Cutting down a saw blade

[Michael Ray Smith]

No, I'm not going to destroy a perfectly good saw. Actually, I have an old blade that has already been cut down, and I want to use a piece of it to make a blade for a stair saw. I've never tried to cut a saw blade before. Can I just cut it with a hacksaw, then smooth the edges with a file? The edges will be inside the handle of the stair saw, so there's no need for precision. What about cutting the slots for the screws? Can I just drill a row of holes with a diameter equal to the width of the slot that I want, then file out the sides of the slots?

[john brenton]

I made stair saw and a veneer saw, as well as my stratch stock pieces by cutting them out with tin snips. Tin snips will warp it a little, but it isn't bad. The only concern I have with that is safety...the edges get real sharp. You can use a angle grinder if you have it, I know I tried to use a dremel with a wheel and it took forever.

I would do like you saw and drill out the holes then file, but to drill the hole in the plate you want to go on slow speed. I usually punch the spot where I'm going to drill and put a few drops of oil in there. Going high speed will get you nowhere fast.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I cut the back end of a saw to fit a handle transplant, and had decent luck with a hacksaw. Just kept things clamped well to a piece of wood scrap to keep things from vibrating, and cut it right up next to the scrap. A large file smoothed things out.

[lowell holmes]

I scored an old blade with a triangular saw and snapped the end of the blade off. It broke clean and then I dressed the resulting edge with a bench grinder.

[george wilson]

When I had no other way to do it,back in the 60's when I was teaching shop with nearly no budget,I cut them with a cold chisel. I clamped the blade in a metal working vise,and held the chisel with the edge just even with the top of the jaws. By hammering the cold chisel along,only JUST cracking the blade,and moving along with the chisel,I was able to cut a blade any way I wanted with minimal warping or distortion. The key is to allow the chisel to just barely crack the blade flush with the vise jaws,but do not allow the chisel to bend the blade except enough to crack it.

I cut up 1/16" thick sawmill bandsaw blades like that,to make scrapers out of. Those kids really got into scraping!!. They built their own benches,and I can tell you,they didn't abuse them by defacing them.