I am experiencing very rapid dulling of standard band saw blades during the resawing of the blanks for the ceiling tiles in the media room so I decided to try a carbide blade. I just installed it and did a few test cuts. It seems to cut at about the same feed rate of a brand new standard blade when resawing the 7” black walnut. It definitely leaves a better surface on the cut. The kerf is slightly wider but not nearly as wide as I expected. The plus side so far is that the band itself is much heavier gauge and therefore able to take more tension. The cost is about 3-4 times a regular blade so the big question will be how long it will last. I still have quite a few to resaw. On the plus side they are resharpenable at least 2-3 times. 
Paul

You are giving it a good test.  I'm curious of the results.  Black Walnut is hard on blades.

Thanks for the information. 

 

I'm afraid putting one of those blades on my old Taiwanese bandsaw would be like putting a Rolls Royce hood ornament on my VW Beetle  

I’ma thinking the cost of getting a bandsaw blade sharpened is substantially more than a table saw blade?

I have heard many love the carbide blades and would consider if doing flat work but for mostly wet turning blanks just not my cup o tea. Glad you are getting good result. 

Today was the first good test of the carbide bandsaw blade. There were 4 pieces at 7” wide and 4 at 9” wide. As far as performance it had one major difference. The band is much thicker so I was able to crank the tension way up which cut down on the blade wander. Cutting performance I didn’t see much difference. If anything the feed rate was a little slower than with the Woodslicer blades I normally use. Now it’s just a matter of how long it stays sharp. It can be sharpened up to two times supposedly. The problem with that is there is no one here in Vegas that does that. That means taking it with me to Orange County CA to get it sharpened. Due to the thickness of the band I’m not sure I can get it wound up and it’s too long to transport any other way. Oh well. 
Paul

I've used a Woodslicer and a carbide...the carbide if much, much longer lived than the Woodslicer. My Woodslicer gave it up fairly quickly as I recall, the carbide blade I have is now 6 years old and still cuts like the day I got it. The only downside (to me) is the wider kerf.

6 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I've used a Woodslicer and a carbide...the carbide if much, much longer lived than the Woodslicer. My Woodslicer gave it up fairly quickly as I recall, the carbide blade I have is now 6 years old and still cuts like the day I got it. The only downside (to me) is the wider kerf.

Fred, for me another downside is the cost. $130.00 is a lot to pay for a 72" Shopsmith bandsaw blade. 

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I've used a Woodslicer and a carbide...the carbide if much, much longer lived than the Woodslicer. My Woodslicer gave it up fairly quickly as I recall, the carbide blade I have is now 6 years old and still cuts like the day I got it. The only downside (to me) is the wider kerf.

Hey Fred, what brand is your carbide blade?

32 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Hey Fred, what brand is your carbide blade?

The one I have is a Lenox Trimaster, 1" blade with 3 TPI. I got it with my saw. But it was as they say, NIB, it still had that gummy stuff covering all the teeth.