Welding A Bandsaw Blade

[Ellery Becnel]

https://www.victornet.com/tools/Bime...Coils/331.html This is where I have purchased my bandsaw blade material. I made a small fixture to clamp the stock and file a 20* angle along the face. I used to cut the blades with aviation snips. It would roll the edge of the stock and not match up. Now I use a dremmel with a cut off blade. It makes a cleaner/flat cut. Alignment is perfect now!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnSt3XlwgOc This little video pretty much explains my procedure. My set up and process is a little more precise, and doesn't use as much heat. I also don't grind away any teeth.

It is not difficult to get set up and make up or repair your blades.

[Ken Krawford]

John, it looks like Amazon has the Olson MVP blade for $42. Any thoughts on how it compares with the Diemaster since they're almost the same price?

Both Timberwolf blades I put on my 14" Delta with riser block broke and, like yours, not at the weld and not after a lot of use. I moved on.

For $60 or so you can buy an Olson MVP 105" x 1/2" x 3 tpi bimetal blade. If you look just a little, for only $40 you can buy a Lennox Diemaster II in the same configuration. Neither will leave as smooth a finish as a Woodslicer, and maybe not the Timberwolf, but both will last 5 - 10X longer.

John

[John TenEyck]

John, it looks like Amazon has the Olson MVP blade for $42. Any thoughts on how it compares with the Diemaster since they're almost the same price?

Ken, I thought the MVP lasted quite a bit longer than the Diemaster II, but the cut isn't quite as smooth. Both could cut 10" wide veneer when the saw was set up really well. For occasional use, I'd go with the Diamaster II because of the smoother cut. For heavier use/longer life, the MVP would be my choice. And don't discount a 3/8" x 4 tpi blade. That's my favorite all around blade on my 14" Delta. It does everything pretty well, including resawing 6" + stock. You can put 33% more tension on the 3/8" blade which makes a substantial difference on that saw.

John

[Ken Krawford]

John, thanks for the reply. Does your Delta have the riser block?

Ken, I thought the MVP lasted quite a bit longer than the Diemaster II, but the cut isn't quite as smooth. Both could cut 10" wide veneer when the saw was set up really well. For occasional use, I'd go with the Diamaster II because of the smoother cut. For heavier use/longer life, the MVP would be my choice. And don't discount a 3/8" x 4 tpi blade. That's my favorite all around blade on my 14" Delta. It does everything pretty well, including resawing 6" + stock. You can put 33% more tension on the 3/8" blade which makes a substantial difference on that saw.

John

[John TenEyck]

John, thanks for the reply. Does your Delta have the riser block?

Yes, so 105" blades.

John

[Mark Balmer]

FWIW I'll add my experience.

Years ago I purchased a 125' coil of Lenox Trimaster on ebay. Carbided tipped, 3/8" wide, 3-4 TPI variable pitch.
It wasn't dirt cheap, and I forget the exact numbers, but it was less than half the per foot cost of buying a pre-made blade.
Also bought one of the ebay silver solder kits. I think the kit could be improved upon, but it worked.
Despite not being much a metal worker, I was able to cut the blade close to the correct angle with a angle grinder cutoff wheel and then cleaned it up with a file, etc.
The soldered joint wasn't perfect, but apparently was good enough because it's held up to a lot of use and I never saw any problem with the cut quality.
The carbide Trimaster on an old-school 20" Powermatic was incredibly smooth compared to anything I ever got out of my hopped-up 14" Delta with the latest and greatest non-carbide blades. I credit a combination of the better blade and being able to tension it correctly on the bigger/stouter machine.

You might ask what I was going to do with 125'? One use was to make blades for friends. The other is a 36" Northfield, that I haven't finished messing with, that has a blade length of about 20 feet.

mark

[Richard Coers]

I could be mistaken but I thought silver solder was used for 'field repairs' i.e. no access to a blade welder.

I can be both. I have never had a silver solder joint fail. In fact I think it's better. You anneal the blade stock with the torch which can be problematic with a welder.

[Richard Coers]

With this talk of soldering a blade yourself, what are you doing to file the angle for a scarf joint? And where would you source a 100' roll of blade stock? Since my last resaw blade cracked I've been interested in being able to repair/make my own blades.

I extended a fence on my disc sander miter gage. I loop the blade so I grind the angle on both ends of the blade at the same time. I'm really gentle there so the blade doesn't flex from the disc pressure. I deburr it and clamp in my fixture. I apply the flux and a place a tiny bit of silver solder on top of the blade and heat from the bottom. The silver solder flows to the heat. Then I use a sanding drum on my Dremel and grind off the flux and excess silver solder. I've never had to redo a single joint. Works great. I bought some rolls of blade stock off EBay, back in the days when it was more like the garage sale days.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I've thought about TIG welding one, might try it one of these days. Anyone do that?

[Ron Selzer]

I have more 100' boxes of 1" 3 0r 4 tooth? (Have to go look again) than I will ever use. Contact me if you want some.
Also have a 200' box of 2" metal cutting that needs a new home
Ron

[William Lessenberry]

I've thought about TIG welding one, might try it one of these days. Anyone do that?

I think that the concentrated high temperature of a TIG weld will make the repair too brittle unless you have a way to anneal it.
BillL

[Ronald Blue]

I've thought about TIG welding one, might try it one of these days. Anyone do that?

Yes, I don't recall them breaking. Bandsaw welder was not working so this was the next best option. Just fused it metal to metal no filler.

[Ellery Becnel]

We had a bandsaw welder on the back of the shop bandsaw. I used it, while I worked there. It was hit and miss. We had one really good TIG welder. He did a few for the shop.

Now that I am retired I braze all of my blades. I prefer it to welding. I think, for a personal shop, Brazing is a simple and economical way to make quality blades.

[Richard Coers]

I thought I would add some details to silver soldering (also called silver brazing, or hard solder) and brazing. Silver solder flows better than braze and will wick into a joint more easily. C2 brazing rod melts at 875C (1600F), 33% silver solder melts at 720C (1330F) 40% silver solder melts at 675C (1247F), and 55% silver solder melts at 650C (1200F).

[Bill Dufour]

I vaguely remember reading that to scarf the joint you grind both ends back to back. this cancels any angle errors.
Bill D