How to fold a bandsaw blade

[Neillarson]

on YouTube that shows one method of folding a

Well, I have never worn gloves either, but I do now. Last week after installing my 6" riser, I opened my first Timberwolf 105 Inch, 3 TPI Reverse Hook, 3/4 Inch blade. Let me tell you, this was an experience. My old saw was a 12 Incher and the blades were a breeze to work with, a few minor scratches once in awhile. With this 105? After the first hoop opened and the figure eight caught both my thumbs and one of my index fingers in it, I was real lucky my SWMBO was in shouting distance. The end result was no stitches but about 5 clean punctures in my hands. If she had not been close, they would have been incesions and probably required stiches.

I chalked that one up to the "lessons learned" and went and got me a nice set of leather gloves.

[Lee Michaels]

"Neillarson" wrote

I used to work with a guy who had a small metal fabrication and welding shop. He used to get in these seriously big bandsaw blades used for cutting metal.

He would go out back of the shop and throw the coiled blades on the ground. They would just explode into their natural uncoiled state. It was scary to watch. The blades were just hung on a nail after that. It was just too dangerous to do anything else with them.

[Larry Blanchard]

=A0that.=A0It=A0was=A0just=A0too

That's what I do with my 111" blades. It's fun to watch them bounce :-= ). But I do recoil them when I take them off the saw.

--=20 It's turtles, all the way down

[Brian Henderson]

I don't know, I use two of those little wire twist ties you get with sandwich bags, one at the top and one at the bottom and hang it on a nail. Seems to work just fine.

[J T]

Wed, Jun 6, 2007, 11:56am leemichaels*nadaspam*@comcast.net (Lee=A0Michaels) doth sayeth: He would go out back of the shop and throw the coiled blades on the ground. They would just explode into their natural uncoiled state. It was scary to watch. The blades were just hung on a nail after that.

I don't deal with that big of blades, but that's exatly how I do it. I figure that's the safest, and easiest, way.

JOAT If a man does his best, what else is there?

- General George S. Patton

[Peter Huebner]

Masking tape works just fine, too, when it's the only handy thing...

-P.

[Wayne J.]

When I used to work at Delta, we would do just that to uncoil them when we were putting them in a customers bandsaw after a repair.

The boss used to make us coil old blades back up for storage. I hated that, but I can still do it with out even thinking.

wayne

[Island Teak]

[Island Teak]

Okay Wayne J,

I 'd appreciate it if you could 'slow down the reflex' and explain how to coil a long bandsaw blade. I have seen this technique done numerous times....crossing the wrists...twist and turn.. and the voila.....a neat three looped bundle ready for hanging. ....well, a neat bundle for someone else maybe....not me. Give me a tangled chainsaw chain and in mere seconds...voila, it's untangled...but those damned long bandsaw blades still elude me....ahh, right, I can't explain how I untangle a chain saw chain either.

Okay Wayne J....I'm counting on your help with my 36" wheel bands.

...Ken

[Peter Huebner]

Hold bandsaw blade out in front of you with both palms pointing to the right. Turn right hand clockwise to the 'natural' position and do a bit of an accordeon type movement with your arms at the same time. A bit, that is. Voila. Decent leather gloves highly recommended. Sometimes, with my wide 1 1/4" blade, the third loop doesn't want to settle the first time, it always works the second or third time around, though :)

-P.

[Larry Blanchard]

For me, it's easier to put one foot on the blade on the floor, one hand on top with palm facing out. Turn hand and lower top of blade. When you've turned that hand as far as your bones will allow, replace with other hand and keep turning.

[Hoosierpopi]

YouTube folding a bandsaw blade

Hey, great one. Thanks for sharing it. I've got one to fold - been waiting for months.

Any idea how to save that video to one's HD for later use?

[Brian Henderson]

Depends on the tape. Some tapes eventually fail and you don't want to be anywhere close to a bandsaw blade that suddenly opens explosively. Some leave residue on the blade that will pick up sawdust and may slip off the wheel. If you use a good, high quality tape, I don't know that you'd have any problem though but I'd prefer using something that isn't going to fail and isn't going to leave anything sticky on the blade to begin with.

[CW]

Shouldn't be any problem if the tape does fail. No force is necessary to hold a blade in the folded position. The worst that would happen is the tape falls off.

[Say What?]

Pipe cleaners! Easy on, easy off, and reusable if you don't let them close to the dust collector intake.

One pack from the local Walgreen's smoker's section and you're good for a loooong time. Still working on the pack I bought around 1985.

[CW]

Good thought. The original twist tie. Used to get used for this kind of application a lot when pipes were more prevalent.

[Say What?]

Forgot to mention the anther use in the shop...

I recently reglued a half dozen dining room chairs for our daughter. El cheapo, Ikea specials or something similar they picked up on Craigslist or somesuch that had been racked till they were ready to collapse.

Pipe cleaners were really great for getting just enough TBIII into the mortise joints. Works like a charm and toss them when done.