Bandsaw Blade thickness question

[speedandsteel]

Hey, guys. need info on something concerning industrial band saw blades. I am making my best knives so far out of old crosscut saw blades, but now have available several over 5" wide band saw blades from the local sawmill. I know the steel is good quality(prob 15n20) but am concerned about the possible blade thickness. Before I make the drive up there, I was hoping that the experts here could give me an educated guess. I am making more small knives these days because they sell better than my beloved Bowies, so thinner may not be a bad thing unless it's to extremes. I don't have the resources yet to make my own Damascus, so i can't use it in that application yet. any info would be of great help.

 

[Mark Knapp]

I have used blades that are both 5 inch and 8 inch wide, the eight inch wide stock is .080" thick and the five inch wide is .060. Probably too thin for most knives, especially if there are any rust pits that will need to be ground out. You may want to grab them anyway for your future damascus plans, that's what I use them for. They are only going to be getting harder to find since many saw mills are going out of business.