What happens when band saw blades break?

[Stephen Tashiro]

I've never owned a band saw. I have used an industrial type band saw once or twice. Is it rare to have a band saw blade break? When it breaks, what happens? When using the big saw, I harbored a fear that a free end of the blade would come shooting out of the saw and the whole blade would whip around the room like a giant snake!

[doug faist]

Stephen - in nearly 40 years of woodworking I've only had a band saw blade snap twice. It's startling but as soon as the blade breaks the tension is released and the blade simply stops. The bottom wheel will keep going since it's driven by the motor, so just push the stop button, wait for the saw to stop and then remove the blade.

Have fun with the band saw, it is one of the most versatile and useful pieces of equipment you'll ever own; and, with the proper precautions, one of the safest.

Doug

[Bruce Page]

Stephen, I have broken more than a few BS blades in my working and hobby life.:rolleyes: I have never had one do anything more than make a pop/clunk sound and the wheels free wheeling. It’s nothing to be worried about.

[george wilson]

I have had quite a few break. They never came shooting out of the saw,but they can get tangled in the wheels and get bent and snarled beyond saving.

The best advice is to plan ahead where your hands and especially your THUMBS are. You want to keep them out of the path of the blade should the wood suddenly shoot ahead for any reason. Use a push stick to help keep your hands away from the blade on smaller parts. Nothing fancy,just a stick to push with. Maybe cut a "V" in the end of it,and keep it handy so you don't get impatient and not feel like looking for it.

The most dangerous thing to saw is a cylinder. The blade will frequently grab it,and twirl it very fast. I usually place a wooden hand screw vertically down over a cylinder,and tighten the jaws so that the tips of the jaws are on either side of the cylinder,tight enough that the saw can't grab it,and rotate the cylinder. You can saw smaller cylinders by using the miter gauge,and holding the dowel,or smallish cylinder against the miter gauge,with your hand on the gauge,where it won't get pulled into the blade.

The bandsaw is the fastest cutting saw in the shop,so don't forget it.

[Jeff Willard]

I use one daily at work (meatcutter), and a lot. I've popped many a band in 32 yrs., and you never get used to it. But I've never seen a band do anything other than just sit there in the bottom of the saw. Oh, I've heard the horror stories about a band being ejected and someone being terribly disfigured by it. But I've never met that guy. It was always a guy that knew a guy that...you get the picture. I suppose it could happen but...

[Jeff Willard]

The best advice is to plan ahead where your hands and especially your THUMBS are.

The biggest danger with a bandsaw is when the blade enters the workpiece in an unsupported area. It's really kinda' tricky with a piece of meat, meat has a lot of "give". It's when you hit the bone within the meat that things get interesting, especially if the band is dull and starting to get "grabby". I got tangled up in one just like that, many years ago, and the thumb was where it shouldn't have been :eek:. Same thing happened to a young feller at work a few weeks ago.

It's probably not too big a concern with flat stock, but I have had the saw snatch bowl blanks from me when I wasn't paying attention. Kinks a blade purty good. Like the cat that wasn't careful when granny set in the rockin' chair.

[Mike Cutler]

Steven

I've unintentionally broken only one, a 1" Lennox Bi-metal. It kinda scared the jeebies out of my for a sec or two, but the energy released pretty fast so it just kinda got tangled up in the band saw a little bit. I'd been cutting hickory from a 10"x12"x60' long beam, and the blade developed stress cracks.:o

I broke two, a 1/2" and 3/4", on purpose doing band saw blade tension tests. That's not the same thing though.

[Jeff Willard]

The most dangerous thing to saw is a cylinder. The blade will frequently grab it,and twirl it very fast.


I'll second that. Ask me how I know. Okay, I'll tell ya' :D. Had a customer, many moons ago bring in a frozen ham and wanted it sliced. Lessee-frozen ham (round), stainless steel saw table, rookie meatcutter=bad news. Snatched that ham outta' my hand and had it bouncing at eye level off of the table faster than I could think. Skeered the ever lovin' bejeebers out of me. Luckily, the only thing hurt was my pride.

[george wilson]

A cylinder isn't supported against the downward thrust of the blade. Yes,wood must be firmly supported. I didn't want to write a dissertation.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I've only broken one blade, and I guess you could say it was on purpose. I had one that was so dull it really took a lot of pushing to get anything done. I knew it was going to be chunked regardless so it became something of a game to see how long it would go. When it finally broke it was no big deal. A lot more interesting things happen when a band jumps off a tire.

[Tim Self]

Steven

I've unintentionally broken only one, a 1" Lennox Bi-metal. It kinda scared the jeebies out of my for a sec or two, but the energy released pretty fast so it just kinda got tangled up in the band saw a little bit. I'd been cutting hickory from a 10"x12"x60' long beam, and the blade developed stress cracks.:o

That energy release is when you reach around to check your drawers.:D I've broken 2 and fortunately energy release was all I experienced.

[glenn bradley]

What Doug said ;-)

[Bob Barkto]

I've broken a few, and saw quite a few broken when I was teaching.

Only one ever came out of the saw at all. It kind of slithered out about a foot or two while the drive wheel was coasting to a stop. Looked pretty funny and I can still sort of picture it. We were all wondering if it would make it all the way out onto the floor. I think a kink rubbed against the wheel.

Like Doug said, the sudden release of tension causes them to expand outward away from the wheels and they just press up against the wheel guards. Depending on how high the guide is set you might see a small few inches poking out from the upper guide area but that's about it IME.

[Joe Scharle]

I've had only 2 actually snake out of the saw. Memory says they were both 1/2" or so. They looked like a boa snake. I never let anyone stand directly in line with the wheels. Like the Christmas movie; "you could put your eye out!"

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Terry Hahn - a kid I went to high school with, had the blade on the shop bandsaw break on him one day. It came out & hit him square on the top of the foot. No biggie.
By the time the story got around the school though, the blade had gone through his foot and impaled him onto the wodden floor of the shop.:rolleyes:

[Cliff Furman]

Hello,
Terry Hahn - a kid I went to high school with, had the blade on the shop bandsaw break on him one day. It came out & hit him square on the top of the foot. No biggie.
By the time the story got around the school though, the blade had gone through his foot and impaled him onto the wodden floor of the shop.:rolleyes:


A lot stories grow with each telling.
Back in 1963 or so I had a job in the meat department of a A&P food store.
The old guys told a story about one time in a store, they came in in the morning and there was a butcher lying next to the band saw, with his head lying near by! It was said he had a heart attack, and somehow fell into the blade. Hard to imagine, but, thats the story!

[george wilson]

I knew a guy who had most of the fingers on his left hand sawed off at an angle. He grabbed the blade when he fell down. He was still a good fiddler! Other than that,though,he was a total moron.

[John McClanahan]

I've had several break on the saw I use at work. The saw is a special purpose saw with only 1-1/4" thickness capacity. One blade did hit the table hard and poke out several inches. The edge of the blade was curled a bit from striking the table. It could have resulted in a cut finger, but nothing major. Every blade has broke at the weld. The saw takes on a different sound just before the blade breaks.

John