and seems tough enough for cutting green wood, although I have a 3/4", 3tpi I use to cut logs.
 
The Woodslicer I have is somewhere around 6 tpi as I recall, and as Jim said it's good for dry wood. Very smooth, albeit slow, cut. For cutting a log I'd use a 1/2" 3tpi blade. The ones at Highland are good, but the ones at Ellis are as good or better (my opinion) for about 1/3 the cost. Ellis takes phone orders only...the times I've talked to them the guy on the other end of the line was very knowledgeable about which blades to use for different situations.
 
Blade choices are one thing, but another important thing is how do you intend to cut the slabs? I'm assuming when you say you want to cut slabs, you intend to rip the logs parallel to the flat face. Are you planning to use a sled? If you don't have a flat spot on the log to firmly anchor it during the cut, it won't really matter which blade you have, since there's a good chance it'll be ruined when the log rolls/twists and the blade catches and gets kinked. ;)
 
Hmmmm, you are making me think what I want may not be doable. I want a piece approx. 4"wide x 2" thick the length of the log. The coat rack itself is just a rustic board with wood pegs in it that will hang on a wall by the back door. I figured I'd get my nephew to help, run the log through, flat side down to cut the sides off. Then stand it on edge on one of the sides and cut it thicker than I really want it. The rough flat side against a fence. I know I can't do it without someone helping. Figured he would be on the out-feed side to support the end. I'm not sure what kind of sled is being discussed here.
 
Paul, look for my thread "a slab is just a sled away". Those pieces don't look long enough that indeed/out feed support should be a big issue either.

A sled doesn't have to be real fancy. I just took a piece of UHMW type plastic (got it from the recover so not positive what it is) and cut to the width/depth of my mitre slot and as long as the sled will be. Then every four inches or so I recessed a slot about the size of a washer that just fit the T slit on the bottom of the slot. After that I took a chunk of 1/2" plywood a bit longer than the wood I want to slab and wide enough so that its about 4-6" wider than from blade to the outside edge of the bs table. The plastic piece is screwed onto the bottom of it with counter sunk screw's through the washers (washers on the bottom, next the plastic then the plywood. The washers will catch in the bottom of the T slot and keep the sled from jumping out of it). If any screw heads stuck up to far just used the angle grinder to knock them off (ditto on any pokies coming through the other side). Some of the sides of the washers needed a little "help" before the speed ran smooth as well.

Slide the washers into the T slot and run it through the saw and cut off any of the plywood so it now runs true/flush with the blade. You now have a base for your sled.

Now you need some way to hold the log onto the sled. On the front I just screwed a 2x6 onto the front and then drove some nails through it to catch the front on the log. Sharpening the nails some helped, 3-4 nails seems to work about right. On the sides back some folks do a similar deal on a track on the sled but I lacked any track so took a different tact. I screwed a 2x2 onto the outside edge and then put some uprights up from that with pivoting arms with sharpened nails sticking down out of them for side holding so you just smack the nails into the top of the log. Maybe not quite as good but I've run a fair bit of woods through there and so far it's worked fine.

Hopefully with this explanation and the pics from my thread you can get an idea of how to put something together. I know several others here (Glenn?) have made them as well. The simple on I made there took about 1:30 to make once I got all the parts together.
 
I wanted to re-saw some stuff last year, when I had $$ so I bought a Wood slicer. New Grizzly 0555 with the 6" riser...even the Griz tech couldn't get the blade to function correctly on a brand new saw. Wood slicer is the biggest waste of money you can find...well, there may be a few others. Ellis is where it's at for me to date...no problems, no issues and no drama!!!
 
I like your set up Vaughn. I just (carefully) slice a flat side the turn and do the rest from there. The first slice requires care to not let the log twist. The 3/8" six tooth is my sorta all-around blade and works fine but slow on big stuff. I cut some 6" dry Osage Orange the other day OK. However a 1/2" four tooth is really preferable. I have the 14" Griz.
 
I sat down yesterday and read over the Timberwolf site and then ordered a few blades. I included some to add to my current blades so I should have some nice bandsaw blades now. I needed them anyway and I did thank my wife for my Christmas presents. One of the great things about being married 46 years, we now buy our own Christmas presents and get exactly what we want.

Thanks for the good input. Now I will start thinking about a sled.
 
I resaw logs on the bandsaw all the time. I have the griz 17" Go slow and let the blade do it's work. For long pieces it is really good to have a helper keep the off end steady. You also might want to have some wedges handy to stick in the kerf because most logs have tension and a pinch can be dramatic and dangerous. (yes I've had blades break) . Remember that green wood is wet so don't leave boards sitting on the saw table. :eek: I use 3/4" 3-4 variable tooth blades. Keep a good grip on the log and don't get your fingers under the log. Really watch to keep the log on the table as much as possible. If there is enough up down curve you can get a nasty surprise when you get to the end and the log is off the table at the blade. The downward pressure can slam the log down. I have stuck a wedge under the end so that there is no up-down gap.

Walnut- especially branch logs have a lot of internal tension, so wedges are a must. I have seen 1/8" thick x 4" commercial band saw blades shatter from pinch caused from internal tension pressure. (yellow birch) The pieces make good knife blanks.
 
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