When it comes to band saw blades, the tooth pattern is an important consideration that can have a major impact on cutting efficiency and quality. Each tooth pattern is intended for a certain purpose and selecting the appropriate one can make or break your project.
Continue reading for an overview of three typical tooth patterns found in band saw blades.
- Hook Tooth Pattern: The hook tooth pattern is a curved, aggressive hook that cuts quickly and efficiently. The ability to cut fast is one of its benefits, along with ensuring you get a smooth finish with little effort. When choosing band saw blades with a hook tooth pattern, you’ll find that cuts can be either straight or curved. This pattern is best used for making quick, efficient cuts through softwood or non-ferrous metals.
- Skip Tooth Pattern: This pattern has teeth spaced widely apart, resulting in bigger gaps between each pair. The benefit of this pattern is that the wider gaps help to avoid overheating and clogging, making it ideal for cutting through materials containing a high amount of debris or resin. Also, band saw blades with the skip tooth pattern tend to last longer thanks to reduced friction.
- Variable Tooth Pattern: Band saw blades with the variable tooth pattern have teeth that vary in size and spacing to accommodate various cutting circumstances. Additionally, the different tooth sizes reduce vibrations and improve cutting stability, helping meet both rough and fine cutting requirements. Essentially, if you need a blade that can handle a variety of materials and cutting circumstances, the variable tooth pattern provides flexibility and performance.