Thread: Surface rust on bandsaw blades

Originally Posted by cravr

The bandsaw is all new to me. I have a 17" hafco BP-430 with the intension to do resawing of 150 to 200mm hardwood boards..
I ordered (from a reputable online supplier) and received a 1" wide 1.3 tpi bimetal blade.
The blade arrived with a great deal of surface rust - as if it had been hanging in someones shed for a while. Is this normal ?
Sould I try to clean the blade before use ... and if so how ?

many thanks

Surface rust shouldn't be much of a problem, though you shouldn't really have to deal with that on a new blade. The blade is a big mutha, and at 1.3tpi, you were presumably never really looking for the smoothest of cuts.

In short, don't worry about the rust. A bi-metal blade is going to do a lot of work before you need to think about it. You'll find that the first time you use it, the rust will go - just from the friction. I do two things with new blades: I round the back edges with a grinding wheel truing tool or piece of sharpening stone before setting the rear bearings up....(a note: this causes sparks, and you don't want any sawdust around!) so that there won't be any scoring of the rear thrust bearings (expensive to replace, and not necessary!) Then, I use a saw lubricating stick, available from Bunnies. Turn the thing on and then off again. While it's slowing down, hold the stick against the blade and it will do its thing.

Oh, and when you are storing blades in YOUR shed, do give them a wipe with a rust inhibitor before storing them. Just wet a piece of rag with it and run the blade through it going in the "downward" direction on the blade so that you don't get stuck on the teeth. An ounce of prevention being worth that pound of cure (not to mention that wad of money!), you'll get a lot of life out of these expensive blades with just a little bit of care. Cheers.

Michael

"cellist" has provided some pretty good, sound advice and there's not too much to add.... other than the generic.... 'the best way to prevent surface rust is to make use of it'
I think you'll find that your surface rust will soon be removed once you start cutting a bit of wood. We quite often get a bit of surface rust on our bandsaw blades and as long as it's not pitting (I'd be very dissapointed to think it was) - you shouldn't have any problems. Cheers & happy, safe cutting - Dan.

thanks Gents for such a quick reply

With the 1" blade, I was just trying to get somewhere close to the 4 teeth in the cut rule. (if it is a rule)
I also have a 1/2" 3 tpi bimetal blade, but wasn't sure if that would be any good for resawing the 200mm boards.
What would be the recommended blade for the job ?

-Ron

I use 1/2" 3TPI bimetal on 8". It does the job well. A coarser pitch may be better, but so far I've had no problems.

i wase a 30mm 1.1tpi for resawing 20mm+ board and it cauts quicker than i can fed the wood well allmst

Originally Posted by AlexS

I use 1/2" 3TPI bimetal on 8". It does the job well. A coarser pitch may be better, but so far I've had no problems.

That's what I use as well, and today I glued up a tabletop that I resawed with it....14" and it was no problem at all.
Mike

Rust is not trouble at all.
We do LOADS of resawing at the store, we use 1-1/4 1TPI CARBON blade. Half the cost of Bi-metal and you can sharpen them abnout 4 times before having to toss them out. Bi-metal although lasting slightly long is a PITA to sharpen.

We get about 30m of cutting before having to sharpen. (150mm 250mm wide boards usually)

Good luck, and make sure you get your drift angle right, and it'll change as you run in the blade too. Bandsaws are simple machines but are easy to get wrong.

Steve

Steve ... what a coincidence .... I made a timber order on your site yesterday
wow ... 30m isn't much.
yes, I'll need to work on the drift .... cheers -Ron

Hi Michael the Cellist

Thank you for a very informative post.

When you refer to your rust inhibitor are you referring back to your lubricant stick, or to a specialist product? I always just used a smidgeon of light machine oil.

Merry Christmas

Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Hi Michael the Cellist

Thank you for a very informative post.

When you refer to your rust inhibitor are you referring back to your lubricant stick, or to a specialist product? I always just used a smidgeon of light machine oil.

Merry Christmas

Graeme

Graeme, it's a stick that Bunnie's sells. Cardboard tube about 40mm in diameter, about 150 long. White waxy material inside. Cheap. I use it on the table saw blades as well, and I've had much less gum build-up as a result.
Cheers.
Mike

Originally Posted by cellist

Graeme, it's a stick that Bunnie's sells. Cardboard tube about 40mm in diameter, about 150 long. White waxy material inside. Cheap. I use it on the table saw blades as well, and I've had much less gum build-up as a result.
Cheers.
Mike

Thanks Mike; I know the stuff.

Merry Christmas

Graeme

FWIW, Henry Bros recommended that blade, 1/2 x 3 TPI bimetal, for bandsawing turning blanks.

They claim it's good for 3 to 4 x the life of CS.

Haven't got that far to know.

Interested in your comments Lumber Bunker. I've seen CS blades sharpened with little drama; what's the prob with HSS? Wouldn't you do it at the tip outside on a white wheel as well?

I use a little dremel to sharpen the blades on the saw. I don't have to remove the band
using the small little grinder i run over the tips and deepen the gullets as required. With carbon, it takes about 15mins, with bi-metal it takes 30+ mins and i go through one grinding wheel to do so, where as i can get three or so uses out off the little grinder on carbon. (they are only 2 bucks at Mcjings... but hey, If i dropped 2 bucks i'd stop and go back to pick it up.)