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The Bandsaw Store

Dakin-Flathers Ripper37 range, UK made

Sawmill and resaw bandsaw blades

Wide, thick-gauge bands that convert logs on the headrig and resaw cants into accurate boards. Every band is cut from Dakin-Flathers coil stock and welded to your mill's exact loop length in the UK.

Shop sawmill bladesThe sawmilling industry guide

Built for the mill, not the workshop

Sawmill and resaw blades are the heavy end of the bandsaw world: wide, thick-gauge bands welded into long loops for machines whose whole job is converting timber. Width is what earns the money. A wide band has the beam strength to hold a straight line through the full depth of a log, so boards come off the saw flat and the kerf stays where the sawyer put it. The extra gauge stiffens the band further, and both together demand large wheels and proper tension, which is why these blades belong on mills and resaws rather than workshop machines.

Dakin-Flathers builds this range in Yorkshire as the Ripper37 and RipperS families, in published widths from 27 to 51mm. In primary breakdown the blade is the production line, and in resawing it decides how much of each cant becomes board rather than sawdust, so yield and cut count are the honest measures of a sawmill band. We cut every band from coil and weld it to your mill's stated length, from headrig loops down to multi-head resaw sets.

Which width does your mill run?

Each family below lists its published width range from the Dakin-Flathers catalogue. The table tells you what the range offers; only the machine tells you what it can tension, so check the plate or manual before choosing the widest row.

Published width ranges from the Dakin-Flathers catalogue. Duty notes condense each blade's published description.
Blade familyPublished width rangeDuty it suits
Ripper37 Sawmill Bandsaw Blade27 to 51mmLog conversion in primary breakdown: a wide, long band for headrigs and horizontal mills.
Ripper37B Sawmill Bandsaw Blade34mmPrimary breakdown with fewer blade changes: the M42 edge holds sharpness on abrasive or gritty stock that dulls carbon teeth.
Ripper37 Quantum Resaw Blade27mmMulti-head resawing, where every head must cut alike and band consistency matters.
RipperS Resaw Bandsaw Blade27 to 51mmResawing cants and flitches into accurate boards on single and multi-head resaws.

What sawmill and resaw blades cut

The workpieces below come from the manufacturer's published range for this construction. The guidance is general: species, moisture content and machine condition matter as much as the headline duty.

Typical sawmill and resaw work with general cutting guidance. Names link to our dedicated material guides where one exists.
MaterialCutting guidance
LogsBark carries grit and the occasional stone, so the opening cut is the hardest on the edge: debark where you can. A coarse pitch with deep gullets carries the long ribbon of sawdust a full-depth cut produces.
Primary breakdownA duty rather than a species: continuous full-depth cutting of green timber. Run the widest band the mill tensions properly, keep the feed steady and change the blade before it starts steering in the cut.
ResawAccuracy is the product: a resaw blade that wanders turns yield into sawdust. Consistent, evenly sharpened bands matter more than outright speed, and thickness drift across a batch of boards is the early sign a blade is due for a change.
HardwoodDenser stock asks a smaller bite per tooth: ease the feed rather than force it and expect shorter runs between sharpens than softwood gives. On abrasive species the M42 edge earns its premium in blade changes saved.
SoftwoodFast cutting but resinous: pitch build-up on the band lifts the blade out of line and heats the cut. Keep bands clean and let the coarse pitch clear sawdust at production feed rates.

Width first, then pitch

Choose width the way the mill maker intended: the widest band the machine will tension properly, because width is beam strength and beam strength is a straight cut. Come down in width only when the machine cannot tension the band, never to save money on the blade, because a wandering cut costs more in lost boards than any band ever saves.

The rule of thumb that puts fine pitches on thin wall steel puts coarse pitches on timber: keep between 4 and 24 teeth in the cut at any moment. A full-depth pass through a log is a very deep cut, so sawmill pitches sit at the coarse end.

Pitch follows depth of cut. A coarse pitch gives each tooth a proper bite and, more importantly, gullet volume: everything a tooth removes has to ride in its gullet until it clears the timber, and a deep cut through green wood produces a lot of wet sawdust. Run too fine a pitch and the gullets pack, the band heats and the cut wanders. Each product page lists that family's published widths, and the length calculator on every page quotes your loop as you type.

Edge care then decides cost per cut. Swap bands little and often rather than running them to destruction: a regular rotation through sharpening keeps geometry correct and extends total band life. Correct tension underpins all of it, and a tension meterreplaces guesswork with the manufacturer's recommended figure.

The sawmill and resaw range

4 blade families from Dakin-Flathers with published widths from 27 to 51mm and loop lengths welded to order from 3,000 to 12,000mm.

Shop all sawmill and resaw blades

Where these blades earn their keep

One industry runs this category as its first blade on the saw. Alongside it, carbon steel blades take over for general ripping of clean timber, and bi-metal wood blades earn their place on abrasive stock.

Timber and Sawmilling

Sawmills and forestry processors breaking down logs and resawing hardwood and softwood.

Material guides for timber cutting

From the blog

Frequently asked questions

Measure your mill's loop, give us the length in millimetres and the band arrives welded, annealed and ready to run.

How custom lengths work