Re-Sawing Oak On A Band Saw

Re-Sawing Oak On A Band Saw

I recently acquired thirty-six 3″ x 3″ x 8′ oak boards. Using my 14″ single speed band saw, I am going to resaw them to 1″ thickness…prior to other operations. I started with two 1/2″ x 4tpi blades. The first one happened to hit a hidden staple and went south (which is understandable), but the second gave up the ghost after only cutting about 24′ of the 3″ thick slabs. A guy at a local tool store made me a 3/4″ x 3tpi blade from open stock he had on hand. It worked considerably better, cutting about 60′ of boards, then it became almost worthless! At $17 a pop this could get real expensive! The local tool store guy recommended a carbide blade for about $120. OUCH! I still have a lot of resawing to do; what blade should I use?

Michael Dresdner: Carbide is one option, but there are cheaper ones that work. Look into one of the so-called Swedish Silicone steel blades, such as the Timber Wolf. You can read up on them and check out the prices at www.suffolkmachinery For resaw work, you want the fewest teeth per inch possible, and three is still too many.

Rob Johnstone: You are in luck! Woodworker’s Journal‘s September/October magazine is doing a review of 16″ resaw capable band saws. Where did I read that before? Anyway, the article also addresses what sort of blades work best for resawing.

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