Bandsaw Weekend

I did a quick tire change on the bandsaw this weekend and tested out the new bandsaw blade I ordered. The tire change went fast without any problems. It was then onto testing this new killer blade.

Resaw King bandsaw blade
The bandsaw blades I’ve been using lately have been Wood Slicer blades. I’ve been really happy with these blades. They cut pretty fast and pretty smooth. I knew even with the “nice” cut I was getting, there was going to be a lot of work cleaning up the cut surface. Recently I was listening to Wood Talk Online, and Mark was talking about a new blade he was testing. It was the Resaw King from Laguna Tools. He commented on the smoothness and quality of cut he got with this blade. He also said it was pretty expensive and he was right. I thought if the blade worked as well as advertised, it could save me a lot of time during the surface clean up.

There are some nice videos on Laguna’s web site, you might wont the check them out if you are considering one these blades.

The first thing you will notice about this blade, it’s not the standard hocked toothed blade you are used to seeing. It really looks like a “table saw” blade, but stretched out into a bandsaw blade.

A positive thing about this blade is that it can be sent back to be resharpened. It helped me justify the initial cash outlay, which for me was about $180. My bandsaw can support up to a ¾” blade, so I got a 105” - ¾” Resaw King.

While on Laguna’s site, I watched some of their other videos. In the section on their bandsaws, one of the demonstrations was on setting your fence for blade drift. It was brilliant and the simplest procedure I had ever seen. I had to see if it really worked.

Setting your fence for blade drift
First, find a nice piece of stock a couple inches thick. Make sure the edge that will ride against the fence is flat and square. Make your first cut about a 1" in from the outside edge. The cut should be a couple inches deep. Turn off the bandsaw. Observe the blade position in the cut.

In my case the blade was resting up against the right side of the cut, as you looked at from the cut side. The goal is to get the blade in the center of the saw curf. I opened the fence up slightly and did another test cut.

I was a little conservative on my first adjustment. Another slight tweak, and I got it on my second try.
This really is the simplest and quickest method I’ve ever used. Now, the real test was going to be how it cuts.

Testing the blade
Here's an example of a resaw cut I did last weekend using my Wood Slicer blade. It’s what I’m used to getting on my bandsaw and until now I thought it was a pretty nice cut.

Here’s an example of the quality of cut I get with the Resaw King blade.

You can just make out some very light “ribs” left by the blade. It is the cleanest and smoothest cut I have ever seen on a bandsaw. Laguna says they are trying to achieve table saw quality cuts on their bandsaws. I think I'm about 95% there with my bandsaw. I suspect you can get that quality of cut, on one of their saws with this blade. I on the other hand have a Grizzly 14” bandsaw, which is working fine for me now. Although, I look forward to the day I can move up to a higher quality and larger bandsaw.

I was so impressed with the quality of cut, I recut the laminates for the apron. The surfaces were so smooth, I decide to try the glue up without even cleaning up the cut surfaces. The apron is curing in the form and will be ready for a closer look tomorrow, or this next weekend.