Key bandsaw blade terms with definitions to help you understand the meaning of bandsaw jargon.
- Blade Back: The body of the Bandsaw blade not including tooth portion.
- Thickness: The Dimension from side to side on the blade.
- Width: The nominal dimension of a Bandsaw blade as measured from the tip of the tooth to the back of the band.
- Set: The bending of teeth to right or left to allow clearance of the back of the blade through the cut.
- Kerf: Amount of material removed by the cut of the blade.
- Tooth Pitch: The distance from the tip of one tooth to the tip of the next tooth.
- TPI: The number of teeth per inch as measured from gullet to gullet.
- Gullet: The curved area at the base of the tooth.
- Gullet Depth: The distance from the tooth tip to the bottom of the gullet.
- Tooth Face: The surface of the tooth on which the chip is formed.
- Chip: The piece of material removed by the tooth as it cuts.
- Tooth Rake Angle: The angle of the tooth face measured with respect to a line perpendicular to the cutting direction of the saw.
- Skip Tooth: The teeth on skip tooth blades have a zero degree rake angle and expanded gullets allowing the blade to cut softer materials without overloading the gullets with chips.
- Hook Tooth: The teeth on hook tooth blades have a positive rake angle and a large gullet.
- Regular Tooth: Blades with regular tooth shape have zero degree rake.
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Vari-Pitch: Blades with vari-pitch or variable-pitch teeth are designed for metal cutting. The size of the tooth and the depth of the gullet changes from one tooth to the next.