Band Saw Blade & Band Saw FAQs

Yes, we can. When you buy a blade from us our 50 years of technical expertise in band saw blade operation is available to you to solve all of your band saw cutting issues. We offer guidance and advice on every area of band sawing. Do I need to run my blade in?

All band saw blades will benefit from being run in. If you are a user who is cutting wood, running a blade in is not vital as cutting metal.

If you are cutting metal, then running the blade in is an important practice to extend your new blade's life. New blades are very sharp but for metal cutting a tooth with a slightly rounded edge will perform better and last longer, so it’s important that the first 15 minutes of cutting with a new blade is done at a reduced feed speed than normal.

Seeking advice before you buy is important even if you are confident. We supply band saw blades for all types of applications, but as you would expect, the industry evolves. Our technical experts are constantly updating their knowledge and skill set to ensure people like you get the right band saw blade for the job.

It's not about price or brand, it's about the perfect blade for Accurate Cutting and efficient blade operation.

Ideally, you should use a separate band saw blade when radius and straight cutting. During a radius cut, one side of the teeth of the blade often wears faster than the opposing side. This will cause problems when you change your saw back for straight cutting as the blade will tend to wander. 

In practical terms, we understand that changing and using separate blades is not an option, so it's important to keep an eye out for blade wander when straight cutting with a blade that has been used for radius cutting.

Another rule of thumb to remember is that a fine blade will run hotter and is more likely to clog, making it wander. If you have a long radius cut where you don't want to halt, then use a coarser blade.

Across all sawing applications and uses, saw speed, feed setting and saw blade tooth pitch is directly related. It's important that you change only one variable at a time to change the results of your cut.

These bullet points are applied in our own Accurate Cutting workshops, so you will find them very useful to understand the speed and feed relationship parameters that you should adopt for your particular applications and help extend your band saw blade life.

• The size and composition of the material will decrease tooth penetration.
• Blades which have a smaller tooth pitch will decrease tooth penetration.
• Using a larger tooth pitch will increase tooth penetration.
• When you increase your band saw blade speed this will inevitably decrease tooth penetration. You may think you're getting the job done quicker, but you're not.
• Usually, if you look at reducing the blade speed this delivers increased tooth penetration.
• Experiment with different settings, but only make minor adjustments and think about the material you are cutting and how it changes the speed and feed relationship.

Like any cutting action when you are cutting with a band saw the blade experiences cutting friction and friction produces heat. By lubricating the cutting edge of your band saw blade with a controlled flow of lubricant, you will reduce the heat that is generated by that cutting friction.

A flood of coolant also helps wash the chips from the gullets and cool the blade’s cutting edge and saw guides, extending blade life. If the flow of coolant is sufficient, then you can run your bandsaw using the standard cutting chart speeds. 

When cutting dry, you should reduce the speed by at least 40-50% which is never good for production deadlines.

Removal of the cutting chips prevents them from being dragged back through the cut and helps reduce any damage to the teeth, which gives you a longer blade life.

Excessive heat generated in the cut is one of the most common reasons cited for blade failure.

Probably one of the most asked questions we get when customers are looking to buy band saw blades. 

You should aim for a minimum of 3 blade teeth in the cut. Having too few teeth in the cut can cause the stripping of the teeth from the blade.

At the opposite end of the scale, the maximum you should aim for is 24 teeth in the cut. But be mindful that a greater number of teeth in the cut can cause the gullets to become overloaded and clog with cutting chips.

Our advice is to take the optimum TPI at 6 to 18 teeth being engaged in the cut at one time for Accurate Cutting and efficiency.

Yes it does, as the softer the material the less cutting friction is produced as soft materials will require fewer teeth in the cut and the gullet capacity is larger. Example materials would be Aluminum, Copper, Bronze, Carbon steel and others of a similar density or composition.

For slightly tougher Materials like Inconel, Hastalloy and Monel-type nickel-copper alloys and Steels aim for the 12 to 18 tooth range which is considered a moderate amount of teeth in the cut.

You will need to use blades which are in the 18 to 24 tooth range for hard materials such as Die Steels and Stainless steel. Don't forget the coolant as there will be a lot of friction.

This a question that promotes a great amount of debate in the industry as the majority of band saw manufacturers' user instructions will stipulate that you should always release the tension on the blade when not cutting.

However, in the real world day-to-day workshop environment, this is very often not a practical thing to have to do after each cutting operation. If you use a bandsaw as part of your process you probably want to simply use the machine when something needs cutting and not re-tension the blade every time, despite the manufacturer's literature recommendations.

Our experienced advice would be that if there is no requirement for using the bandsaw for 3 or 4 days, then it’s prudent to release the tension on the blade, even more so if you are operating with a blade which requires high tension.

Your machine and blade will benefit from having the tension released and that's why manufacturers advise this practice, but operational requirements are often paramount.

You should not experience any significant problems with keeping a good quality band saw blade under tension for day to day or even Monday to Friday use.