: I have a 20 year old Sears 16 inch bandsaw... at least that is close...

: I have been using a blade which is about 3/4 of an inch thick (front to back)
: and which has teeth made for sawing wood.

: It saws well, but it does wander quite a bit. By paying very close attention,
: I usually can keep it from wandering more than a mm by moving the piece
: back and forth.

: I was just talking with the machinist at a shop this morning (with a really
: big Delta bandsaw) who told me he changes the blade on the band saw every
: few months whenever wander begins... It's cause, he said, is the teeth are
: not cutting a wide enough swath for the blade to travel through and the
: blade begins to direct the direction of the saw's travel. We use our saws
: about the same amount... every few days for less than an hour.

: Well, this was the first I had heard of this... I must admit I am using a 10
: year old blade on the thing and since it does not slow down (hardly ever)
: in 3.5 inch stock I have assumed it is sharp enough.

: Anyone else that can verify the machinist's interpretation and tell me that
: my saw would be SO much friendler with a new blade??

: I was planning on ripping the cedar 2x4s into 1x4s over the weekend for the
: new stripper with my table saw (two passes). If the band saw could cut
: nice and straight, I would use it instead. I will probably rip the strips
: themselves with the table saw to get a nicer finish on the board and less
: planing/sanding.

: The skinflint woodworker,
: Rick

Hi Rick
Another country heard from here......
Agreeing with most or all of the others, I've had the same problem and here's some of the cures I've used.

1. The blades could be dull, sometimes only on one side. Yep, you can dull one side more than the other and the blade will want to turn away from the dull side.

2. The guides are the most likely suspect if you haven't checked them in a while. They wear quite a bit and a problem I've had with mine is uneven wear. If you have used a small blade, say 1/4" or so they don't always make contact with the entire end of the guide and therefor wear only part of the guide face. When you put in a wider blade, you can get a wobble at the wear spot on the guide. I don't know about your particular saw, but my guides are removable and I just take them to the grinder and grind them flat on the end again. Some you can reverse in the guide holder and get a new flat surface.

3. Contrary to some folks, I bring my guides up to and touch the blade on both sides, just behind the set in the teeth. ( With the saw Unplugged ) I adjust the guides to the point where touch the blade on both sides ( NOT moving the blade either way )and then rotate the wheel by hand to see that there IS contact but no binding. It turns free, but squeaks a little bit.

4. The tension MUST be properly set and I think most saws, when new, tell you how to adjust this and check it.

5. The rear bearing, as stated already, must be set so that it clears the back of the blade by a couple thousandths of an inch ( paper works ) and as soon as the blade comes into contact with your project, immediately touches the bearing.
( Also... ( with the saw still unplugged..) push the blade back against the rear bearing and make sure your guides still clear the tooth set ). Very important!! If a guide comes in contact with any part of the tooth set, it will straighten it out on one or both sides.

6. That bearing(s), ( usually one above the table in the mouth of the top section and also most saws of quality have the same or near same set up below the table ) should be turning freely when spun by hand. If it is sluggish, it's going to affect the blade and cut.

7. The extention from the top guide should be kept no higher than 1/4" from the top of the work in order to help keep the blade solid in it's position.

8. About buying blades: I never buy store bought blades. I always take the measurement from my blades and go to the tool/saw sharpening shop and if it's a good/big shop, they have rolls of bandsaw blade stock and will cut and weld you a new blade right there. I have ALWAYS found these blades to be of better quality than the store bought variety. And Cheaper!!

I actually found a store bought blade that was only sharp on one side. Took me days to figure out why my wood would not stay against the fence. Just kept turning away.
Hope this helps.

Rehd