Olson bs blades

BS says it all. I have a bunch of blades that I need to replace. Most of my narrower blades are Olson's.

According the box, I saved one years ago, the width of a blade is measured from the tip of the tooth to the back of the blade.

REALLY!!! someone should tell OLSON that. My 1/2 Olson measures nearly 5/8. My 1/4 closer to 3/8. My opinion of Olson blades has been pretty low, they just keep giving me reason to lower that opinion.

The 1/2 measures 1/2 to the gullet not the tooth. WTF is wrong with them. Their packaging, their sizing doc...

Reply to
woodchucker
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I never bothered to measure them, but I've always been partial to Timberwolf blades direct from suffolkmachinery.com. You might give them a try...

...Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Miller

They (TW) are my preffered blades for resawing. I don't own thinner blades from them.

I am going to try the Highland woodslicer as I broke my timberwolf last year and have been using old surplus of Olson's.. clearly not up to the Timberwolfs.

Reply to
woodchucker

woodchucker wrote in news:EqKdnaSjgaHp-zvLnZ2dnUU7- snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:

My experience has been completely opposite that: I've gotten much better results on my saw with Olson blades than with Timberwolf, to the point that I doubt I'll ever buy a TW blade again.

Reply to
Doug Miller

I was in that camp for a while too. But you have to wonder how a company could remain in the BS blade business if they were turning out crap.

I learned the hard way that it is the saw more than the blade.

I bought several Timberwolf blades for a new 18" Rokon BS about 9 years ago and had trouble with 2/3's of the blades. Timberwolf even talked me through cutting one of those blades and laying it out straight on my garage floor to insure that it was straight. They asked the brand saw I was using and indicated that they had been having issues with their blades on those saws. I had a local shop make me a blade and it did fine as did the blade that came with the saw. But no other blade worked well consistently.

After reviewing several Laguna video's and what to look for in a BS I ended up returning the Rikon and buying a Laguna. Timberwolf took all the used blades back in exchange for the longer ones, 150" for the Laguna.

Now, with the Laguna, the no name freeby blades that came with the saw, the Timberwolf, and the ResawKing all work exactly like they are suppose to.

So for most people, they are going to have to simply hunt to find the brand that works best for them on their particular brand saw.

Reply to
Leon

I have tried, Olson, Timberwolf, Carter and some off brands. The absolute best blade I have found yet is the house brand from Highland Hardware. Not their Woodslicer, which is a great resaw blade, or their wet wood blades b ut their standard house brand bandsaw blade.

Which reminds me, I need to order a couple more.

Deb

Reply to
Dr. Deb

Leon wrote in news:j4qdnY5caM7mDzrLnZ2dnUU7- snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

[...]

I agree. For me, on my 14" Delta, that seems to be Olson.

Reply to
Doug Miller

i bought the ones hanging on the wall and so no box to misinterpret

not sure who made them

they were the right length and right tpi

does the fact they boxes do not agree bother you or the actual dimensions that are wrong for your application

Reply to
Electric Comet

No, I just needed to know what size blades are broken to replace them. I just pick a blade that looks right for the job.

So now that I need to replace them, I need to know what size they are. And when I realized that even my 1/2 blade did not measure 1/2, I question my understanding of what blades I need to buy.. since none really matched what the box said.

Do I order 1/4 or 3/8 do I order 3/16 or 1/8 you get the picture don't you.

So what do I buy??? I guess I can take a trip 1 hour a way to Woodcraft and sit there with my old blades, and compare.. but that seems stupid.

Reply to
woodchucker

What part is stupid? The driving 1 hour or comparing blades?

I'd take my wife to lunch at a nice place near Woodcraft. She would take her Kindle and read while I'm in Woodcraft BSing with the guys there.

For us, it would not be a chore but a nice day out. Semi-retired, we often go out to lunch an hour or two from home on my day off. I guess YMWV

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

We do the woodworking tour of Atlanta (Rockler, Woodcraft, Peachtree, and Highland) about every six to eight weeks. I'll drop SWMBO off at one of the nicer outdoor malls while I do Woodcraft and we stop at other places she likes to browse along the way. She likes Highland, though. It's a really neat place (with all sorts of toys on display).

Reply to
krw

Here is a link with a chart to determine how to pick the correct size blade, or call.

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Reply to
Leon

yes good to know as i am a fairly recent owner of a bandsaw and the blades i have are all that was needed so far

but i do not like changing the blades so i leave the one blade on

until it cannot cut it

Reply to
Electric Comet

I don't need to know what size cuts what curve, what I need to figure out what I broke and need to replace.

Reply to
woodchucker

I found that doesn't work so well. The right blade is worth the 3 or so minutes to change it.

Reply to
woodchucker

Have either of you tried the Highland Hardware General Purpose Bandsaw blade? Most of the time, there is no need to adjust for drift. That cannot be said of any of the other blades I have used.

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Deb

Reply to
Dr. Deb

Take a look at the site and you will see that it also shows you how to measure the blade.

Reply to
Leon

takes me longer than that but i will get quicker at it in time

like any other tool as it is used more and understood how it can be used and in what situations i will go to it more

my next project is going to require a small blade so i can do some curves

i am sure the tires need to be cleaned anyway

since we are on blades i wonder if anyone makes a round blade for the bandsaw

like they make for a scroll saw

that would be useful for thinner stock i think but might eat up the tires

Reply to
Electric Comet

I've never seen them. BTW stick a toothbrush on a piece of metal, mount it and keep the wheel clean.

Also add dust collection, it keeps the tires from loading up and adding pitch and sawdust into the tire. Even the urethanes get messy if you don't have even a brush. while not perfect, it works better than no brush.

Reply to
woodchucker

Allright, I'll spend some time looking around.

Reply to
woodchucker

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