Bandsaw blades

[Iain]

Just read a US post on longevity of blades and apart from the usual spiel on cool blocks etc someone stated that using a sharpening stone to round off the back of the blade would increase life and make it run better, any thoughts on this before I go and bugger a blade?

[ubeaut]

G'day Iain

A well known practice that seems to work well. Have done this for a number of years. Don't get too carried away just lightly roll the square edge off both sides. It only takes a couple of seconds.

Cheers - Neil http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

[RETIRED]

Same here.

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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"

[RETIRED]

Gooday.

I believe that what it does is stop the back of the blade from curling or rounding over the edges (like a scraper edge) and creating a weakness in the blade.

If I don't do it, the blades snap after a while, if I do it I wear them out.

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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"

[ken yates]

bandsaw blades have square corners on the backside, this makes for difficult turning in the kerf, thus producing heat that cause blade fatigue and breakage. rounding off this corner lets the blade more or less slide through the kerf. ok http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/biggrin.gif

kenny

[This message has been edited by (edited 27 February 2001).]

[BrianR]

Looking back over past comments on band saws and I came across this.

The idea of rounding the back of the blade is to reduce stress concentrations by eliminating any sharp points or nicks which could be the initiator of a crack.

Polishing the edges of any metal under a lot of stress will reduce the formation of cracks.

This also works when you need to bend sheet metal over a tight radius - you polish the edges to a bright finish and it bends instead of breaking. Don't take this to extremes but it does help. http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

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Brian

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[Woodworm]

A follow up to the rounding of the Back edge of the Bandsaw blade is to spray the blade with CRC Dry Glide which is a dry film that eliminates friction.
I also use it on the Bandsaw Table, which has another benefit of protecting it from rust after sawing moist timber.
I also found this product excellent in the fact that it eliminates burning of hardwoods (Blackwood) in tight curves.
:P

[Eastie]

From the dry glide web site:

"CRC Dry Glide will penetrate and bond to metal, wood, rubber, plastic, glass and most surfaces and form a non-staining micro thin film that prevents sticking, reducing friction and wear.

CRC Dry Glide will seal out moisture and inhibit corrosion and resists oil, dust and dirt build-up. Will not melt, freeze or wash-off. Everything works easier."

Sounds a lot like silicone http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/eek.gif

[Woodworm]

The removal of the square edge off the back of the bandsaw blade does reduce friction for tight radius curves, particularly with hardwoods (Blackwood)
A method I use to reduce friction even more is to spray the blade with CRC Dry Film and this seems to also increase blade life even more, also increasing feed rate.
It also has the added advantage of cutting down friction on the feed table. Another benefit is if any moist wood is cut on the Band Saw, the sprayed surface of the table stops rust.