Repairing Bandsaw Blades

Al Launier

Member
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1,683
Location
Bedford, NH
I have some bandsaw blades (Simonds) that was given to me by my neighbor (once he knew I had a bandsaw). He is a salesman for that company and it was really nice of him to do that. I gave him a blade length of 93 1/2" to have them made up to, along with a Grizzly site address of the BS so he would know specifically the make/model of the BS and the specs of this saw. I just got around to trying one of the new blades and it is too long to tension on my G0555LX 14" saw. I tried other new, unused blades & found two more that were long as well. Measuring the circumference of the blade with a tape measure, one blade is 94 1/2", another is 95", and the other is 95 1/2" long. It' hard to imagine how anyone could be that sloppy when making up blades, so perhaps they pulled them off a shelf designated for a different BS

I've searched locally for a source that could cut & re-weld the blades to the correct length, but with little success. Unfortunately, the one I did find would service only those saws they sold (not Simonds). So, I ran across some youtube videos that show how to silver solder BS blades. Rather than butt weld, they overlap the ends, silver solder, then grind to the final thickness. I really don't want to go back to the neighbor with this problem as this would appear ungrateful, yet I'm not comfortable with the strength of silver solder to safely hold the blade together, especially under tension & cutting stresses. As a T&D Maker apprentice I used to make up/repair blades using an attachment on the side of a DoAll BS, and this was a butt welding process, not silver solder.

So, I'm wondering what you guys do to repair relatively new blades that break???
 
...So, I'm wondering what you guys do to repair relatively new blades that break???

Lacking a local shop that can weld them, I order a new one from Ellis Saw. :) I haven't had one repaired in decades, but I recall there was a welding supply place here in town that used to sell blades by the foot, and they had the gear to do the butt-weld on them.
 
Al there is another way to look at this. I would let your neighbor know. Start by letting him know how grateful u are but raise the concern for him and his company. They may have a quality issue that is being caused by an individual that is not doing the job properly and this could cost him business and in the end his job if it hurts the business bad enough.
Presented in this light he should appreciate the feedback from a friend and be able to look into the issue. If later after not telling him this slips out and he has suffered pain then sure both of you will feel bad.
They can rescue these blades and sort out the problem just a bit of awkwardness to get past in my view.


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Thanks for the thought Rob. I'll have to give that some thought, but I was thinking I could make him or his wife a little something in appreciation and subtly mention that his blades had to be shortened! :rofl:
 
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