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Back to HF for bandsaw blades

Always bought my band saw (h/v cheepie saw) from Harbor Freight. Would buy approx. 6-10 at a time. I know everybody here thinks that the bi-metal are the best, but I've been getting along with the cheap carbon steel.

Main use is to cut 5/8" rebar into 2 ft. long survey monuments. Usually buy

20 pieces of 20 foot rebar, stack them 9 thick (3x3) and cut nine bars at time. Move the stack up 2 feet and repeat. I've bent 5-6 cute little clips to keep the bundle of 9 bars from moving and rolling around.

Anyway, the above is equivalent to approx. 180 cuts. (81 cuts per bundle of

9 (9x9) plus 18 more for the remaining two bars. Typically these blades would last me about 3 rounds (540 cuts) and often fail because I was careless and let the stock get twisted, thereby breaking the blade.

Ran out of blades and went to Home Depot. They had the same blades. RIDGID brand. Bought one 14 tooth metal blade and one 24-tooth blade. The

14-tooth blade made exactly 6 cuts (bundle of 3, twice) and after that would merely just polish the metal. The 24-tooth blade only got through the bundle of 3 once and then merely polished thereafter.

Thought Ridgid must be a good brand (name recognition at least in plumbing tools). I guess their blades suck. Will have to mail order a dozen of the cheepies from Harbor Freight and make sure I don't run out of stock.

BTW, the blades were not installed backwards! Also, I don't have these precut by the fabricators because they always end up with a slight bend at one end. This teeny bend makes it difficult to drive, especially through asphalt roadways. If we put the bent end skyward, then our survey cap looks crooked. Besides, I get to buy and write off a tool.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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Ivan Vegvary wrote: (clip) often fail because I was careless and let the stock get twisted, thereby breaking the blade.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ There are some Visegrip type clamps which use chain to wrap around the load. If you use a pair of those, I think your slippage problems will be over. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thought Ridgid must be a good brand (name recognition at least in plumbing tools ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The name Ridgid has always had a lot of clout in relation to professional plumbing tools, but HD somehow has obtained the rights to it, and puts it on all their house brand tools. Even a carryover of the old Craftsman monotube wood lathe. I don't think much of it anymore.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Ridgid isn't a name in anything but plumbing tools, their power tools are made by Emerson, which used to be the producer of Sears Craftsman line of power tools. Sears finally wised up, so Emerson had to find another sucker to sell their junk. If you look at the fine print on the blade packaging, if any, you'll probably find a Made In China label. Around here, I can get Lenox blades off the shelf at the hardware store for the 4x6s, these pretty much last forever for mild steel solids as long as I use the right pitch for the right job. Chrome-moly tubing is really hard on them, but I can still do far more with the bimetal than with the cheapy carbon steel. If you no longer have any real hardware stores around due to HD and wally-world killing them off, try some of the web-based tooling suppliers like MSC or J & L. Name-brand bimetal blades cost maybe twice as much, but you get about 10 times the life of carbon steel out of them. If you're writing the cost off, why not try a few?

Stan

Reply to
Stan Schaefer

There is the possiblity that you got a hard batch of rebar. The only specs on rebar are for tensile and size. Nothing about elongation or Rockwell hardness. If you get some grade 60 bar that is on the hard side, it can take the teeth out of most saw blades. The fact that you wiped out 2 different blades points to some hard stock.

We wiped out several blades on some hot rolled 1/4"x2" bar stock. One stick out of the pile was way higher carbon than the others, the welds got REALLY hard.

Cheers.

Ivan Vegvary wrote:

Reply to
Roy Jenson

I think Lenox band saw blades are the best; Even better than starret. I have cut an amazing of SS with one lenox blade on my 4x6 horzontail.

chuck

Reply to
Charles A. Sherwood

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