There is the possiblity that you got a hard batch of rebar. The
only specs on rebar are for tensile and size. Nothing about
elongation or Rockwell hardness. If you get some grade 60 bar
that is on the hard side, it can take the teeth out of most saw
blades. The fact that you wiped out 2 different blades points to
some hard stock.

We wiped out several blades on some hot rolled 1/4"x2" bar stock.
One stick out of the pile was way higher carbon than the others,
the welds got REALLY hard.

Cheers.

Ivan Vegvary wrote:

Always bought my band saw (h/v cheepie saw) from Harbor Freight. Would buy
approx. 6-10 at a time. I know everybody here thinks that the bi-metal are
the best, but I've been getting along with the cheap carbon steel.

Main use is to cut 5/8" rebar into 2 ft. long survey monuments. Usually buy
20 pieces of 20 foot rebar, stack them 9 thick (3x3) and cut nine bars at
time. Move the stack up 2 feet and repeat. I've bent 5-6 cute little clips
to keep the bundle of 9 bars from moving and rolling around.

Anyway, the above is equivalent to approx. 180 cuts. (81 cuts per bundle of
9 (9x9) plus 18 more for the remaining two bars. Typically these blades
would last me about 3 rounds (540 cuts) and often fail because I was
careless and let the stock get twisted, thereby breaking the blade.

Ran out of blades and went to Home Depot. They had the same blades. RIDGID
brand. Bought one 14 tooth metal blade and one 24-tooth blade. The
14-tooth blade made exactly 6 cuts (bundle of 3, twice) and after that would
merely just polish the metal. The 24-tooth blade only got through the
bundle of 3 once and then merely polished thereafter.

Thought Ridgid must be a good brand (name recognition at least in plumbing
tools). I guess their blades suck. Will have to mail order a dozen of the
cheepies from Harbor Freight and make sure I don't run out of stock.

BTW, the blades were not installed backwards! Also, I don't have these
precut by the fabricators because they always end up with a slight bend at
one end. This teeny bend makes it difficult to drive, especially through
asphalt roadways. If we put the bent end skyward, then our survey cap looks
crooked. Besides, I get to buy and write off a tool.

Ivan Vegvary