Roll you own band saw blades

[Josh Bowman]

Does anyone make thier own band saw blades? I have a Laguna 14 suv and they use odd ball sized blades at a 125". The company is yet to get an order right, so I'd like to just break free of them and make my own. How do you go about it and is it worth it?

[Richard Gonzalez]

My Steel City 16" also uses 125" blades. The only place I have found them pre-made was at tool king in Denver (Steel City brand).

Any of the online blade suppliers have no problem making blades to custom lengths. Try Spectrum Supply - the Lenox bimetal are a good blend of price vs. life. There are lots of posts here on bandsaw blades and suppliers for other recommendations.

[Jim Becker]

Suffolkmachinery.com will provide you with their Timberwolf blades to exact size.

[Myk Rian]

There is a Wiki on owwm about making your own.

[Julian Tracy]

I picked up a Jet 110volt bandsaw blade welder from a guy on Craigslist earlier this year. Guy said he bought it at an auction long ago and could never figure out how to get it to work, or get it to work very well.

Came with 2 coils of blade stock - 1/4" 4 tpi for wood, and 3/8" 18tpi for metal.

A bit of practicing, and I've got it down pretty well. I've made 3-4 each for my 14" wood cutting bandsaw and a few for my metal cutting horizontal/vertical bandsaw.

Kind of cool rolling your own. This welder is still a current model and retails for about $550. I paid $40 for everything!

Harbor freight sells them as well for about $250 I think, but those don't include the light or built-in grinding wheel.

The other two methods I've heard about is silver soldering/brazing and HF also makes a DC unit that hooks up to a car battery that some folks have had success with.

JT

[Mike Heidrick]

I send all my lenox blades that need welded up to:

Sanders Tools & Supplies Inc
1506 West Luthy Drive
Peoria, IL 61615-1603
(309) 692-2666


Call and ask for Dave Ehrb. I bet they will do others. Probably only woth it for a decent blade you might have.

Otherwise there are brazing kits for sale at rockler I believe. Do a seach on brazing bandsaw blades on youtube.

[david brum]

These guys have excellent pricing and will make Lenox bands to any size. For instance, a 125" x .025 3H blade is $13.25. I have used their blades a bunch and have no complaints. The welds have always been near perfect.

http://www.woodcraftbands.com/Pricing%20page.htm

[Darnell Hagen]

You need a brazer, sometimes found on large metal bandsaws or as a free standing unit. Here's my Foley, I'm pretty sure I paid less than $10 for it at auction, because no one else knew what it was.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s168/DarnellHagen/P1020350.jpg

Here's (http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=41049&cat=1,41036) the simpler version, sold by Lee Valley.

It is worth it, especially if you can by a coil at discount, at auction or eBay, or if you break blades on the weekend.

[Gary Click]

I have a DoAll DBW-18 blade welder that I use. This welder will will weld up to 1" wide blades. Like most welders it includes a shear and a grinder. I picked this welder up at a plant closing several years ago.

I weld three different lengths for my 2 wood saws and my metal cutoff saw. I buy coils of blade as surplus and the prices can be scary cheap. I tend to stick to metal cutting blades for everything.

The best blade I have found for general heavy cutting is a Starret Bi-Metal. The last 1/2" 3TPI Hook Tooth coil I bought cost about $20 for a 100ft coil that was more likely 85ft. Welding takes less that 5 minutes. You shear to length +1/8", set welder parameters, clamp blade, back off clamps to establish welding gap, press lever to drive blade ends together, reclamp, anneal and grind the flash down flush.

If the parameters are set correctly you get a perfect weld everytime. Grinding requires some experience but there is a guide gauge on the weld to check the grinding when you finish.

gary

[John Messinger]

I think silver soldering the blades is the easiest and least expensive way to do it. It does take a bit of practice. The silver soldered joint is very strong. I rarely experience a break at my soldered joint.

You will need:
1) medium hardness silver solder.
2) borax flux
3) a berzomatic propane torch (the hotter the better)
4) some 300 or so grit sand paper and a grinding wheel
5) a holding jig that I made up from some steel angle.

I will post some photos in the next couple days.

[dan petroski]

i have silver soldered my blades for 50 years with minimal breaks in the joint. just a simple little jig that you can make , a little flux or borax and silver flow 45. the secret to silver soulder is a beveled edge and clean clean mtl