The Armour Archive

Since i have been rebuilding my shop i picked up a dropsaw bandsaw and recently got a 14" upright bandsaw. I have been goin through blades too quick from the ones i get at harbor freight and home depot. I just ordered a couple from mcmaster carr and i am hoping these will work out better. Anyone know of a source for high quality cheap and consist quality band saw blades. 64.5" and 93.5"

High quality and cheap are realy a contradiction. Olson has a good reputation for wood blades, Milwaukee does alright for mild steel such.

The blades will wearout a lot faster if the saw's alignment is off. Sometimes the tires, guide blocks, bearings, tention ect can cause things to wearout and snap a lot faster, the same goes if your forceing the cut or otherwise abuseing the tool.

Ask around to see if someone has a blade welder... it will drop the price per blade quite a bit when you start buying blades by the roll.

Also save the broken blades, the steal works well for pattern welding.

I'm not sure if their metal-cutting blades are as good, but TimberWolf are really good wood blades.

http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/bi-meta ... aw-blades/

In my experience, a $20 blade lasts 100 times as long as a 5$ blade. Don't buy cheap blades. I got a couple nice Lennox ones from MSC, and I haven't had to get new ones in years.

Gunther - my grandad (a prototype machinist) used to get his blades at a machinists supply on India street in Little Italy - they aren't there now, but I'll see if I can track them down.

thanks for the info guys,since blades arnt that expensive i am just trying out many types to see what works best and as sort of a noob when it comes to band saws i am learning as i go.

GuntherofOrkney wrote:thanks for the info guys,since blades arnt that expensive i am just trying out many types to see what works best and as sort of a noob when it comes to band saws i am learning as i go.

Blade matched to your metal/kerf needs, speed, and lube are primary.

I don't know if they make bi-metal bandsaw blades, but the bi-metal jigsaw blades last 5 times as long the the regular ones. low speed and high t.p.i. are the way to go.

I get mine from grainger.com DONT buy the skip tooth ones IR 14 tpi to 18tpi.. that change from TPI will cause a break.

http://www.grizzly.com

good saws. good blades.