I am lucky to have a Lennox blade dealer here in town, and can get
anything that I need from him. For general bowl blank roughing a
bimetal blade works best. They last a lot longer than other blades.
While I haven't used anything else, I have several friends who have
switched to them and this is what they have told me. They are a utility
blade and good for rough work. I do have a carbide tipped blade that
costs about double what a bimetal blade does (150 inch by 1 1/4 blade
$75 to $180). I did use one for bowl blanks for a while just to see how
they did. They work fine, but don't seem to last any longer. They are
made for resawing board stock, and the dealer said that they are a must
have if you are planning to resaw your own veneers. I can get a surface
that needs almost no sanding with them, but are overkill for bowls.
robo hippy



wrote:
I concur with Darrell. The problem with me is when I am not careful I break
the blade when I get around blanks.
I soon learned that (with my band saw) the base of the blank has to be
square with the blade. Otherwise the blade binds and breaks.
Replacing a broken carbide blade is more expensive than a metal one.
When selecting a carbide blade I would inquire about the teeth configuration
to cut green wood. For the average band saw a 4 skip tooth works good.
That is 4 teeth per inch with one racker. A large band saw work fine with a
3 teeth per inch with one racker.
Let us know how you make out with the carbide blade.

"Darrell Feltmate" wrote in message
news:QqLrh.162771$YV4.95102@edtnps89...
Steve
I get regular bandsaw blades from http://tufftooth.com/ and find both the
blades and the service excellent. They also have silicon steel blades
similar to the Timber Wolf and these are excellent as well. I sharpen my
blades a la Steve Russell and find that i get about three sharpenings per
blade before metal fatigue sets in on my 72" blade.
If you do go the carbide route it would be nice to know how it works out.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com

"massmans" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am needing to purchase a new bandsaw blade. I have had good luck
with the timberwolf 3tpi x 1/2" blades but they dont seem to last very
long. I mainly use my Grizzly G1019 (w/ riser) bandsaw for cutting
blanks before mounting on my jet 1236. I do trim most of the blanks
with a chainsaw before making round on bandsaw. So there is still some
bark which is probably dulling the blade. I mainly use green wood that
is about 6" deep or less.

So what are everyone thoughts on carbide blades for rounding blanks.

Here is the one I was looking at purchasing.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/H6998
At $53 if it would out last two timberwolf blades it would be more
economical.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Steve Massman