Blade Recommendations?

[Maine Miller]

I just picked up an LT40 with the Yanmar diesel. I primarily mill hemlock, spruce, and some cedar. Turbo 7s or Ripper 7 degree were my band of choice with my LT35 and the 25 hp Kohler. Now that I should not have to worry about power. Is there another blade that might work best? The mill did come with a box of 10 degree bands, but I have not had the chance to try it out yet...fishing trip got in the way

[barbender]

My mill has a 40 hp diesel, and I run the 7/39 Turbos. That is what works best out of everything I've tried. The last week I've been sawing with 10° bladed, because I accidentally ordered a box of those instead of the Turbos I meant to get🤷
The 10s have a much shallower gullet so they don't get rid of the sawdust as well, therefore you can't push them as fast. Otherwise, they cut fine. 

 I didn't actually measure, but iirc they have less set out of the box than Turbos do as well. So they cut better in the red oak I'm currently cutting, than they do in pine. In pine, sometimes all seems well, the blade is sharp and by all indications the blade is cutting great, but you'll look at the last cut and there will be waves👎

[Southside]

I only run Turbo 7's, on both the 35 and my Super 70.  On your 40 I would run 1.5" bands, personally I prefer the 0.55's, my band wheels are bigger than your 40 so it helps.  Yes less flex life but the stiffness lets me push them harder while stating flat. These days I only buy Silvertips and they get more total BF than Double Hards. 

[Gere Flewelling]

I would suggest Cook's Super Sharp in either 7 or 8 degrees. They work well with my 26 hp mill and reshape nice.

[Magicman]

You generally saw different spacies than I do so some trials may be in order, just don't start chasing blades.  

I have only used Turbo 7's for several years.

[Bruno of NH]

Turbo 7's 
I like the 1.5 x .055 but on a 40 they don't last that long before they break 
So .050 last much longer 

[Maine Miller]

Sounds like I should just stick with what worked good for me in the past. I did notice the shallow gullet on the 10 degree that came with it. 
Thanks all for the suggestions 

[jpassardi]

 In pine, sometimes all seems well, the blade is sharp and by all indications the blade is cutting great, but you'll look at the last cut and there will be waves👎

BB: I find the same - pine with big knots is the toughest to cut without waves. I often just plan to slow the feed rate over knots.
I'd rather cut hard hickory...

[booman]

Southside, do you resharpen the Silvertips?   Will they outlast the Doublehards?

[barbender]

 I resharpen Silvertips. They seem to get more sharpenings before the blades break from fatigue. I'm not very meticulous in my record keeping so that is just seat of the pants, but several others including Southside I believe have had the same experience. 

 Woodmizer treats the Silvertips like a red-headed stepchild, which I don't understand. In fact, I probably never would've even tried them if it wasn't for the fact that that's what a local blade distributor carries (WM only allows resellers to carry Silvertip stock as far as I know, another case of treating them second rate). What I started to realize was that the Silvertips were better blades than the other brands the distributor carried, and really I would've never noticed any difference between them and the Doublehards either if WM hadn't told me how much better those were🤷

 I started ordering Silvertips right from WM because their welds are much better than the local place, they have a little trouble with alignment and the blades wobble and vibrate due to that. 

 I thought maybe people would think I was a cheapskate using the "budget" blades, so I never said anything about it until others on here started talking about coming to the same conclusion🤷 

 P.S. @Magicman is a dyed in the wool Doublehard man and he might think I'm a cheapskate😊

[Southside]

Yes I resharpen them, I don't know on a per sharpening basis which gives more BF, if anything it's a minimal difference, but overall BF the Silvertips are the winner as I get more sharpenings. 

[Magicman]

Not really bb.  Silvertips are not offered in the width and thickness that I am accustomed to using and I am unwilling to chase blades for any possible increased blade life.  OK, too old to change.   :D :D

[barbender]

You have system that works and why mess with that, Magic?👍👍

I run .045x1.5" Silvertips in the 7/39 Turbo profile for most stuff. If I am sawing something where the smallest wave is unacceptable, I go to the same blade in an .055". They cut great, but I only get 2 or 3 sharpenings before they break.

[Sixacresand]

At one time FF members raved about how good the Turbo 7's were.  I tried to order some But WM advised me to not use T 7's on the LT-40 due to HP issues.  Later on, I won a box of T 7's at the Pig Roast and they worked fine.  My choices are the 4 doublehards and the T7's.  All mine are 1 1/4.  I never tried 1 1/2's.  I am concerned they would be difficult to install and maneuver through the tight places on the LT-40.  

If I'm sawmilling, color me happy!

[Magicman]

I trialed a couple of 1½" blades but my tracking is such that the back of the blades continually contacted the blade guide flange and I was unwilling to change my tracking or the blade guides.  I have over 60 blades in circulation so for me, the juice would not be worth the squeeze.

I am scaling down my sawing anyway.

[Larry]

Kasco offers nearly the same profile as the Turbo-7.  With Kasco I can get 1-1/2" .050 bands which way out perform the WM .045 and run longer than the .055's before breaking.

I used to run Silvertips from Menominee Saw but not sure if they still sell them.  Never could tell much difference between them and Doublehard's.

[barbender]

Larry, I did run a couple of boxes of Kascos from 2 different suppliers. The lead times were long- I think the one outfit took almost 3 months to get blades to me, although the other wasn't nearly as bad. I also got them in the 1.5"x.050". They work well, and they are equal in quality to the Silvertips I'd say (although the one seller had a blade made out of 2 pieces, which didn't impress me), and the price is good.

 However, they are kind of a hassle for me. I have to call someone, make the order, dig my credit card out to pay for it, and then wait for who knows how long to get the blades. I think if Kasco wants to sell some blades, at least to me, they need to set their website up like Woodmizer's where I log in, and in a few clicks I have blades coming. And they've never failed to arrive within a week. I've never had any surprises, the blade quality is consistent, and that's the reason WM keeps getting my blade money.

[caveman]

We were using regular 7°, .o50 x1.5" Kascos with pretty good results but now for most of our sawing, we use WM, Silvertip 1.5 x 7/39x .055.  We usually hit metal or come up with some other way to ruin them before they break due to metal fatigue.  Usually, they will start to sound different due to the gullet cracks and we'll pull them off the mill before they break.  We saw everything from cypress (soft) to live oak and hickory (hard) with them.

When we first purchased this mill, we also got five or six boxes of 1.25"x .045x 7/39 (Turbo WM) blades.  These did not get it done to our satisfaction.  Afterwards, we got a few boxes of Kasco 4° and 7° at 1.5", .050.  The 4's cut well but seem to dull quickly.  The 7's weren't bad but did not saw flat as long or fast as the 7/39 WM ST's.

[thecfarm]

I use 10° blades on a 20hp mill. 
I saw hemlock without a problem.
That spruce was BAD and I do mean BAD.
Wavy boards was all I got.
I have very little spruce on my land.
No need for me to change blades.
I just won't saw it again. No need to.