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I recently purchased a 1/4" 10tpi Timber Wolf bandsaw blade.  At first it worked great.  I had to change it out to do some slicing.  After I reinstalled it, it is doing really lousy cuts on the downside of the cut, especially on thinner stock - it rips the wood fibers.  I have played with the tension to no avail and checked my setup.  Any suggestions?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but I had a blade that did something similar and here is what I found:

Seems the blade made a couple of passes through the guides during the installation process and the guides had taken the "set" out of the blade. Not only did the blade just seem to tear out the wood but it also was more prone to burning the wood. I ended up just throwing it away. Since then I have switched over to a 1/2" 4tpi blade and I seem to get a good long life out of them and alot better cuts also.

My best guess would be to ask you to check your guides and see if it is possible that you have taken the set out of the blade.

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Reguards,

Ken H

In some way some of the teeth have been damaged. could be micro chips could be out of set could be a lot of things. burning is caused by binding and not clearing the kerf fast enough tearing is usually flaws in the tooth itself. breakage or dull.

Also thicker the wood the larger the gullet needs to be to clear the kerf. feed rates can also apply here. A 3/8 4tpi or 1/2 4tpi are both good general use blades for most of what we do in luthierie.

Knowing how to setup and tune your saw for best results can also help

Thanks I'll check the set out.  I also have 3/8" and 1/2" and 1/8" blades. I use the 1/4" for cutting out the top and back.  The 3/8" I like for slicing wood.  The 1/8" wanders too much for me.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I run a 3/8" 6TPI in my small bandsaw for just about everything.

One thing comes to mind when you reinstalled it, you did make sure that, when uncoiling it, it hadn't gone inside out so that the teeth were in the wrong direction? I've done that and only realised when I looked at it on the machine and it just looked wrong!

Sometimes it's the simple things

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

This may sound silly but check to see that the teeth are indeed pointing down. Sometimes it's easy to get the blade installed upside-down especially on a narrow, fine toothed blade and if you are in a bit of a hurry. The result is that your cuts will be shredding and pulling fibers rather than cutting them. (Don't ask me how I know this.. )

Cheers,
Peter

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Peter

Peter and Colin, I wished it was that simple (blade upside down).  Easy to fix, unfortunately thats not it. The set seems fine.  I had heard so many good things about Timber Wolf blades, but I'm not impressed.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Just another thought. You might want to check the blade for buildup. I clean my blades regularly and often with mineral spirits to control resin and pitch buildup. This can really make it seem as though the blades is duller than it actually is, and can also muck up the way the teeth are cutting on either side of the set. If you examine the teeth, and try to scrape a little you can see how much buildup is there.

Peace,Rich