Best blade for 1 1/2 pine?

[crisw]

I usually cut 3/4 inch wood, but I'm making some toy trucks for my nephew that are of 2 pieces of 3/4 pine laminated together. I have a Hawk Ultra 226, so I should have enough power to cut this wood. However, I'm having a hard time doing it!

I've tried what I have so far from my Flying Dutchman blades. The Heavy Duty blade will cut the stuff against the grain, but has almost no flex, so I can't do much more than straight lines with it. It seems to have a hard time cutting with the grain; I'm having to push harder than I'd like to. Size 7 and 9 reverse-tooth blades don't seem to do the job- the wood just seems too thick for them.

So I have a feeling I'm going to need to order some more blades :>D

Any advice on getting these darn trucks cut out will be appreciated!

[greatdane2]

I use #7 olson skip tooth, slowly. Ijust got a Delta band saw. It works well for 3" fir and cedar. I need to get a smaller blade as the one I used was 1/4" and sort of hard to turn sharply.
The pic shows a dog I have cut and glues together. I used 1 1/2 x 3" cedar for the head piece. the 1 1/2' side was cut with my scrollsaw and the 3" side was done on the band saw. If you look at the cutting you will see how lopsided some of it is, That is fixed in the next step.
The Delta band saw was only $ 160 here , and for what I do it works well. I had a Delta 3 wheel bandsaw I think it had a 16" throat. My dad gave it to me and i could not even cut 1/4" ply with it, An expencive boat anchor. Anyway thats my 1 cent worth. Hope it helps.
Alan.

[crisw]

Is your Delta one of the benchtop models? I've thought of getting one but read very mixed reviews. I can get one here used for $50.

I'm hoping not to need a bandsaw to finish these, though!

[greatdane2]

Yup it is I will add a picture, I tried one about six years ago and it was junk. this new on seems to work a lot better.
The problem with these smaller bandsaws is with the small wheels the blades don't seem to last very long. To much flex. I have a 14" and 18" bandsaws so this little twerp will get light duty only.
Alan.

[SNAPPER]

The Hawk should have no problems. A thick piece but a soft wood. Have you tried Olsons PGT double rev. I have cut 1" pine with ease.
Dean

[JohnB]

I cut quite a bit of 45mm (2") pine when making toys and have found the Olson Precision ground blades are the best. A 9 usually does the job, reverse teeth are not a necessity when cutting timber for these types of projects as sanding is quite a severe part of finishing.
The less TPI the blade has the easier it will cut with the grain, just the same as rip blades for a circular saw have a lower TPI.

Hope this helps you out a bit.

[workin for wood]

I use FD #9 skip and cut 1.5 thick pine no problem. Pretty much cut everything with that blade from super tiny and thin to big thick monster wood. I do not find that pine in almost any thickness will maintain a square edge while cutting though. Pine is soft which helps to allow blade flex while cutting and the grain has quite a contrast between winter and summer growth...so it's tough to control in all directions and easy for the blade to wander in between. I always use a spindle sander to clean edges, so it is rarely an issue when the verticle cut isn't square because the spindle sander repairs it. A band saw will certainly do a better job, but you will still have some small issues with verticle squareness..it's the nature of that wood.

[crisw]

Thanks! I'll try the #9 skip tooth. I know pine can be a tricky wood to cut, but since these are going to be painted toys for a 4 year old I don't think he'll care too much about imperfections :>)