Need new supplier for Lenox Bandsaw blades

[Tom Bain]

In the past I have ordered from Spectrum Supply, but I'm having all kinds of problems getting a recent order processed by them. They appear to have been acquired by another company and the accounting dept there doesn't seem to have it's systems/act together.

Any recommendations for other suppliers?

[Philip Glover]

I have good luck with BandSawBladesDirect.com

Phil

[roger wiegand]

i just got a blade from Spectrum this week. Aside from having to call me for a bit of credit card info their web site doesn't ask for it was painless. I'll put up with a bit of hassle to save about $70 on a blade vs bandsawbladesdirect, who took forever and a day to fulfill my last order with them.

[John TenEyck]

I had problems with Spectrum, too. The route of it was my Chase Visa card. It's related to Spectrum being owned by another company, and Chase won't authorize the purchase. However, the transaction worked fine with my MasterCard. The route of the problem is at Spectrum but there are workarounds. The savings (about $100/blade) justified the extra work.

John

[Christopher Charles]

I’ve used woodcraft bands in NC (not THE woodcraft) several times but has been a couple years. Had good prices and were fast.

[Tom Bain]

I had problems with Spectrum, too. The route of it was my Chase Visa card. It's related to Spectrum being owned by another company, and Chase won't authorize the purchase. However, the transaction worked fine with my MasterCard. The route of the problem is at Spectrum but there are workarounds. The savings (about $100/blade) justified the extra work.

John

John -- I had exactly the same issue. I guess I'm just not willing to deal with a company that can't process a simple credit card transaction with a major bank. Hopefully they can get their accounting issues resolved.

[Brian Tymchak]

I've had excellent service with BladeSerpent. I just recently learned though that they do not weld their own blades. The first batch of blades I got from them, the welds were perfect. Couldn't hardly find them. Second blade order, a weld was bad and the blade broke within 10 minutes of mounting it. Working with their customer service, which was excellent, I had a new blade in 2 days, and it is an excellent blade.

[Erik Loza]

+1 for bandsaw-blades-direct-dot-com.

Erik

[Patrick Curry]

i just got a blade from Spectrum this week. Aside from having to call me for a bit of credit card info their web site doesn't ask for it was painless. I'll put up with a bit of hassle to save about $70 on a blade vs bandsawbladesdirect, who took forever and a day to fulfill my last order with them.

I had the same credit card experience with them last week in that they called for some additional card info. It was a polite, short call my Woodmaster CT arrived this week. I’m happy with the savings.

I initially bought a few lower priced Lenox Woodmaster C from BandsawBladesDirec over the summer to replace a Resaw King. Fast service but I can’t get a good cut from either one of the CT bands. It may just be the wrong bands for my saw (18 Taiwan Laguna). They both extend about 1/2” to the right despite time spent fiddling with the guides. Very strange.

[Steven O Smith]

I've had good luck with this place:
https://www.bandsawbladecenter.com/Diemaster2.html

Steve

[Bruce Wrenn]

I’ve used woodcraft bands in NC (not THE woodcraft) several times but has been a couple years. Had good prices and were fast.John retired, and sold his business to Union Grove Saw.

[Christopher Charles]

Thanks for the update Bruce, that will save me some time when I go to order some blades next time.

[Tony Shea]

Def would recommend BandsawBladesDirect!!!

[Dave Cav]

Thanks for the update Bruce, that will save me some time when I go to order some blades next time.

I used to use Woodcraft, and last year I ordered some blades from Union Grove. They still had all of John's contact info (a box of index cards, I believe) and they hired his blade welder. The blades were reasonably priced and arrived in a timely manner. I don't know what they are using for blade stock, but I seem to remember John used Starret.

I get my Woodmaster CT from Bandsawbladesdirect.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I used to use Woodcraft, and last year I ordered some blades from Union Grove. They still had all of John's contact info (a box of index cards, I believe) and they hired his blade welder. The blades were reasonably priced and arrived in a timely manner. I don't know what they are using for blade stock, but I seem to remember John used Starret.

I get my Woodmaster CT from Bandsawbladesdirect.I used to get Lennox Diemasters from Woodcraft Bands. If memory serves me correct, John stocked more than one brand.

