Band saw question

Fatstrat

Well-Known Member
A local pawn shop has a Black & Decker 9" tabletop bandsaw at a very attractive price that I intend to buy. It is the largest size I have room for and will be handy for many projects knife related or not. But I definitely will want to cut steel with it.
Question: Can you cut blade quality steel w/a bandsaw and if so, what type of (bandsaw) blade is best for this purpose?
 
Any bandsaw made for wood will not cut steel without considerable modifications, even then its probably pretty iffy.
 
I have a 10" Craftsman and found out the same thing. You can get bi-metal saw blades for them but the saw itself isn't setup correctly speed wise, etc to cut steel, especially blade steel.
I did manage to cut some brass with mine. But even that was a bit tricky. It's still a useful tool for your shop though. I use mine to cut knife handle material and other wood related projects.
 
Harbor Freight sells a metal cutting band saw. Price is about $250 If you will sign up for their email list and wait they will send you discount coupons all the time I get the %20 coupon pretty often.
 
Harbor Freight also has a hand held metal cutting band saw and if you take the handle off and bolt a piece of angle iron where the handle goes you can clamp it in a bench vise and use it all day long to cut blades out. It is small and costs only around $90.00. I stole the idea from James Helm...(Stormcrow) on this forum. He has a post about it somewhere on here. There is also a company called swag off road that makes a table to attach one of these hand held band saws to to make it easier. I just bolted the angle to mine and made a table top out of 1/4" plate and sits on a shelf when I am not using it. I will try and take some pics later today and post them here.
 
The slower speed Harbor frieght bandsaws are the way to go for a inexpensive metal cutting bandsaw.
There blades though are pretty much useless. Get a USA or european made Bimetal blade of the same lenght at 14-18 TPI.
That's teeth per inch.
 
The slower speed Harbor frieght bandsaws are the way to go for a inexpensive metal cutting bandsaw.
There blades though are pretty much useless. Get a USA or european made Bimetal blade of the same lenght at 14-18 TPI.
That's teeth per inch.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the replies.
 
Yesterday I bought the HF portable, $114 including a two year no questions asked warranty. On the way home a stop at Lowes for a 3 pack of Lennox metal cutting blades. Today I'll be cutting some 1095 & forged flat & anealed coil spring. More info tonight.
 
I got the HF portable and used zip ties to strap it to my work bench. It cuts really well for the cost IMO.
 
if your Black and decker has adjustable speeds you will be able to cut metal with a proper blade. With single speed you will not have much of a chance.
 
Ah Hah. So variable speed is a must. Good to know before I buy. Thanks.

yes, you need low speed for steel. check craigs list some of the older duracrafts and craftsman cheap have adjustable speeds and you can usually pick them up for cheap. Just keep in mind that they were not made to cut steel so over a period of time it will ware on them, but I just buy another on craigs for $40 bucks when that happens.
 
Tested the Harbor Freight portable band saw, after installing a Lenox 24 tpi blade, I saved the HF one for any wood cutting I might want to do. On Aldos 1095 it cut just fine, on a flattened and annealed truck coil spring it cut just fine. Speed control worked but not really too well. I couldn't tell much difference with the good blade between the 'low' and 'high' speed settings. I set it about half way and think I'll just leave it there.
 
Honestly, I am having no trouble cutting out blanks with the blade that it came with. I have a better blade but so far I haven't felt the need to switch it.
 
Just an FYI, the version 4 swag table and the Milwaukee saw results in a blade that is quite skewed. This results in cuts that are not square. Keep that in mind if square guts are important to you.
 
Back
Top