Wooden Bandsaw Guide Blocks Made From Scraps

I have a 14 inch Delta Platinum Bandsaw that came with metal guide blocks. The metal guide blocks can easily damage the saw blade if they are allowed to contact the blade teeth. Also, the metal blocks tend to be noisy. Early on I replaced the metal blocks with Cool Blocks™ and have found them quite satisfactory. My scroll saw has a very difficult time cutting material thicker than one inch so I'm planning on putting a 1/16 inch blade in my Delta to cut some 2" by 2" block puzzles. Not wishing to sacrifice my cool blocks, I decided to try and make some hardwood guide blocks as suggested in The Bandsaw Book(Lonnie Bird). In order to use a 1/16 inch blade the guide blocks must be pushed up firmly against the blade, essentially trapping it. The area trapping the teeth tend to wear rather quickly. The wooden blocks can be removed in a short time and the worn faces squared off with little effort.

I used two hardwoods: walnut and white oak. The walnut had a previous life as a plaque that I bought at a yard sale for 50¢. The oak was salvaged from molding removed as part of a renovation of an elementary school. The wood was planed to a thickness of 1/2 inch.

 

Update (Jan 24,'02) A discussion on rec.woodworking newsgroup indicated that soaking the wood blocks in WD-40 improves efficiency and prevents burning. Personally, I have not verified these claims.

Update(June 28,'03) Just happened upon Howard Ruttans website and he did a little more research on these blocks.

(click on picture for larger view)

Cutting Strips w/GRR-Ripper Once the wood was planed to 0.50 inches the wood was cut into 0.50 and 0.375 inch strips. The 0.375 thick strips are needed for the one guide block that is angled to the blade at 45° . The pushing jig I used was a GRR-Ripper™ that I bought from Jointech®. If you look closely you will see that I haven't got my zero-clearance insert exactly level with the table top....oh well.
The strips are cut from the hardwood scraps. Cut Hardwood Strips
Guide Blocks Cut Out The two blocks on the left are the original metal guide blocks. The wooden guide blocks that have angled ends are 0.375 thick on one dimension in order that, when they are positioned in the guide block holders, equal sized faces are pressed against the blade.
The oak blocks positioned in the saw. I made the blocks a little longer than the original blocks so that I can flatten out the worn faces when it becomes necessary and still have room for more. The saw blade is 3/8 inch and the blocks do not come in contact with the teeth. I cut on a scrap 2 by 4 for about 5 minutes cutting some tight curves then removed one of the blocks. The face showed only some polishing and no perceptible wear. Oak Blocks Mounted in Bandsaw
Worn Guide Blocks Shown are the two upper guide blocks after about an hour of cutting with a 1/16" blade. I will just rotate the blocks 90° and place them back in the block holders. Eventually, I will have to reflatten the face of each block. Notice there is no evidence of burning. The wooden guide blocks are adjusted against the blade before each cutting session.

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