running a bandsaw without blade side-guides

[Bob Hammond]

I am very happy with (expensive) Lennox Tri-Master blades, but after snapping a couple of 105 x 3/8 inch x 3-4 variable tooth blades (carbide) on a 14 inch Delta-Milwaukee with Carter roller-guides, I backed off the side-to-side guides and reduced the tension to the minimum for utility work up to about 2-3" depth. It seems that the performance is acceptable and everything runs better overall. Are side-guides always necessary?

BTW, I think that welding one of these blades should not be done by amateurs. A local tool dealer who is reputable farmed the job out, and the results were not acceptable. But I found another shop in the Detroit area that specializes in sawblades, and the service was excellent, reasonablly prompt (1 week), and cheap. The blade came back well finished and carefully packaged, and the charge was $5, which isn't excessive in my opinion.

Also, I found that cleaning the blade with commonly available alcohol-based hand-sanitizers works great to remove pitch and sawdust. They're also easy on the hands, I think the hand lotion in them might be just enough to prevent rusting for some days.

[Chuck Tweedy]

Hey Bob, what makes you think that the side-to-side guides had anything to do with your broken blades??
Seems to me that constraining the blade properly will only help it live a long healthy life.
Did you have them running real tight on the blade??

[Bob Hammond]

Well... until experience suggests otherwise, I follow instructions (unless an article is a limited-life/use POS from a distant land, but I digress.) I'd set the guides according to the Carter instructions.

Everything works great until sawdust accumulates during long or serial cuts. Then things gets a bit lumpy even with a brush on the blade, but we're not talking about production runs of large fractions of an hour. After watching the Tri-Master cut, I see that the blade has plenty of body and does not flex easily. It does cut a ~1/16" kerf, but it the finish on the surface is wonderful. Hmm, maybe the 14" wheel diameter is a bit too small for this blade.

Finally, when I went to the Woodworking Show carnival a couple of years ago, I noticed that the Bandsaw Barker was running a saw >without any guides at all<. Granted that he was cutting soft pine 2x's with a 1/4" blade, but he did it for a significant stretch of time. How was that done?

[Chuck Tweedy]

Hmm, maybe the 14" wheel diameter is a bit too small for this blade.

That was my first thought, but I don't know about that blade at all.

the Bandsaw Barker was running a saw >without any guides at all<

Well, you at least need the thrust bearing to keep from pushing the blade off the wheels. Did he have those??

[Bob Hammond]

Thrust bearings --not as I recall. Maybe there was a 'midway carnival trick' setup for the saw and blade.

Anyway, I've gotten excellent results with the Tri-Master, e.g. when resawing grenadillo and other woods at 9-10"" depth.

I don't like to write about and recommend exotic setups that other people can't readily understand, afford, and/or reproduce, but the Tri-Master blade is good enough such that I installed a Kreg fence with a Wixey DRO. The 'about-right' cuts are good, and after tuning the 'careful-cuts' are very good. I'm only a hobbyist, but this saves time and material that are scarce resources for me.

[Clay Schaeffer]

I have removed the upper guides from a 14inch Delta bandsaw and replaced them with a block of wood with a saw kerf to act as a blade guide. The wood block was hot melt glued inside the wheel housing just below the upper wheel. This allowed 8 inches of clearance without a riser block. I was resawing with this set up and not doing curves (intentionally that is) so this worked O.K.
I believe side guides help keep the blade from twisting when doing curved work. Without them the blade is more likely to twist and break.

[Jason Rodgers]

Bob, this is with a riser block, right?

Clay, that's there is a trick! What kind of wood did you use? I have some HMW and Delrin scraps. Would they melt? I bet I could work it so that the block screwed into the housing when needed and removed to use the riser for curves. Gotta get the most outa that 14" band saw!

[Jason Rodgers]

Looked at my saw today and found that a 1x1x2 inch block placed inside the top housing, just above the door catch, would be the perfect spot for a DIY guide as Clay describes. It could be attached with screws to achieve just over 8" of resaw height on an otherwise un-modified 14" bandsaw. I'm gonna do it!

Now that I look at my collection of plastic, though, I'm thinking the HMW plastic would melt. Maybe the block of wood would work better.

[Mark Swanson]

I read an article once about using lignum vitae for this. Since then, I have used it to make blocks to use in my stock Jet guides, and the wood works fine. I think that would be a good wood to use for this, too.

[Clay Schaeffer]

IIRC I just used a scrap of maple, but I would agree with Mark, a small piece of naturally waxy/ oily lignum would be a better choice. Using screws to fasten might be necessary, as hot melt might not stick it too well.
I used the "nail in saw kerf" method of resawing so the bandsaw only had to cut through about 4" of hardwood. I used a 1/4 inch wide blade and a 3/4 hp motor.

