MSC have a blade that is 1" longer and it looks like it will work on mine, may try it next time around.
Forgot to mention, stay away from the HF house brand. They cost about the same as the blades Home Depot & Sears carry, but a few cuts and they're all through....
I have cut over 600 pcs. of 2 1/2" round stock with a starrett 4-6 pitch blade-first cut 55 seconds last cut 1 min and 5 sec. make 1 cut in 1" lite sq. tubing and its gone. What I'm trying to say you can not have 1 blade to do everything.
Lennox blades work really well!! To increase the longevity of your blades use a blade wax, you can get it from any machine tool supply house. We use the Lennox blade wax and our blades last along time!! Jimmy White P.s. If you cant find the wax, let me know and I will send you some. I have to go to Industrial blade tomorrow so I can pick up an extra tube.
Yes Jimmy, my supply house has several types. I am making a little shopping list of needed supplies. Just was bummed at the price of the blade from the welding shop, so, I am shopping around for ideas.
Eide tool in North Minneapolis, Mn can do it. They sharpen all of my business woodworking tools, they can also make you a new bandsaw blade. jim h
Trent you have a crap load of answers I would go with Lennox, or starrett myself, We use only lennox at school they ROCK!!!! I have made a few for my wood cutting bandsaw turned to metal cutting here at home. Seriously with a band saw spend the bucks on a welder and build your own you will save tons in the end. and buy a 100 foot or more roll of blade material. It is really really worth the initial cost. With that said, do the coolant system if you can too. That really adds life to it. There are crap load of different coolants to use too a good water soluble solution is what we use at school cant think of the name, it lasts forever, and looks like egg nog or butter milk. Ditto on the Wax jimmy was talking about too. If you cant use the coolant wax works great too.
sharping ?......no... MSC ... is the easy way and most likely cheapest. ....but if you happen to come across band saw or cut off saw ,,raw stock from work or your buddies place of work and you do not have a saw blade welder on your machine ....you can make a quick weld fixture grind the ends square , tig, mig or gas them. I have done it all 3 ways..... I grind them square on the bench grinder ,, anneal them ... weld them ... dress them.. and rock and roll
As you may have gathered from all these responses; Bandsaw blades are NOT sharpened (Unless they are the large, very coarse wood cutting blades used in minnie saw mills or resaws)-they are replaced. You've had all sorts of advise but the main things are: buy a good brand of hardback blade like Lennox, Morse, or Starret with the right tooth pitch for what you cut (and that means you might have to keep two or more blades), run coolant and don't run to fast. A blade welder is nice and you can buy a separate one from somebody like MSC, Wholesale Tool, or Enco. You'd have to evaluate the economics and cash flow of investing in a welder and one or more rolls of coil stock.
I use them for cutting comutators on starters and generators that I have rebuilt.............cutting cardboard "beer" boxes for recycleing................. " shit can " most of them to be honest with you
Ice fishin..??????? WTF ...........Brrrrrrrrrrrr.... i think I will slit my wrist instead of Ice fishin...
use the old blades as shims as for welding them. if your good at tig with a torch ... then .... my dad grinds a 45 degree bevel on the oposing sides of the blade ie. top and the other bottom so they match directly up. to form a 90 degree. then tig them together with torch. (using the above jig or something similar) then grind down flat and u have a new blade. Buy the blades in a 100 foot spool and you will be set for awhile. coolant is your best friend saves the blade for ages. If you can weld you can make your own tray to catch the coolant and drain back to the pump and recycle it. You can buy the flexible nozzles (shut off valve) from KBC or harbour freight and hose is cheap at your local home deopt or home hardware. and its just finding a small submersible pump proobably at home depot again u can adjust the flow from the shut off valve and can direct it with the rigid flexible hose as for sharpening the blade its not economical to sharpen it. Cheaper to buy a new roll .. The machine shop i work in now use to sharpen blades but then the blades got cheaper and labour got exspensive. I weld the blades together with the blade welder. more like a heat the blade up and force them together. (fusion weld)
NAw, better uet I will use them in Damascus blades in mu forge.............thanks to all that replied@
i just buy the blades from harbor freight. i was buying the starrett blades and they didnt seem any better. but are 3 times the cost. if a blade breaks i usually mig it then grind it down. most of the time it keeps working. when it becomes too short and unsavagable i use them on my porta-band.
A lot of home machinist type guys who don't have a Dividing Heads or Rotary Tables use the blades to mark off degrees on a wheel - harmonic dampener - as well as to use as spacers to cut gears. Pretty accurate if you're careful. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The big blades on reciprocal saws make great knives and odd shaped scrapers for the garage. Try to use as much of the teeth area as you can since that's where the good metal is.
Another good use of dull or what most of us consider dull is crank the speed up a bit and use it as a FRICTION blade to cut thin metals like sheet metal. Don't ask how I know this Lets just say experience lol Ok something else I have not seen mentioned here. If you just weld up a bandsaw blade and do not ANNEAL it, It will snap. Sure you might get a few good runs on it it, but It will snap faster than one that is annealed. A good blade welder will have the ability to anneal, and to grind it smooth and flat. It takes a little getting used to welding, annealing and grinding them, but takes no more than 5 minutes to do once you get the hang of it. http://www.bandsaw-blades.com/BandSawBladeTips.htm http://www.stagesmith.com/gallery/shop_projects/bandsaw_blade_weld_jig/index.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-teYuxTiGM ( how to sharpen a band saw blade)) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIRd22KqJxk http://doall.com/ http://www.marvelsaws.com/ Check out the doall and marvel sites, lots of cool info there too we use both types of machines at school :0 1 week left before I go back YIPPEEEEEE Will
just saw 1935 ron's post and that is a nice looking homemade blade holder glad u mentioned annealing too.
got a buddy that buys the bulk roll and welds up as many as the roll will yield. that way nobody stops to see if they can "borrow' some blade stock taking up his time and stock that never seems to get reimbursed.
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