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Alex Zeller
03-14-2020, 12:40 AM
On occasion I make buttons for my wife and sister. Until now I had been using a 1/8" parting tool. Today I tried something different. I used a sawzall blade in a handheld holder. For the first try I put the lathe in reverse and went at a very slow speed and used the saw's teeth. I had to slowly move the blade forward and backward to keep the teeth from filling up. The blade's set was more than enough to keep it from binding. The second try I just used the blade the same way you would use a parting tool. I had the teeth facing up so they wouldn't interfere with the rest. Both ways worked well. The buttons are less than 1 1/2" diameter so I didn't have to remove too much material. Just wondering other turner's opinions. I like the idea of not wasting wood but not at risking safety.
Barry McFadden
03-14-2020, 9:49 AM
I make buttons for my wife as well. She sews then onto the side of baby booties she knits. I turn a piece of wood to the diameter she wants and about 8" long and just cut them off on the bandsaw.
Alex Zeller
03-14-2020, 2:04 PM
I haven't had much luck cutting them on my bandsaw. In part because the insert for my saw isn't a zero clearance and the blades I have are too course.
Barry McFadden
03-14-2020, 2:46 PM
I haven't had much luck cutting them on my bandsaw. In part because the insert for my saw isn't a zero clearance and the blades I have are too course.

I just tape over the insert with green painters tape and all the buttons stay on top of the table. The blade is a general purpose 5 TPI with about 1/32 kerf...
Walter Mooney
03-14-2020, 4:41 PM
One of my thin parting tools is a 'hacksaw' sawzall blade. Even thinner than the wood-cutting blades, works well!
Richard Coers
03-14-2020, 10:30 PM
You have to be really aware of side clearance on that thin of parting tool. Get it bound up and it could grab and twist up in the wood.
Alex Zeller
03-15-2020, 12:16 PM
Saw blades have a set on them to cut wider than the blade to keep them from binding up. That being said they do twist if you aren't paying attention.
Dwight Rutherford
03-15-2020, 3:07 PM
I bought a 14” power hacksaw blade that is 1/16” thick,ground the teeth off then profiled the end.428034