Bandsaw blade for bowsaw?

[MikeWhy]

Cleaning out some shelves in the shop, I unearthed my copy Tage Frid's book, and had several enjoyable hours of reading over this weekend. I have it in my head now to build a bowsaw, but not sure what to use for the blade. The most that I would cut by hand these days are an occasional dovetail or tenon, so a small bow with a wide blade for good tracking, and about 12 to

15 tpi rip would seem appropriate. Bandsaw blades are a little coarse, I think. Where can I find something more appropriate?

[Morris Dovey]

Well, I just went to

and typed bandsaw blade into the search box - got a whole batch of possibilities.

[MikeWhy]

Hmmm. Not bad. 3/4" x 10 tpi, heat treated. Still, at $1 per foot, I could throw it out rather than sharpen when it gets dull. Still looking for a little wider, maybe 1-1/4".

I also unearthed the old Craftsman linear slide miter box and saw. Now, that blade looks like what I have in mind. About 12 tpi rip, 1-1/4" wide. It doesn't cut well at all crosscut, but pretty clean in rip. I remember buying that for the kids 10 years ago. It always frustrated them. The polished slide on the frame looks too good to just throw out, but all it does is get in the way. Looks like I have ready made hardware if I go that route.

[MikeWhy]

Interesting. Sears still sells that tool of bondage:

differs by having a rectangular slide, not the heavy chromed round slide on mine. Otherwise, looks much the same. Now, if only I can find their replacement blades...

[Australopithecus scobis]

When I was researching this topic a while back I read that bandsaw blades have some sort of bias in the set. Something to do with rolling around the wheels. I don't have a bandsaw, so the explanation made no sense. Went with store-bought bowsaw blades. Traditional Woodworker has some, Woodcraft has some. The narrow 12" blades went dull really fast.

[MikeWhy]

> It differs by having a rectangular slide, not the heavy chromed round

Looks identical to a Stanley 20-800 miter box and saw. The replacement blades are 20-809.

Lee Valley has them in various pitches, if that's of interest to anyone.

available in 25".

I think I'll just go ahead and sharpen the one I have, knowing that replacements can be had. Maybe even destroy it and salvage the blade holders, too. As it is, the miter box is useless with the rip cut blade.