This was different from the last one, so read carefully to find the differences. The handouts were bigger and better, too! Another great job, Don! Thanks a lot.

First a slew of internet addresses to try:  highlandhardware, lagunatools, kall@aol.com, lenoxsaw, starrett, suffolkmachine, oneida-air (Oneida vacuum bags are 99% dust free for your shopvac).

Spontaneous poll: Of approximately 50 members present, only 8 did not have a bandsaw!

The presentation discusses the 14" Delta Bandsaw with 93 ½" blade, but is generally applicable to them all.

The bandsaw has the greatest number of moving parts of common shop tools. It requires constant care and adjustment. It can cut curves and dovetails, compound curves and do re-sawing. There’s virtually no kickback, however cutting dowels can be quite hazardous, due to their roundness and slip or spin when the saw blade pulls the dowel out of your hand, been there, done that!

Blade Basics: Consider your tooth. They can be ground, stamped or crushed into a cutting edge. They can be regular, hooked, skip-toothed or variable, each has a place in your inventory.

The number of teeth per inch determines the smoothness and the rapidity of the cut, and consequently, the heat generated at the tip (400-500 ° F).

The hook angle of the tooth determines the aggressiveness of the cut or the ‘pull’ of the blade into the wood. High angle and speed can ruin the blade in a New York minute!

The more teeth you have, the harder the wood and the higher your speed, all result in higher temperatures at the blade tip. Also, the better your chance of destroying your blade!

Don’t forget about your gullet, either. That’s where the sawdust goes to be swept away by the raker teeth. They also help cool the blade. Narrower blades save wood, but allow the blade to wander or deflect more. Tension helps to keep the blade going in a straight line.

That’s dangerous for any tool. It requires more force and invites accidents.

Don uses steel blades, not carbide at $100+ per, and discards worn or bent blades. Sound ones can be re-sharpened for $2-3.

You can buy bandsaw blade stock by the 100’ roll. If you roll your own, you can save big bucks, too! Don uses Kingsford Charcoal igniter to clean the pitch off of sappy blades. He recommends waxing your blades with bandsaw blade lubricant in a stick, available at WoodWorker’s Supply. Production shops use bar oil and 50% kerosene as a lubricant.

Plastic throat plates are easier on your blades than the metal ones.

Blades come in all manner of materials: bi-metal, high speed steel, carbide tipped, spring steel, stellite, silicon carbide, etc. Like all tools, buy the best you can afford. If you regularly, though unintentionally, cut metal with your wood cutting bandsaw, perhaps a good $9 high speed carbon steel training blade is the best recommendation. If you do buy a carbide blade, do not fold it like a steel blade or you may chip the expensive carbide teeth.

First, check your wheel alignment! All four edges should touch one straightedge.

Balance your wheels, check your tires, lube the blade and you’re off on a bandsaw holiday!

Use an old toothbrush to brush-off your lower driving wheel by permanently mounting it in the case. Make sure the wheel’s crown telegraphs through the rubber tire. Don cements his tire to the wheel to reduce wheel slippage. He recommends 3M Super Weather-strip Gasket Cement. If you hear persistent thumping, replace your tires. If you use 1/16" blades, your tires will not last very long. You can carefully re-crown wheels with a block and sandpaper.

The blade needs to be perpendicular to the table top in both directions (left/right and front/back).

The Delta has dual trunions, so this is achievable.

Don learned to: "perp the guidepost; that means making the column which surrounds the blade perfectly plumb, so no noise is made by the housing, as it is raised. Then the table is rendered perpendicular to the guidepost. If the saw changes pitch when the guidepost is raised, the post is not parallel to the blade travel.

Back-off on adjustments when you change a blade. Run the blade without the cool blocks touching it. Cut a dust collection hole in the cabinet base. Set the bearing behind the blade so it does not touch the blade when it is turning freely (not cutting wood). Cool blocks should be set behind the gullet, so the set of the teeth is not effected.

Check the welds by listening to the running blade, round the back two corners with a diamond hone and listen for the ticking of those weld bumps. To diagnose a thick weld, loosen your cool blocks, press them to the blade and rotate the blade BY HAND, noting the binds. File or abrade welds and retest.

No light should be seen under a blade resting on a flat surface.

Tensioning the blade is elusive and important to do properly. Probably the easiest method is by ear. Van Gogh did it that way. A note in the key of E from a blade under tension, is desirable. But since so many of you are engineers, there’s a how-to article on building a homemade tensioning guide described in a very recent Fine Woodworking Magazine issue. Manufacturers recommend 15,000psi but they also under tension.

A 200# force on a ¼" wide blade of .025" stock yields 25,000 psi. You should not fully compress the tension spring in your saw. Replacement springs are available from Itura Spring.

Also, a ¼" deflection with lateral finger pressure, to a speed square held parallel to the blade, is also a reasonable indicator of proper tension.

Discard the metal hole plug surrounding the blade and purchase a pack of plastic ones. These come much closer to zero tolerance and won’t ruin your blade if hit.

Eighth, blade guides.

Use wooden guides, instead of metal cool blocks, and you can make your own! Don Uses maple.

Ninth, the large circular thrust bearing.  

Sealed is better than shielded. If they feel "gravely", replace them with Itura bearings. He reminds us to lubricate our shielded thrust bearings often.

Eleventh, check the bearings in the wheels.  

Don demonstrated a wheel spinning jig on which he places bandsaw wheels and drills away metal until the wheel stays where it is positioned.

Die Cast Pulleys leave a lot to be desired. Don recommends replacing them with Machined Pulleys of the appropriate size. Also, use an industrial grade v-belt, not a cooler belt.

All the above are intended to achieve a meditative state of Zero Vibration at the tablesaw bed.

And always plan your cuts to avoid binding the blade. Use plenty of relief cuts.

For re-sawing: use a 3 tpi, bimetal blade. You can re-saw a curve as well as a straight cut. You might want to make a fence with a pointed end on which to pivot the stock when making curved cuts. An old re-sawyers trick is to use the tablesaw to kerf the top and bottom of the stock to be re-sawn, to the depth of ¼ inch. This will provide a groove for the bandsaw blade to follow when re-sawing!

Contour sawing: (e.g.. Cabriole legs) the bandsaw is definitely the tool for this challenging task.

For reference see: Getting the most from your Bandsaw from Delta 1-800-223-7278.