[John Kananis]

Just fyi, I used spectrum for the first time after reading this thread - I ordered a 1/2" trimaster and a 1/4" diemaster. My order total was 188.40 plus 34 dollars shipping (a bit much for shipping but still comes to less than other sources). They called a couple days after I placed my order for the ccv code on my card (I knew this would happen because it says they will on their site but why not just include a drop down box in the payment part of the site?

Anyway, next day I see the charge for 188.40, no shipping. On Saturday, they charged my card again for 188.40. This morning, there was another charge for 188.40. I spoke with them and they simply said that was their process and the other two charges would drop off eventually... are you kidding me?

Wait, it gets better, they said that was for only the trimaster as the diemaster will ship from a different location so I can expect the same thing to happen. Again. So you're going to tie up $1,130.40 for 1 transaction of 188.4??!!!

Yeah, I'm pissed. Never again.

[Jim Becker]

John, they are not kidding you. The initial transactions were pending inquiries to insure that the account number they used was valid. This can be quite common and they stay in "pending" if you're looking at your card information online. It sounds like their order system does an inquiry multiple times...which certainly bites. In the end, you should only have one "actual" charge for $188.40 plus the shipping. If that doesn't hold true, you can dispute it.

[John Kananis]

I spoke with them this morning and they said they would rectify. I got an email this afternoon saying my order was canceled (not what i was looking for). They've refunded 1 of the charges so far, the others are still pending. I'm just putting an order in with bsbd, I'm simply not happy with their process. Saving this aggregation is totally worth 70 bucks (to me).


John, they are not kidding you. The initial transactions were pending inquiries to insure that the account number they used was valid. This can be quite common and they stay in "pending" if you're looking at your card information online. It sounds like their order system does an inquiry multiple times...which certainly bites. In the end, you should only have one "actual" charge for $188.40 plus the shipping. If that doesn't hold true, you can dispute it.

[Kevin Jenness]

I ordered two Lenox flexback blades from this site on Monday and received them today http://www.cyberwoodworking.com/. About the same price as Bandsawblades direct. I used to use Spectrum as their pricing is significantly better, but my last order got lost in space and these recent reported problems have put me off them.

[John Kananis]

Kevin, thanks for the link. Looks like I would have saved myself 15 bucks on the trimaster (including shipping). I ordered from bsbd on the 15th so I'll see my blades in a couple weeks haha. Monday to Friday turnaround time sounds fantastic.


I ordered two Lenox flexback blades from this site on Monday and received them today http://www.cyberwoodworking.com/. About the same price as Bandsawblades direct. I used to use Spectrum as their pricing is significantly better, but my last order got lost in space and these recent reported problems have put me off them.

[les winter]

An excellent resource is Iturra Design. Fast, excellent weld, excellent price. You will need to call your order in. Louis is very free with recommendations. His catalog, free on request, is both entertaining and informative. 904 642-2802

I note that several online suppliers do not do their own welding, so turn around time can be lengthy. Louis does his own and stands behind his work. If a blade breaks at the weld within one year of purchase he will repair it at no cost except you pay to send it back to him.

I recommend him highly. No relation, just a long term satisfied customer.

[Brian Backner]

Depending on how many blades, and types, widths, etc., you use or go through in the course of a few years, consider getting your own blade welder. High end ones from DoAll go for a couple of grand, but you can pick up used ones for a song off of CraigsList. Large metal working vertical band saws - so called 'contour' saws - usually come with a blade welder built into the body of the saw. This allow the operator to snap the blade, insert one end through a hole located in a part, then to reweld the blade and cut out large interior features. Very handy when working on 1/2"+ thick steel plate. When such a saw is scrapped, the blade welder will typically be scavenged and put on a shelf and gather dust as the replacement saw will also have its own welder

Once you have a welder, you can pick up coil remnants off of eBay quite reasonably and make, or repair, blades whenever you need to. I've even cut damaged foot long sections out of an otherwise good blade and welded a 'patch' in to repair it.

For typical woodworking, I'd recommend a DoAll Model DBW-1A Butt Welder. It'll handle blades up to 3/4" wide if you set it up correctly. I had been using the much larger DBW-8 (they have a monstrous model 15 as well), but I had no need to work on blades over 1", and sold it after I found the 1A. Anyway, I got the smaller one off of CL for $30. The PO wanted it gone because he could never get it to work correctly. It's single phase and he had plugged it into a normal 20A socket. Problem is that it requires 120V at 45 amps! Once given enough juice, it's been working flawlessly for me.