How do you cut the blades..

A few tips on bandsaw blades.
When using a bandsaw or even a hacksaw for that matter, one needs to pay attention to the number of teeth per inch to get performance and life from the blade. You need to have at least 1 1/2 - 2 teeth in the material at all times. I use a 10-14 variable pitch for 5/32" and above and a 14-18 variable pitch for less than 5/32". When sawing air hardening stainless steels you need to try and make a cut with as little stop and starting again because you get a little surface hardening that you have to then break through when you start again and this is when teeth are knocked off a lot of the time. Another trick to longivity is to break your blade in on some soft material such as brass before you ever cut steel with it, just make some cuts in a brass bar or rod. Try to make as many cuts straight, trying to make curved cuts can knock teeth out as well, try to make those curves by cutting several flat facets. Hope this helps some folks new to bandsaws, I know most of you guys know all this already.
 
Dang, ask a question, get 30 answers. Thanks guys. I will check into a band saw. Are the water cutters expensive? Thanks, Jason
 
As for the bandsaw blades, I order a couple from McMaster-Carr (?) I recall that they cost more thn $12 butmaybe a bit lss than $30. I am very pleased with the result. The original blade on the saw took at least 3-4 times as long to cut anything as the bi-metal blade.....when it was new!!!! It dulled out VERY quickly and eventually broke at the weld.
 
gruntstorm said:
Dang, ask a question, get 30 answers. Thanks guys. I will check into a band saw. Are the water cutters expensive? Thanks, Jason
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The cost of a Water Jet cutting machine is very prohibitive for the home shop/knifemaker. I have a local water jet cutter that does mostly commercial industrial work. He told me his machine was in the $150,000+ range. He usually will charge me anywhere from $5 to $10 per blade to cut out what I want. This is if I'm doing 10 or more of the same pattern. It's all done with CNC technology.

Since I usually make one of a kind forgings anymore, I don't utilize water jet much now. Now that I have a bandsaw, I'll be doing it myself to save the money. I figure that about when I've cut 25 blades on my bandsaw, it will have just about paid for itself.
 
bladsmth said:
The important thing is to use a HIGH TENSION HACKSAW. You can buy one at a hardware store. One of these and a twelve pack of good hacksaw blades will cut up most any steel.They cost about $25.Don't think that regular hacksaw you have will do the same - it won't.Trust me on this one.
Stacy
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hmm, i think the hack saw i am using is just a basic hack saw, i crank down pretty hard on the screw to tighten up the blade but im just using a blade that is made for steels and keep oil on it to cut my O1 and ive cut a lot of blades out with only one hack saw blade. what were the issues with using a standard hack saw?

-matt
 
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