6 Best Bandsaw Blades For Resawing Lumber For Fences Woodworkers Swear By
Resawing lumber for fences demands the right blade. We review top picks woodworkers trust, focusing on TPI and width for clean, straight cuts.
You’ve got a pile of rough-sawn lumber or a few logs from that oak that came down last winter. The goal is a new pasture fence, and the tool to get you there is the bandsaw. But turning that raw material into uniform posts and pickets depends entirely on one small, crucial component: the blade. Choosing the right one is the difference between a productive afternoon and a frustrating pile of firewood.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Why Blade Choice Matters for Fencing Lumber
A bandsaw is only as good as the blade you put on it. For resawing—slicing a thick board into thinner ones—this is doubly true. A dull or poorly designed blade will wander, leaving you with wavy, uneven fence pickets that look sloppy and are a pain to install.
Fencing lumber presents unique challenges. You’re often dealing with thick stock, sometimes 8 inches or more. The wood might be green and full of moisture, or it could be reclaimed hardwood riddled with grit. A standard blade will struggle, overheating your saw’s motor and leaving burn marks on the wood.
The right resaw blade, however, cuts straight and true. It clears sawdust efficiently, runs cooler, and puts less strain on your equipment. This means less waste from ruined boards, less time spent sanding rough surfaces, and a stronger, better-looking fence in the end. It’s an investment in both your time and your materials.
Timber Wolf Blades: Top Pick for Smooth Resawing
Timber Wolf blades have a reputation for a reason. They aren’t made from the fanciest steel, but their unique tooth geometry and manufacturing process make them exceptional performers, especially on the smaller bandsaws many of us have on the farm.
What sets them apart is their thin kerf and low-tension design. They are made from a silicon steel and have very sharp, milled teeth rather than stamped ones. This combination allows them to cut aggressively without requiring the high tension that can stress the frame and bearings of a 14-inch saw. The result is a surprisingly smooth finish right off the blade, often clean enough for fence pickets with minimal sanding.
They are particularly good for general-purpose resawing of dried softwoods and hardwoods up to about 6 inches thick. If you’re turning kiln-dried cedar or pine into uniform slats, a Timber Wolf blade offers a fantastic balance of performance and price. It’s the reliable workhorse you can count on for most everyday fencing jobs.
Laguna Resaw King: The Ultimate Carbide Blade
The Laguna Resaw King is in a class of its own. This isn’t your everyday blade; it’s a long-term investment for serious resawing. Its teeth are tipped with carbide, the same ultra-hard material used in high-end table saw blades.
This means two things: incredible durability and an unmatched cut quality. The Resaw King will stay sharp ten times longer than a standard steel blade, effortlessly slicing through the toughest, gnarliest hardwoods like locust or white oak. It tracks perfectly straight even in 12-inch-thick material, leaving a surface so smooth it looks like it came off a jointer.
The tradeoff is the significant upfront cost and the fact that you can’t sharpen it yourself. It requires professional service. But if you regularly mill your own lumber or work with reclaimed beams for hefty corner posts, the Resaw King pays for itself. It eliminates the downtime of constantly changing and tuning cheaper blades, powering through jobs that would destroy lesser options.
Olson Saw MVP: A Durable, All-Purpose Choice
Sometimes, you just need a blade that won’t quit. The Olson MVP is a bi-metal blade, meaning it has a flexible spring steel back welded to a hardened high-speed steel cutting edge. This construction makes it incredibly tough and resistant to both heat and fatigue.
This is the blade you want when you’re working with imperfect wood. Got some old barn beams you want to turn into fence posts? The MVP can handle the occasional hidden nail or bit of embedded gravel without instantly losing its teeth. It’s less likely to snap under stress and holds its edge far longer than a basic carbon steel blade.
While it may not leave a finish as pristine as a Resaw King or a Timber Wolf, its durability is its main selling point. It’s a practical, no-nonsense choice for the rough-and-tumble work that farm projects often demand. Think of it as the all-terrain tire of bandsaw blades—not the fastest or smoothest, but it will get you where you need to go without failing.
