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Bill Rittner
 
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Default Resawing on a Blue Jet 14'

According to Scott Phillips, and I agree with him, the reason not to use a
3/4" wide blade on a 14" saw is that the wheels are just barely wide enough
for the blade. Given this, all it takes is a minimal tracking error and the
teeth begin to ride on the metal edge of the wheel taking some of the set
out of the blade and ruining it. A 1/2" wide blade will allow you to resaw
very accurately. It is all you will need. Save your money.

--
Bill Rittner
R & B ENTERPRISES



"Don't take this life too seriously.......nobody
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"Dan" wrote in message
...
I'll spare you the details of my trip to Woodcraft's woodworking show in
their parking lot, but the end result is that I am now the happy owner of

a
used blue Jet 1-horse bandsaw, model JWB-14CS with a riser and link belt,
and a Carter blade stabilizer thrown in for good measure. My first

bandsaw.
Two of the staff said it was two years old, another said it was more like
3. It's the classroom band saw and looks in pretty good shape. They're
going to replace it with a white one so people quit asking about it.

The question is one that's been thrown around, but what I can find in
Google on it has mostly been general for "most 14' bandsaws". I was
planning on getting a 3/4' Timberwolf for it, but forgot to do it till
close to the end of the show, and they were all gone. Have to wait till
next week. So I bought Lonnie Bird's "The Bandsaw Book" where he
specifically states that one should use a 1/2 resaw blade in a 14' saw
because it can't properly tension a 3/4 blade.

So, I google the wreck and find three main schools of thought:

* Yes, you shouldn't use a 3/4. Tension a 1/2' blade properly and use

that.

* No, the newer 3/4 blades that came out after Lonnie's book, like
Timberwolf, can be tensioned properly so that they cut a nice straight
smooth line when resawing if you don't cut too fast. Also the Highland
Hardware Woodslicer and a swedish blade manufacturer whose name I've
temporarily lost.

* You can use a 3/4 blade on a 14' saw IF you get the Iturra Bandsaw
Spring. (So far I can only find one for Delta, so that may be irrelevant)

So, the question: I know there are users of this model and similar Jets

out
there. Anyone got any thoughts that might help me decide? I'm tempted to
get the 3/4'inch Timberwold first and see how that works. If it doesn't,
I'm out 35 bucks and some time. I've made worse mistakes.

I've got some time to decide. The first order of business is finish wiring
the garage-workshop. Final hookup is about a week away. Then move

tablesaw,
planer and other tools from basement to shop, then tune the bandsaw, re-
tune jointer, re-tune tablesaw, THEN see how the bandsaw does at resawing.
So I'd like to further beat on a subject that's come up before and see if
anyone has anything to add. Lonnie's book was written in 99, people say
there's been significant tech advances since then. Before I begin my own
experiment would anyone care to help me prepare a test plan?

Dan