[Jason Rodgers]

IIRC I just used a scrap of maple, but I would agree with Mark, a small piece of naturally waxy/ oily lignum would be a better choice. Using screws to fasten might be necessary, as hot melt might not stick it too well.
I used the "nail in saw kerf" method of resawing so the bandsaw only had to cut through about 4" of hardwood. I used a 1/4 inch wide blade and a 3/4 hp motor.

Don't have any LV, but I do have Osage that I can wax/oil.

Clay, I'm not familiar with the method you quote. Do you mean cutting a deep kerf on the table saw to take out a lot of material before running it through the bandsaw? Does an actual nail hold the kerf open so it doesn't bind?

[Jason Rodgers]

Check this out! I just finished this DIY high(er) clearance bandsaw guide. Took me 30 minutes from the time I decided to start messing with it to completion.

I was going to put a little block in the upper housing, Schaeffer style, but then I figured out something else. As I was dismantling the guide assembly, I looked at the receiving end of the height post and said, "Hmmm, I bet I could attach a block to that instead." Well, this is what I came up with: it's a 3/4" by 2" chunk of maple about 4" long, with a hole and set screw to attach it to the post on one end, and a kerf to hold the blade on the other.

[Jason Rodgers]

A little notch cut out of the corner after the first fit allows the door to close safely. Haven't tried it out, but it didn't move when I pushed the blade side to side with a stick. I won't be able to get a full 8" resaw, but it'll give me a whisper over 7-3/4". That's pretty good for a 14" saw without a riser, and good enough for me right now. I don't think a riser block will be in my saw's future, anyways, as it already has a good bit of vibration and flex. Not too bad for a few minutes in the shop!

[Chuck Tweedy]

Yea, that'll work!!
By the way, you should wire brush your top tire there. It's got a pretty good cake of sawdust on it.

[Jason Rodgers]

By the way, you should wire brush your top tire there. It's got a pretty good cake of sawdust on it.

I know, right. The bottom one looks the same. I've been meaning to install a brush under the table to reduce that issue. Usually, I clean up the tires when I change blades: guess that 3/4" has been on there a while.

[Tom Sommerville]

Clay's remarks on fastening a notched block to the upper wheel housing is similar to what I built; I re-sawed around 7.5 " of ovankol and bloodwood with that setup on a 14" Delta.

My re-saw guide consisted of a spare thrust bearing mounted on 1/8 inch plywood and two slotted blocks held with screws for lateral adjustment. I recall reading somewhere of a test (was it Finewoodworking?) someone performed comparing various after-market guides to original and home-made guides. The latter two contributed very little additional heat to the blade.

The main thing is the # of teeth on the blade. I think 3 tpi or 3-4 tpi of the bladerunner brand is too many. I tried grinding teeth off an old blade and it seemed to help. Since then I picked up a 3/4" 2-tpi blade on Ebay. I'll see how it goes. The point is, they're out there .

Another thing: my saw was vibrating too much so I went over it again and re-aligned the belt pulleys. I used a piece of dental floss with nuts tied at both ends as plumb-bobs and draped it over the upper pulley and adjusted it --only slightly. Obvious improvement. I had ordered one of those link belts recommended for damping vibration and installed it shortly there-after and noticed only very slight improvement.

Incidentally, I just installed a Morse brand blade-- 1/4" x 12tpi or so, and it seems to be one of the best I've used. Anybody tried those blades.

[Mario Proulx]

I made a set of lignum vitae blade guides at least ten years ago. I've yet to wear them out! They're great, run very cool, and I haven't snapped a blade in a long, long time.

I made them to fit both the upper and lower guides. About every 3rd or 4th blade change, I'll take 'em out and dress their ends a bit, and that's it!

I suspect that cocobolo and african blackwood would do well, too. Maple would be my last choice; high sugar content! Even with a new Diablo blade in the table saw, maple is the one wood that will smoke and burn and "grab" for me, often. So with that in mind, as a guide, it would get hot, burn-off any wax you added, and then "grab" the blade and snap it right quick. Better to go with the naturally oily/waxy woods.

[David King]

Blackwood would not be my first choice. It melts and gums up everything in it's path and it's hard to clean off that residue. If you can't find lignum you might order a vera pen blank. It has similar properties to lignum and smells great too.

[Mario Proulx]

Which "Blackwood" are you referring to? I've never had African Blackwood burn on a blade.

[David King]

Mario, it doesn't burn, it melts, almost like hot glue. I spend too much of my day machining and cleaning ABW off my blades, cutters and drills. It's great stuff but it's nothing like lignum.