Broke my first band saw blade...

[ExtraMile]

And I found that replacement is a breeze! Not sure why the blade broke. I was only cutting SurePly. Nothing extreme. But the breakage seemed pretty severe.

You should have seen the blade. It had a "Z" in it, right above the table!

[wa2crk]

Can you post a pic? Maybe someone can pinpoint the cause.
Bill V

[Ed in Tampa]

I have ruined a lot of bandsaw blades (abuse) but I never broke one. I learned in high school shop class never to break a bandsaw or scroll saw blade. The penalty for breaking one was a paddling. Our shop teacher was a really nice guy but worked in a coal mines during the summer. His arms were like rock, you did not want to get a paddling from him.

But that was back in the good old days when kids still said yes sir and no sir and respected their elders.

[JPG]

And I found that replacement is a breeze! Not sure why the blade broke. I was only cutting SurePly. Nothing extreme. But the breakage seemed pretty severe.

You should have seen the blade. It had a "Z" in it, right above the table!

How fast was it running?

[charlese]

And I found that replacement is a breeze! Not sure why the blade broke. I was only cutting SurePly. Nothing extreme. But the breakage seemed pretty severe.

You should have seen the blade. It had a "Z" in it, right above the table!

First of all - don't lose sleep over the break.

By a "Z" do you mean it had a sharp angular bend? When I have done this it was caused by backing out of a cut and in the process twisting the wood a little too much. Once crinked (creased) a blade may hold on for a while, but it is weak there and will eventually break.

[ExtraMile]

The speed in which I run the band saw is "Jig Saw" speed.

[charlese]

Hi Extra! Good photo of a double bend. If that is the damage and there is no actual separation, you can fix it - at least temporarily. Just bend it as straight as you can with your fingers. After getting just a slight double bend, lay if on your bench and work it some more to get it straightened.

This looks to me that it happened when the blade caught on the upper or lower blocks while not having enough tension.

[ExtraMile]

It is broke and in the scrap heap!
I think I now know why is broke. I think I had the shoe of the saw, to high!

[Ed in Tampa]

The speed in which I run the band saw is "Jig Saw" speed.

WOW!

[reible]

The arm and guard should be say no more then a 1/4" above the workpiece, if you had a couple of inches then I can see how the blade could have gotten to that shape.

The fastest speed for the bandsaw I believe is "D" but I normally run it slower then that. If you have a powerpro then you have a built in chart to help with this.

I normally don't break blades, it is rare and I like it that way. I'm not a fan of cheap blades so perhaps that is part of the reason. That is also why I try and be careful with them because it costs to have to replace them.

All in all the bandsaw is pretty important tool in my shop. I'm really not sure I would ever want to be without one. In fact I'm going out the shop now and it is likely that I will be doing some bandsawing while out there.

Ed