Tooth Pitch
Usually measured as TPI (teeth per inch), tooth pitch determines the size/number of the teeth. More teeth per inch (fine pitch) will cut slower, but smoother; while fewer teeth per inch (coarse pitch) will cut rougher, but faster. As a general rule, choose blades that will have at least three teeth in the material at all times. Use fine pitched blades on harder woods and coarse pitched blades on softer woods.
Blade Care
A bandsaw blade is a delicate piece of steel that is subjected to tremendous strain. You can obtain longer use from a bandsaw blade if you give it fair treatment and always use the appropriate feed rate for your operation.
Be sure to select blades with the proper width, style, and pitch for each application. The wrong choice of blades will often produce unnecessary heat which will shorten the life of your blade.
A clean blade will perform much better than a dirty blade. Dirty or gummed up blades pass through the cutting material with much more resistance than clean blades. This extra resistance also causes unnecessary heat. Grizzly sells resin/pitch dissolving cleaners that are excellent for cleaning dirty blades.
Blade Breakage
Many conditions may cause a bandsaw blade to break. Blade breakage is unavoidable, in some cases, since it is the natural result of the peculiar stresses that bandsaw blades must endure. Blade breakage is also due to avoidable circumstances. Avoidable breakage is most often the result of poor care or judgement on the part of the operator when mounting or adjusting the blade or support guides.
G0621 Wood/Metal Bandsaw
The most common causes of blade breakage are:
•Faulty alignment/adjustment of the guides.
•Forcing or twisting a wide blade around a short radius.
•Feeding the workpiece too fast.
•Dull teeth or damaged tooth sufficient set.
•Overtensioned blade.
•Top blade guide assembly set too high above the workpiece.
•Using a blade with a lumpy or improperly fin- ished braze or weld.
•Continuously running the bandsaw when not in use.
•Leaving blade tensioned when not in use.
•Using the wrong TPI for the workpiece thick- ness. (The general rule of thumb is 3 teeth in the workpiece at all times.)
