I've found that good blades make a world of difference in how a
bandsaw performs. I keep being amazed at how well my Milwaukee
portable works but I think it's mostly the Milwaukee bimetal blades.
That saw goes thru barstock up to 4" dia far faster than the low-end
horizontal bandsaws do.

Ditto with the Wilton vertical bandsaw. I was mildly disappointed
with the saw when I first tried it with the supplied (import) blade,
but it works beautifully with a Sandvik blade I bought locally.

Figure at least 3 teeth in the cut, choose pitch, rake, speed and
tooth shape according to thickness and material. Your local
sawblade purveyor can be a lot of help.

On 16 Nov 2003 19:49:25 -0800, (brownnsharp) wrote:

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