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Which Sawmill Blade Is Right for You?
Tell me what you’re cutting, and we’re already halfway towards choosing a blade.
A sawyer working through mixed timber needs something different from someone regularly tackling dense hardwood logs. Your machine matters too. A blade that suits one setup won’t necessarily be the best choice for another.
You don’t need to understand every technical detail before buying. But knowing what the main options do makes the decision a good deal easier.
Start with the Timber
Softwood or Hardwood?
Before getting into tooth angles and blade materials, think about your usual workload.
Are you mainly cutting softwood? A mixture of species? Particularly hard timber? Does winter mean frozen logs, or do you keep milling under fairly consistent conditions?
Choose for the work you do most often. You can keep a different profile available for the occasional difficult batch without changing your everyday blade.
10° or 7° Blades?
What's the Difference?
The angle describes the tooth’s hook angle: the angle of its cutting face relative to a line perpendicular to the blade back.
You don’t need a geometry lesson to choose one. Here’s where I’d start.
Ripper37 10°: Your Everyday Sawmilling Blade
Suitable for 95% of Timber Cutting
For general-purpose cutting of softwoods and hardwoods, the 10° profile is the sensible starting point.
If you work through a variety of logs and want an everyday blade, this is usually the first option to consider. Hardwood alone doesn’t automatically mean you need a different profile.
Ripper37 7°: For Harder or Frozen Timber
For Those Difficult Jobs
The 7° profile is worth considering when particularly hard or frozen timber becomes a regular part of the job.
Its less aggressive hook angle can suit these demanding conditions. It still needs an appropriate feed rate and a properly maintained machine; changing the angle won’t put right an underlying setup problem.
Tooth Pitch
What's That?
Tooth spacing, also called pitch, measured from tooth tip to tooth tip, is the distance from one tooth to the next.
The area between the teeth, the gullet, carries sawdust out of the cut. That becomes especially important as the width of timber being cut increases.
A 7/8″ pitch (1.1tpi) is common on portable sawmill blades, but pitch should be considered alongside the tooth profile, cutting width and machine capability.
Tooth Set: A Setting to Get Right
A Small Adjustment That Makes a Big Difference
Set is how far the cutting teeth project to either side of the blade.
The appropriate amount depends on the blade and cutting conditions. It isn’t a case of adding more set whenever cutting becomes difficult.
If a blade starts behaving differently, I’d want to know whether it has become dull, whether the set has changed and whether the machine needs attention before recommending a different specification.
For most customers, a balanced set and sharp blade is the starting point. Specialist adjustments should have a clear reason behind them.
Typically, the factory amount of set per side, 0.021" (0.53mm), is optimal for most jobs. Too much, or too little, set can have a detrimental effect on blade cutting performance.
An unbalanced set is even worse! You'll experience wavy cuts, like a washboard, and the blade diving during the cut.
Which Blade Material Should You Choose?
3 Options, 3 Considerations
Ripper37: A Practical Everyday Choice
For general sawmilling, standard Ripper37 carbon-steel blades provide a straightforward starting point, with profiles for different timber conditions and the ability to be professionally resharpened.
Ripper37B: When Longer Edge Life Is a Priority
If you’re doing regular production and want longer blade life, Ripper37B bi-metal blades are worth discussing.
Whether they suit your operation depends on the machine, timber and workload. The aim is to choose an option that earns its place in your blade rotation.
Ripper37TCT: For Demanding Applications
Ripper37TCT has a tungsten carbide tip on every tooth and is an option for suitable machines working in demanding or abrasive timber.
Carbide requires the right servicing equipment, so think about maintenance arrangements before making the change - something I can help you with.
Change One Thing at a Time
Find What Makes a Difference
If you’re trying a different blade, keep a simple note of the timber, blade specification and result.
Changing the profile, set, and feed rate all at once makes it difficult to know what helped. A controlled comparison is much more useful than guessing from one awkward log.
And don’t keep pushing a dull blade to see whether it improves. Stop, inspect it and establish what’s going on. If you push a blade too far, it can become unserviceable.
Tell Me What You’re Working With
I'm Here to Help!
If you’d like a recommendation, send me:
Your sawmill make and model.
Current blade length, width and thickness, if known.
The timber you normally cut.
Anything you’d like to improve about the current result.
That gives me something useful to work from. I can then help you choose from the available Ripper37 options without making the process more complicated than it needs to be.
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