How can I tell a wood-cutting bandsaw blade from a metal cutting one?

Sep 13, 2011 14 Replies

It's been so long snce I put a new blade on my home bandsaw, I don't remember if it's for cutting metal or wood. I should have put a label on the saw, but didn't (because I used to remember such things.)



Now I have some steel to cut, and I need to know! How can I tell a wood-cutting bandsaw blade from a metal cutting one?


Metal blades have small teeth and lots of them. Wood cutting has larger teeth and less of them. If you count the teeth per inch you can figure it out. Wood will be about 6, metal about 14.

Wood cutting blades are made out of wood. Metal cutting blades are made from metal.

Look on the packaging?

What do I win?

Steve

Thanks. I'm good to go then.

And thanks Christopher and excultmember. Sorry, Steve, packaging long gone. No prize.

You missed: plastic cutting blades are made from plastic, paper cutting blades are made from paper, concrete cutting blades are made from concrete and many others.

Joe

You missed: plastic cutting blades are made from plastic, paper cutting blades are made from paper, concrete cutting blades are made from concrete and many others.

Joe

Well, it's only logical.

Steve

One can only imagine what Loraina Bobbit's knife blade was made of..... :)

I WOOD think a wood saw wood have the teeth more at an offset to prevent burning.

Greg

wrote

Jeffrey Dahmer to Lorena Bobbitt: "You gonna eat that or what?"

groan .....................

"gregz" wrote

Metal blades have many smaller teeth, very close to a hack saw in appearance. Wood saws have larger teeth, even to the point of being hooked.

Steve

Unless you can slow down your bandsaw or are cuting soft stock like aluminum , you are likely to just strip the teeth off the blade.

I can slow it down.

I bought a new-to-me Toyoata Solara in South Carolina, where they don't have front license plates. I had 30 days to get plates in Md. and didn't realize until the day I got the plates that there is no bracket. What dealers who sell cars in Md. do is drill holes straight through the rubber bumber into the metal thing underneath. I can't bring myself to do that.

Yes, it was the metal-cutting blad and it went through the steel like butter. The bracket came from an obsolete computer I junked. If it turns out I need thicker, I'll cut a piece from one of the sides.

Thanks.

Came across this thread on another scavenger site:

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It doesn't even say what the source of the posts are, alt.home.repair, on Usenet.

People there would be so much better if they read news directly.

My google search on the topic was reloaded and it found my own thread here, even though I googled before all the answers.

Andy comments:

Yes, and any of them can be used to cut the crap !!! :>)))))

Andy in Eureka, Texas

PS Sorry... I couldn't resist ... :>))))

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