A word of warning when setting your blade guides tightly spaced on the blade. Some suppliers leave the connecting weld on bandsaw blades not ground very flush. When you put a new blade on, or switch blades out, you should hand spin the bandsaw wheel thru a full circuit of the blade, and check how tight the guide bearings/blocks are where the weld sits. The weld should be able to freely pass between the bearings/blocks, and this should determine how tight you set the guides. If the guides are set too tight, the weld will slam against the guides when the bandsaw is turned on, and the weld will damage the bearings/blocks, or worse, the holders for the bearings/blocks.
Some bandsaw blade guides hold the bearings so the side guide bearings run with their outer edge against the blade, like the way a car tire contacts the road. In this case, a wide blade weld will either get squished by the bearing guides, or the bearing guides will get pushed outwardsby the weld. This is optimal, since it’s less likely to damage the blade guides. I believe most Carter blade guides are like this.
Other bearing blade guides have the side wall of the bearing running next to the blade. In this case, if the blade weld is too wide for how tight you set the blade guide bearings, the blade weld will get pushed forward by the bearings as the weld passes the guides, or it will slam against the bearings if you’re pushing a heavy piece of wood against the blade. This can lead to damage to the bearings, or bearing holders, as well as awkward cuts.
The same problem can occure with guide blocks if set tighter than the weld.
I saw somewhere, maybe ‘Fine Woodworking’, a tip from someone, who used Lignum Vitae for their guide blocks, since it is very oily snd self lubricating. I presume he just cut the tips down occasionally, or sawed new blocks if the old ones got damaged. Grease imprgnated wood might work as well.
