"brownnsharp" wrote in message
om...
I just bought a metal cutting horizontal bandsaw (one of those that
swivel from one end of the saw, takes a 64 inch blade and cuts by
gravity feed, switching itself off when finished) from my local scrap
metal yard. Spent the day welding and straightnening things, and am
ready to cut stuff now. On my vertical bandsaw, I use 6 T/in blades
for thick steel (1"). A friend of mine said I should use much finer
teeth on the horizontal saw. Anyone got a list of recommended T/in
blades for various thickness materials for these saws? What brands of
saw blades hold up? Anyone tried HF bandsaw blade? Their store is
really handy-close-by to me. I buy a lot of Harbor freight stuff, but
I don't buy anything that requires that the alloys or heat treating be
well-done for it to work. I.e. no pin wrenches, snap-ring pliers, or
jewelers screwdrivers,for instance. Hence,I am wary of Harbor Freight
saw blades.

Brownnsharp

If you feel you won't shuck teeth from the blades, a bi-metal is very good,
but I don't use them. I've stayed with carbon steel blades for a couple
reasons. One, I usually damages a blade well before wearing it out, or (2)
it breaks from fatigue before you have the miles from it. Regardless of
your choice, though, I think that the blade stock in question might be .025"
thick, not .020". To make a proper blade selection, just remember to
have at least three teeth in contact with the work at all times. If you
don't have, you'll shuck teeth, especially with the gravity feed type saws
that don't have fine control of the feed speed. If you're cutting small
diameter material, or thin stock or tubing, that calls for something as fine
as a 28 pitch blade. For thick materials where you'd have lots of teeth
in contact, it's best to have a coarser blade, even a skip tooth if
necessary. You need a place for the chips to accumulate while the blade
gets from one side of the cut to the other, and fine pitch blades usually
don't have enough room. That causes the blade to float instead of cut,
which leads to more heat and faster failure of the blade. Hope this
helps.

Harold