Went over to my brother-in-law's to use his big band saw. I had laid out a couple of bows on hickory staffs and wanted to reduce them close to finished dimensions to aid in the drying process. The blade he had on was for cutting aluminum/metal and it didn't do to great with the hickory staffs. Any suggestions about what kind of blade/teeth per inch to use for cutting hickory staffs?
about 3tpi
Thanks Joseph. I think the blade he was running was 6 tpi. Looked like a hacksaw blade to me.
I use a 6 tpi for cutting all my wood. the difference in the 6 tpi lies solely in the metal vs wood blade area. A metal blade's teeth will only come out about a 10th of an inch if that but a wood blade's teeth come out over a quarter inch. Makes a big difference.
I use a 4 tpi blade for all my selfbow work. I bet the one he was using was more like a 16 tpi if it was for metal. 6 tpi is a good wood blade if you are getting close to the finished surface.
He said it was made for cutting metal and that it was a new blade. All I know is it sucked for cutting hickory. Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to order one with a lower tpi count made for cutting wood. This is a big saw, it should eat through my little hickory staffs with no problem.