I have a question about bandsaw blades. In the December Issue, Michael Fortune says 2 blades are a good place to start…a 1/2″, 3 tpi SKIP TOOTH blade, then a 3/16″ 4 TPI SKIP TOOTH blade. In looking through some Finewoodworking on line material, I found an article by Lonnie Bird from year 2000 that had the following rather uncomplimentary things to say about skip tooth blades. So who is correct? What would be the best 2 or three blades to start with?
Skip-tooth blades—As you might assess
from the name, the skip form “skips”
every other tooth. A skip-tooth blade has
fewer teeth and larger gullets than a regular-
tooth blade. The large gullets can efficiently
carry the sawdust away
from the kerf, making a skip-tooth
blade fast cutting. Like a regulartooth
blade, a skip-tooth blade also
has a 0° rake angle that scrapes
the wood away cleanly. But because
it has fewer teeth, a skiptooth
blade doesn’t cut as smoothly as a
regular-tooth blade.
A skip-tooth blade is best suited for resawing
and ripping thick stock. It also
works well for cutting softwoods. But because
the hook-tooth blade is more efficient,
the skip-tooth blade is outmoded.
Why do manufacturers still produce skiptooth
blades? One sawblade manufacturer
said his company still makes skip-tooth
blades mainly because—short of sending
people a free hook-tooth blade—it’s difficult
to convince people to change.
Replies
To be honest it makes little difference. Experts disagree all the time, and often they haven't actually run careful experiments to back up their claims, so their recommendations are often little more than their own opinion. I can confidently say this as an official "expert" myself.
So pick your expert and go with his opinions. Or experiment yourself, blades are cheap and don't last long anyway, so try a few different brands and blade types and in a few months you'll be an expert also.
John White
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