How bad of a bandsaw blade weld will you accept?

[Ty Williams]

I'm having trouble getting bandsaw blades that are welded properly. Well, at least I think I'm having trouble and that's why I'm coming to you guys. I've ordered blades made from Lenox blade stock from Spectrum Supply (twice) and then from a local supply place. Both sets of blades had the same defect. The weld is ground well so there's no change in thickness, but the ends of the band aren't parallel. From both suppliers, the ends of the band were crooked relative to each other such that the teeth in the region of the weld are shoved forwards. You can observe this easily watching the blade on the saw and you can also visually confirm it by holding a straight edge up to the teeth and spine of the blade over the weld and you get a convex edge on the teeth side and a hollow on the spine side.

The first batch of blades from Spectrum were so badly off it's clearly just unacceptable. The second set were better, but still no good. The current set made up by my local supply house is the best yet, but still out enough to make me wonder. On the current set, the teeth in around the weld are about 1/16" forwards of the rest of the band. To me, this implies those teeth are going to take a heavier cut, which is not going to be good for either tracking or for consistency of surface finish.

Would you guys reject blades that are 1/16" out like that, or am I being overly critical at this point?

[Mike Chalmers]

Yes I would

[George Troy Hurlburt]

I use only the Wood Slicer Bandsaw Blades and have for many years. Source Highlandwoodworking.

[John Vernier]

Lately I have been learning to sharpen my own band saw blades by touching each tooth lightly to a bench grinder wheel. I'm happy with the result but there is inevitably some irregularity in the tooth height, and I find it makes no functional difference in the way the blade cuts - in fact my results are at least as good as a new blade. 1/16 does seem a little high to be honest, but if it were me and I was in a hurry to use the blade I would touch the offending tooth to the grinder and get on with it.

On the other hand if you want to whip your local saw shop into line I'm right with you. I did a certain amount of business with a shop in southern California which never, even once, got a band saw blade order right for me on the first try. It does get tiresome.

[Jim Andrew]

I ordered at B&S saw shop, they ordered them from another supplier instead of making them up themselves like they used to, and the welds could not be better. With freight they ran 17 $ each for 3/8" wide 3tpi blades to fit my MM16. Find they resaw very well.

[Jim Wheeler]

How bad of a blade weld will I except? That depends on how many of them there are and how much trouble and/or expense is involved in sending them back versus re-doing them myself.

I almost never buy welded blades anymore, since I'm able to silver braze them myself from coil stock. But when I did buy them the welds were guarranteed by the one company I usually purchased from. That was the local Doall franchise in Houston. I never got a bad weld from them.

Now if you are asking how bad a blade weld I will put on the machine, that is altogether a different question. A very slight concavity to the back of the blade - maybe 1/32 inch at the most - is okay for most purposes. It probably wouldn't do for precision joinery or contour work - or for re-sawing veneers.


Jim

He who welds steel with flaming pine cones may accomplish anything!​

[James Nugnes]

I don't know what the deal is with bandsaw blades other to say that they seem to have fallen prey to so much of the service quality standard we get these days.

I used Spectrum for the first time recently. While I don't have any really whacky looking blades from the perspective of the degree of irregularity at the back edge or the teeth, there is a very minor iregularity of a sort at the back of the one that is on the saw now but the teeth at the front edge all seem to be properly aligned. One thing I have noticed about blades from them is the length of the weld grind. What the heck are they doing? Makes me wonder what that weld looked like before they ground it. As to the OP's question, I would consider 1/16" way out and would hope to have another blade I could use while "discussing" options with the supplier. Being able to measure 1/16" out is just nuts I think.

I just got a couple of Diemaster 2 blades from a company called Cyber Woodworking....obviously an Internet buy. I already brought the receipt down to my receipts file. Have to find it to get the exact name. First time buy from them and the best welds I have seen in awhile.....go figure!!! For all I know quality or lack thereof is a matter of one guy doing the welds that does know or does not know how to do it properly at a given retail location, web or brick and mortar.

[John TenEyck]

I also just bought a 105" Diemaster 2 blade for my 14" Delta from Cyber Woodworking, based on the recommendation of a satisfied customer. http://www.toolcenter.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TC It was not available in 1/2" x 3 tpi like I wanted, only in 4 tpi, but I bought one anyone. It has the best weld of any blade I've ever seen or used. I couldn't even find the weld until I went around the blade 3 times. Better still, the blade runs beautifully true on my saw and cuts perfectly straight. The cut surface is far better than from the 3 tpi Olson MVP blade it replaced.

306965 306966

John

[John Coloccia]

The welds should be straight...period. The only reason for the weld not to be straight is rushed, shoddy craftsmanship. How straight? If I look at it, or run it, and I can tell that the weld is messed up, back it goes. There are suppliers I've simply stopped purchasing from because they can't seem to supply a blade with a decent weld. I'm not sure this is anything new, and people have been accepting bad welds forever, but there's no reason to.

[Ellery Becnel]

I am with John. It does not matter if the saw is small, large, cheap or expensive. A bad weld will ruin your cut and your day. We have a blade welder
At my job. It is hit and miss. I bought some silver solder, flux, made an alignment bracket, and a fixture to grind a 20 degree scarf joint. Now I am
A happy resaw fool. I did not have any bad welds that were purchased, it was the ones that I did. Blades were just too expensive, plus freight.
Send them back.

Ellery Becnel

[Jim Wheeler]

The welds should be straight...period. The only reason for the weld not to be straight is rushed, shoddy craftsmanship. How straight? If I look at it, or run it, and I can tell that the weld is messed up, back it goes. There are suppliers I've simply stopped purchasing from because they can't seem to supply a blade with a decent weld. I'm not sure this is anything new, and people have been accepting bad welds forever, but there's no reason to.

I would guess that in many cases it is just a matter of the welder jaws being out of alignment and employees either not knowing enough to adjust the machine or not being allowed to do so.

Jim

He who welds steel with flaming pine cones may accomplish anything!​

[James Nugnes]

Those are the guys John, Cyber Woodworking llc is I think what is on the back end of their company name. In truth they are providing what we should expect to get from all suppliers but they really stand out in the crowd i have been getting blades from lately. They even put Laguna Tools blades solidly behind them but in second place anyway.

[Raymond Fries]

I would reject them as well. Get a good blade and do not use them. I learned my lesson with a couple of Timber Wolf blades that I now just use for cutting scrap wood to save my good blades. To long of a story and do not want to change the flavor of the thread. Bacically they requested to look at them and after two months decided that they were slightly dull and never did address the weld issue. I just had them return them and they work fine for the scrap. My bad for not calling it sooner.

+1 For Woodslicers.

[Reinis Kanders]

I only have had a bandsaw for a year and have tried about 10 blades, from those only one has had no issues with weld. I sort of assumed that was a norm and since I am mostly a handtooler I did not bother. I will try out Cyberwood, will see how that goes.

[Brian W Smith]

The problem when the back of the blade isn't at least smooth is;even though there's 'sposed to be daylight/clearance between back of blade and bearing.....that clearance gets taken up,not unlike a shock absorber.If it isn't smooth it sets up all kinds of problems "in the cut" when the blade gets shoved back.It also "can" be,if funked up enough,a source for stress riser and impending break.So,even with very good alignment during the weld,gotta be careful with the subsequent grinding.

How much importance the weldor puts on the above shows up in mis-aligned welds.Find a new supplier?Or...learn to do it yourself?We Tig ours with either a 309 or silicon Bronze rod.But most home shops use a scarfed joint and silver solder.Good luck,I know it can be frustrating.