Bandsaw questions

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 21:38:52 -0700, SteveB wrote (in message ):

I get mine at Home Depot for under $11.

I buy local and get Lennox bi-metals for about $14.00 each.........takes about 5 minutes to get one made up at the local welding supply store. If yu buy a roll your gonna have to braze, silver solder or weld them. Can't say one way or the other if you can beat the price of $21.00 locally as I have no idea what they cost or where you live........give em a call and find out. Not hard to do. Visit my website:

expressed are those of my wifes, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

I get mine at the local Farm and Fleet, about $7, but not bimetal. For some reason, they seem to run better than anything I've found yet, fewer stops to put the blade back on the wheels. They last pretty good, I go through maybe four blades a year, changing them when they break. You'll also be a lot happier if you cross brace the "stand" that's under the saw. Thin sheet metal doesn't provide much rigidity. Four 3/16" X 1" can make a big difference.

I've picked up Lenox blades at a local Ace hardware, $10-15. You are correct that HF blades aren't that good, a name-brand will be cutting long after the HF ones have shucked their teeth. There's a considerable speed difference, too.

J&L Industrial runs periodic blade sales, MSC is another web source. Check with your local weld supply, they might have something for you. You will probably want at least three blades with different tooth pitches, depending on what you're chopping off. One tooth pitch blade is not going to handle it all. The variable pitch blades can come close, though. I like to have a couple of spares of each pitch on hand for Sunday afternoon emergencies. $21 could be cheap or it could be expensive, depending on what the blade is and who made it. It's probably about retail for a bi-metal, name-brand, variable-pitch blade.

Stan