To all of you bowyers out there. What is a really good brand of bandsaw blades you all use? The ones I get from HomeDepot ot Lowes DO NOT hold up at all. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

I get my blades from supercut bandsaw company. Awsome blades Supercutbandsaw.com

What tooth count do you guys use?

well it depends on what you are going to do with it. If you are cutting fiberglass then guys recommend getting a diamond blade. The problem is that yeah, they might last 10 bows but they are over $100 so in the end, going through one store bought blade/bow is basically a wash cost wise. I always just budgeted and planned on one blade/bow because of this. yeah, the 10-12 bow usage/blade sure sounded good until you saw the price of the blades. Never made it worth it to me to switch. Then, I got a edge sander and never cut fiberglass on my saw after that. Just hogged the limbs off with a 36 or 40 grit belt.

Lenox been using them for year in the metal cutting.

Suffolk Machinery Timberwolf blades.

There's a place down the road that makes them. I generally use 3/4" blades, 3 or 4 teeth per inch. But I mostly make wooden bows nowadays... cutting stave-splits, resawing lams for backed bows, trilams, and such. When I DO make glass bows, I try to use a blade that's near the end of it's life, cuz after a cut out a glass bow, it's junk for anything else. I've also found those 3/4" blades on ebay for decent prices and bought them there too.

I recently got an edge sander though and have 40 grit paper on it. It brings a glassbow to profile as quick as a bandsaw and is no worse for wear.

It is not clear what Vamp is cutting, which makes a difference in blade selection. For cutting wood I use a 4 to 6 tooth per inch hook-tooth blade. Width of blade is based on whether cutting straight kerfs or radius cutting on a riser. 3/4" for ripping staves or cutting lams and down to a 1/4" blade for cutting a tight radius.

Cutting glass or phenolics is hard on bandsaw blades. For roughing out a riser with glass or micarta accents, shorter blade life is an unavoidable consequence. For cutting limb profiles w/ glass laminates metal cutting blades, having a tooth count like 32/in. hold up much longer than wood cutting blades. Seems to me higher tooth count causes less wear per tooth and is less apt to splinter the glass on the down side of the cut. I use a 1/2" wide blade for profiling limbs. Haven't kept count but I bet I get 8 to 10 bows from each blade - these are not carbide or diamond blades. So I second Kokosing's vote for metal cutting blades on glass lams or sheet phenolics.

Needless to say, this requires changing blades more often if yours is a one bandsaw shop.

For general and exotic wood cutting, nothing I have found last as long or cuts better than Timberwolf. I have been using them for about 15 years. I don't know about fiberglass, don't cut it.

I use by-metal bandsaw blades on my metal cutting saw, the blades are in a regular hacksaw range probably 20 something on the blades I get. They last a long time even cutting out steel. I get most of mine from Busy Bee which is related to Grizzly, no particular brand. I get blades made up for my saws by local shops quality is fine. Anyone in the biz sells decent blades. I like about 1/2" and about 6 tooth, with some hook to it, but also use the skip tooth. You can slow down your feed if you thing the blade is too agressive. I have a second wood bandsaw in the shop for now, and will probably run thin blades on it. Current wood blades are actuallyInca, and Laguna. But as I say, it doesn't mater.

The only saw I use on glass is the metal cutting saw, and I roll it out of doors as a very occasional maker I don't use saws in the shop or polute the dust system with them. By the way, hand tools quickly cut glass and do not produce the volume of dust. I should say they quickly cut the edge of glass not that they quickly cut the face of glass.

I buy them from Grizzly Industrial, the 80" 1/2" and 4TPI. But they have to be really worn before I replace them. I usually re-sharpen them a half dozen times or so before I'm done with them. But they're good blades.

I don't ever cut fiberglass with band saw, I use tin snips, or a abrasive metal saw on clear glass for cutting across to shorten the fiberglass.

When i was doing machinist tool and die work we had a welder on the band saw .i could make any length blade i wanted it was a DOO ALL they were big into that type of industrial saws i still have some i made up . you can silver solder the ends which i did have a jig i made when you were done welding them you had too aneal the blade it was very critical or the blade would brake instantly .the shop bought blade material in rolls of like 200 feet then you cut what you need then weld it to the length .those blades were tough material

I'm with Bowlim. Even when I'm working down to the front view profile, I use a Sure Form Rasp. It cuts the glass very effectively, and there is little or no dust created.

That being said, I don't build bows for a living either. Dave Guthrie, when he was building his bows. actually roughed them out with a table saw.

x2 SEPP. For wood I use timber wolf 1/2" 4 tpi hook on my 17" jet. For fiberglass lam bows lenox trimaster is best, but $$$$ (like $180 for my 133")

x2 SEPP. For wood I use timber wolf 1/2" 4 tpi hook on my 17" jet. For fiberglass lam bows lenox trimaster is best, but $$$$ (like $180 for my 133")

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