Cutting Trustone on Bandsaw

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jrista

jrista

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I recently picked up a few "bricks" of Trustone. Materials I haven't been able to find in stock anywhere else, on a knife making site. They were selling 3/4 and 7/8 thick by 1.5" wide blocks, and in the end the price was a bit less than I usually find trustone blanks for (I'd say around $18-20 or so, rather than the $29 they usually are). I picked up five of the 3/4 x 1.5". I recently purchased a bandsaw and have been researching everything I can about it. I currently have a fairly large (3/4" I think) blade with low TPI...and I am wondering what TPI blade would be best for cutting these bricks in half so I have two 3/4x3/4 blanks from each.

I know this stuff can be fairly brittle, so I don't want to use the wrong blade and ruin these.
 
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I used to cut all my TruStone with a carbide blade on my table saw. What a mess, but the carbide did the trick! Then I bought a carbide tipped blade for my bandsaw. That is the best way I have found to cut the blocks into blanks. Except it was very expensive, about $165.00 per blade and $45.00 per resharpening. Now I'm using a bandsaw blade that is carbide impregnated. Cuts pretty good, not as well as the carbide tiped and cannot be resharpened.
 
Swagopenturner said:
I used to cut all my TruStone with a carbide blade on my table saw. What a mess, but the carbide did the trick! Then I bought a carbide tipped blade for my bandsaw. That is the best way I have found to cut the blocks into blanks. Except it was very expensive, about $165.00 per blade and $45.00 per resharpening. Now I'm using a bandsaw blade that is carbide impregnated. Cuts pretty good, not as well as the carbide tiped and cannot be resharpened.
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Do you know what TPI those blades were? Are you using a higher TPI, or a lower? Based on what I've learned, I suspect that a higher TPI and slower cutting is probably better, but I'm not sure about heat with slower cutting and how that might affect the blanks.
 
jttheclockman said:
I use a metal cutting blade. No need for carbide to me.
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Yeah, I'll just be using a normal one for now...I was more concerned about TPI. I think the one I have now is 2 TPI, and I didn't want to try cutting these if that was too low.
 
jrista said:
Yeah, I'll just be using a normal one for now...I was more concerned about TPI. I think the one I have now is 2 TPI, and I didn't want to try cutting these if that was too low.
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It is way too low. That is a resaw blade. Better with a more tooth blade and that is why I like the metal blade. But good luck if you try. Make sure you use a zero clearance throat plate it will grab on you.
 
jttheclockman said:
It is way too low. That is a resaw blade. Better with a more tooth blade and that is why I like the metal blade. But good luck if you try. Make sure you use a zero clearance throat plate it will grab on you.
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Oh, you mean a blade to cut metal? With higher TPI.

Can you explain the zero clearance throat plate? I don't know if the one that came with it is zero clearance...
 
jrista said:
Oh, you mean a blade to cut metal? With higher TPI.

Can you explain the zero clearance throat plate? I don't know if the one that came with it is zero clearance...
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Yes higher tpi and that is why I use a metal blade. Some truestone will dull tools quickly and some are more acylic than anything else so they cut easier. Not knowing what saw you have or how well you take care of your tools but some people the plate that is where the blade travels is removable and many times it gets cut up and many people just throw it away or some make their own to replace it and if the opening is too wide the blank could get pulled down and thus cause a sudden jolt when cutting. Some people always use sleds so they do not care about that plate. It is basically the same thing on a tablesaw.
 
jttheclockman said:
Yes higher tpi and that is why I use a metal blade. Some truestone will dull tools quickly and some are more acylic than anything else so they cut easier. Not knowing what saw you have or how well you take care of your tools but some people the plate that is where the blade travels is removable and many times it gets cut up and many people just throw it away or some make their own to replace it and if the opening is too wide the blank could get pulled down and thus cause a sudden jolt when cutting. Some people always use sleds so they do not care about that plate. It is basically the same thing on a tablesaw.
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Hey, sorry for the late reply. Lost track of this thread.

So, I have a Jet 14" JWBS-14SFX bandsaw. I have a 1/2" 4 TPI blade, and a 3/4" ... I forget the TPI, I think 2. The round plate where the saw goes through the table IS removable. That said, the gap for the blade is only a few millimeters wide... Now, I have cut some antler on it, and I noticed that when I shaved off a smallish sliver, the blade yanked the whole sliver down that slot and it sounded like it snapped around in the lower wheel chamber... Not sure if that is a real problem. I had another small corner fall through that slot as well, without issues. I don't think these particular blanks would be at risk for being pulled down into the lower chamber though.

The saw and the blades are all brand new, less than a month old. So they should be in good condition. I have only sawn a few things on it so far, so the blades should be very sharp. Wondering if the 4 TPI blade will work or not.
 
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