Best Bansdaw blades

[Hemlock121]

I don't know if I'm opening up a Ford or Chevy conversation, but what is your favorite band saw blade manufacture (brand) for engines under 20hp?  Over 20hp?

Thanks.

[SawyerTed]

Limited experience with different brands, but for 25hp I preferred Woodmizer 4° Doublehard for all around sawing on the LT35.  Because customers often had a mixture of log species it was easiest to stick with the 4° blades than switch blades when a big old white oak was in the whack.  

The 7° Turbos were my second choice. 

I'm going to try some different blades when the LT50 comes.  

[Gere Flewelling]

I have 26 hp. I have had good luck with Cook's Super Sharp in both hard and softwood. Tried Timber Wolf blades once but not as happy with them.

[Maine Miller]

On my LT35 w/25hp kohler, I had good luck with the woodmizer Turbo 7s sawing mostly oak and hemlock. Got the chance to try a Ripper 37 in 7 degree and was impressed with it. Ordered a box of 10 of those over the Turbos mostly due to availability 

[kantuckid]

Lennox! My LT 15 is still running it's 15hp Kohler but a friend uses them exclusively on his diesel Kubota Super LT40. 

[Nebraska]

4° Kasco  ordered from a member dealer here.   Worked well with my Honda gx 390 on my previous mill. Working well with my Timberking  now.

[Bruno of NH]

Woodmizer silver tips cut the best for me 7/39 in the summer
Munkfors 3/4 tooth spacing notch tooth in the winter
Ripper 37's in 7° in the winter on some woods

[bigblockyeti]

Is the concensus that a lower hook angle performs better in hardwood?  I'm still burning through 9° double hard blades I bought with my mill and most of what I cut is cherry and walnut between 12" & 24" wide.  I'm not in a hurry nor do I need to be, I do need a straight cut (nice finish is a plus) and long blade life.  I cut very little pine but other soft(er) woods I'm into would be silver maple, tulip poplar & hackberry.  The balance of what I cut with any degree of regularity would be white & red oak, boxelder, hard maple, birch & hickory.

[YellowHammer]

For me, 7° bands work best in almost all hardwoods on my previous LT15, LT40, and also now on my LT70.  Different brands, different thickness of bands, different horsepower, but all my mills seemed to eventually gravitate to 7° in one form of another.  

[Hemlock121]

Does anyone use a dedicated blade to create the cant and then change the blade to a new one to process the cant?  Would that save blade life or not worth the time to change out the blade?

[btulloh]

Sawing bark is the blade killer. I've changed blades a few times after I finish all the bark sawing. It does improve overall blade life, but it's time consuming. Lower powered mills like mine get shorter blade life anyway.  Changing back and forth helped, but the extra time it took was annoying. 

[barbender]

The only way I sometimes incorporate that method, is doing the opening faces on a log when I know the blade needs to be replaced. The problem is, the lumber you just sawed off might have waves in it now, and so will the cant. So I only do this if the log I am opening up is really dirty, or if say I'm sawing pine that has sat a while that takes a little "seaching" to get past the bad wood on the outside. Then I true the cant up with the new blade. Mostly I think it is a lazy excuse of mine to postpone changing the blade😂 I kind of detest blade changes, so there is no way I would switch back and forth.

[Sixacresand]

Woodmizer .045, 4° Double Hard works well for me.  It stays straighter through hard pine knots and does wll in  pecan and white oak.  During all the periods of shortages, Industrial Cutting Tools was able to deliver Turbo 7's which worked well also.  WM Resharp did a good job on both.