Lenox Woodmaster B: Power Through Green Wood
Resawing green, unseasoned wood is a special kind of challenge. The wet, stringy sawdust packs into the blade’s gullets, causing it to overheat, bind up, and wander off course. The Lenox Woodmaster B is engineered specifically to solve this problem.
This blade features a deep, rounded gullet and a more aggressive hook-tooth profile. This design acts like a scoop, efficiently pulling wet sawdust out of the cut. It allows you to make fast, aggressive cuts through freshly milled logs without the constant frustration of a binding blade. It’s a true workhorse for primary milling.
If your fencing project starts with a log on the mill instead of a board from the lumberyard, this is your blade. It’s perfect for slabbing logs into thick cants or resawing a green oak trunk into hefty posts. The finish will be rough, but for breaking down raw material, its speed and efficiency are hard to beat.
Highland Wood Slicer: Thin Kerf for Less Waste
Every bit of wood counts, especially when you’re working with expensive material like cedar or a limited supply of lumber you milled yourself. The Highland Wood Slicer is famous for its exceptionally thin kerf, which means it turns less of your valuable board into sawdust.
The blade is designed for one job: precision resawing. It achieves its clean, straight cuts through a variable tooth pitch that dampens vibration and a unique tooth geometry. By removing less material, it requires less power to push through the cut, making it an excellent choice for lower-horsepower saws.
The compromise for this precision is fragility. The thin blade body is less forgiving of a poorly tuned saw or an overly aggressive feed rate. It demands a well-adjusted machine and a patient operator. But when you need to get the maximum number of fence pickets from a single prized board, the Wood Slicer ensures that more of it ends up in your fence and less on the floor.
Starrett Woodpecker: Precision for Hardwoods
When you’re building a fence from dense hardwoods like ipe, white oak, or locust, blade stability is everything. These woods fight back, and any weakness in the blade will result in a wandering cut. The Starrett Woodpecker is built for this kind of demanding, precision work.
Like the Wood Slicer, it often features a variable TPI (Teeth Per Inch) design, which significantly reduces harmonic vibrations during the cut. This leads to a smoother cutting action and a cleaner surface finish, even in tough, interlocking grain. The teeth are sharp and durable, holding their edge well in abrasive woods.
This is the blade for when the final appearance is critical. If you’re making a decorative fence or gate where tight joinery and clean lines matter, the Woodpecker delivers the control and precision you need. It’s a step up in performance for anyone who finds their standard blades just can’t track straight in challenging hardwoods.
Matching Blade TPI to Your Fencing Project
Choosing the right brand is only half the battle; you also have to match the blade’s TPI (Teeth Per Inch) to your specific task. A low TPI cuts faster and rougher, while a high TPI cuts slower and smoother. It’s a simple tradeoff.
For fencing, the rules of thumb are straightforward. When you’re doing initial green-wood slabbing or resawing very thick stock (over 8 inches), you need large gullets to clear the sawdust.
- 2-3 TPI: This is your go-to for aggressive work. Use it for breaking down logs into posts or resawing thick, wet lumber. The finish will be rough, but the speed is unmatched.
For general-purpose resawing of thinner, drier boards into fence pickets, you want a balance of speed and finish. This is where most of your work will happen.
- 3-4 TPI (often variable pitch): This is the sweet spot for resawing boards between 4 and 8 inches thick. It provides a good cutting speed with a finish that’s clean enough for most fencing applications without excessive sanding.
You’ll rarely need a high TPI blade for fencing, as the work is more structural than decorative. A blade with more than 4 TPI will cut too slowly in thick stock and the gullets will clog easily. Stick to the lower TPI counts for efficient, practical results on your fencing projects.
Ultimately, the best bandsaw blade is the one that fits your saw, your wood, and your specific goal. Don’t just buy a generic blade and hope for the best. By matching the blade’s design to the demands of the job—be it green oak posts or smooth cedar pickets—you’ll save yourself a world of frustration and turn that pile of lumber into a sturdy fence more efficiently than you thought possible.
