New Jet 16" Bandsaw and Resaw Blade

[bowhunter]

After much deliberation and changing of my mind I finally bit the bullet and bought a new Jet 16" band saw. Rockler had a decent sale price of $750 plus tax and they threw in the $100 Jet fence, which really sealed the deal. Setup was relatively simple and without any surprises. I made a few sample cuts on various pieces of scrap maple, cherry, and oak, but I was not impressed with either the speed nor the smoothness of the resulting cut of the included blade. My old 12" craftsman tilt-head actually cut as smooth, if not as fast! That's not saying much at all! So, last week Tuesday I ordered a Woodslicer resaw blade from Highland Hardware because of the good reviews from members of this group. The blade arrived today and I installed it this evening. I must admit that I am very impressed by this blade! After adjusting for the different blade size (1/2" vs 3/4" factory blade) I was able take a

1/16" slice off a piece of maple using the just the resaw post on the fence and my eyeball calibration. The cut surface was more than smooth enough for gluing as a veneer piece, and noise level during the cut seemed to be less then half of the factory blade's, and it seemed that I could feed the stock at much faster rate. That's pretty much a subjective observation because I didn't actually time the cuts. Over all, I'm happy with the bandsaw, but the Woodslicer blade made a world of difference in the speed and quality of the cut.

Thank You Highland Hardware!

Bowhunter

[Eric Johnson]

I woulda sold you my Jet 18" with the same accessories for that amount. I can't stand it and I have done some extensive beefing up of the upper column and wheel mount. Installed new tires and rewired for 220. The Woodslicer makes quite a difference but it doesn't compensate for the amount of movement the upper guide has. Jet and I have vastly different ideas of acceptable in this area. Betcha you weren't resawing quarter sawn white oak when you cut that veneer. EJ

[TeamCasa]

I have the same saw. The same experence witht he original blade. Replaced it with a 3/4" 3tpi blade from a local sawblade builder and now it cutts like butter. I did convert it to 220v., tuned it up and now it works great!

Dave

[Dave jackson]

I learned that lesson as well on my Jet 18". The factory blade is junk. When i first bought this saw, i also bought the biggest, meanest looking timberwolf blade thinking it was what i needed for resawing. I was wrong. Experience has proved that a 1/2" 3 tpi hook blade works the best for resawing in my machine. I would also recommend picking up a book (I recently bought "band saw handbook" by Mark Duginske) that explains how to tune up the bandsaw. I found the best way to check the wheels for co planer is to clamp a straightedge (i used a 6' level) to the side of the table and measure to the tires. (most saws you can just lay a straightedge on the tires, but the cabinet sticks out to far on these saws to do that) My saw needed about 1/8" adjustment in the top wheel. 18mm machine bushings fixed the problem. As a word of advise, if the top wheel is removed to shim out, lift the 1"x1"x6" block of steel the wheel is mounted to and unbolt the spindle for the wheel. Place the shims between the steel block and collar on the spindle instead of just slipping them on behind the wheel, this makes things not be "clunky". After reading the book and giving my saw a tune up, it cuts 30% better- Seriously -I was resawing 8" cherry into 1/8" strips just to test last weekend. The saw now works like i thought it should when i bought it.--dave