I have an old Duplicarver 3 wheel bandsaw w/ a 24" wide throat. The wheels are small however, so it eats blades. I now buy 100' rolls of bandsaw blade and make up my own by silver soldering them. It's not hard, and takes less then 5 minutes per blade. I use a skip tooth blade like Rich's.
Some bandsaw tips for those who don't already know them.....
When re-sawing very thick cuts, you can make up a tall L-shaped wooden fence that you just C-clamp to the table. This will support the face of your board rather than the table supporting the edge, and give you much more consistent thickness.
Also, instead of trying to get your wooden fence square across the table, set it at whatever angle the blade wants to cut a straight line on a test piece. Then clamp it down. If you're lucky and everything in your guides is adjusted perfect, and it's a new blade the test cut MIGHT be square to the table, but generally it isn't. So don't try to fight it -- set the fence parallel with the way the blade wants to cut.
When cutting curved lines on bow blanks (the usual situation) without a fence, as for instance doing the belly cut, don't run the bow flat to the table. Angle the blank a little toward the back (but cut just outside your line). Do this from both sides. This will cut a beveled belly with the high point in the center -- a little thicker than at the edge of the bow.
This ridge is easier to plane off than a flat back with extra thickness would have been, and yet still gives you extra meat in case the blade bows or your table and blade were off square..... or other errors happen. And they do on a bandsaw when ripping irregular grain.
Finally, don't think you have to cut the sides of the bow with a bandsaw, just because it tapers or even has a gradual curve. I often use the tablesaw for this freehand on 1" or thinner stock -- ie a board bow, or bendy handle bow. I set the blade height just over the thickness of the material (important to minimize binding). You have to go slow, stop and switch off if there is any binding, and don't cut out the handle and fade dips, leave those for a bandsaw or other method.
Obviously freehanding is more risky than straight guided cuts with a tablesaw, and should be done only if you are experienced at it. But if you are comfortable freehanding on a tablesaw, you'll get a smoother cleaner faster cut for a bow blank than on a bandsaw. I now cut bow blanks that way, clean up the handle and fades on the band saw, and then band saw the thickness taper, per above.
Of course a hatchet and heavy rasp works great, too for all of the above, but if you have the machinery and want to use it, maybe some of the above will be helpful.
