Broke my first band today

[starmac]

Well I broke my first band on the sawmill today.
Let me tell you that will get your attention, and get you to step back too. lol
I thought the thing exploded. lol

[Plate plinker]

Weld it back together? I can be done.

[popper]

You were supposed to be loading and moose hunting - remember!! NOT working.

[winchester85]

toss it in the trash and put on another blade. you will get used to it.

i have over 1400 hours on my mill, while i break blades now and then, it is not very often. don't push them too hard especially when dull, and change them when before they get that dull.

[fishhawk]

You should be next to a 8ft band saw in a saw mill when a dog on the carriage sticks out and gets hit with the saw or you find a glass insulator in a tree, it really makes you wonder if the job is worth it!

[starmac]

Weld it back together? I can be done.

No doubt they can be welded, but not really expensive enough to warrant it, besides , I didn't inspect it but am sure some teeth is damaged too. lol

I am not sure why this one broke, It wasn't dull, I didn't hit anything, and it wasn't getting hot, so I'm thinking it was just it's time.
So far I have been lucky and not hit any stops or clamps either. I know it's coming at some point though. lol

[jcwit]

Remember, it was only exciting for a short time!

[starmac]

True enough, it is over just as quick as it happens and the blade pretty much stops right now, when in the cut.
Then the excitement is getting the wadded up blade out of there without it spring around your neck. lol

[Teddy (punchie)]

Most good grade industrial band saws have a spot welder build in. A Good machine shop should have one, little box on side place in turn or press handle and hit the switch, welded.

Guy we had do some band saw work would resharpen them and they worked great. If he hit a nail or insulator in a log he charged you for the next blade he would let it happen once but after that it was extra charge. He said dull was one thing hit something there junk. His blades were 1'' wide and some 100 inches or more long he would cut a 30'' log.

[jcwit]

It's really something what one finds in a log. Besides the obvious nails and fence wire. I've seen a complete squirrel skeleton on a grown up crotch, many round ball's deep inside of a full sized walnut board, .22 galore. Just to name a few.

[Hamish]

My FIL always swore that the best filet knives were made with bandsaw mill blades.

Glad no one was hurt, definitely a great reminder why the safety cages,,,,,,

[fishhawk]

Nails..railroad spikes..glass insulators..horse shoes.. rocks.. concrete.. half inch drill bits..rubber balls..fence wire.. bullets galore can't remember any thing else but that's the list of what I found. And my bands saws were 8 inch across and roughly 20ft long.

[starmac]

This is just a homeowner mill, bands are just something like 22 bucks a piece, not hardly worth messing with welding them. I do have the sharpening and setting equipment, but haven't sawn enough to even mess with it yet.
The bands on mine are 1 in, but the last ones I bought are 1 1/4 in, haven't used any of them yet.

[Harter66]

At work we have a 24" band saw having had a band pop while running free I'll take those failures in a cut every time . It is a little startling when it happens .

We cut a lot of lengths in 2x4,2x6,4x4 and 4x6 milled fir 4s and the biggest surprise I've had was found dead center in a center cut 4x4 . It looked like a Walmart 60 penny tent stake and the 87 tooth carbide tipped 16" radial arm saw cut right through it. The back half of the cut was about an inch wide compared to the normal 3/16 cut and something just didn't sound right . I guess the 3rd time around the teeth went sideways a little bit. No harm except that $175 saw blade with about 80 cuts on it be fore that....... it was odd there was no nothing to suggest it was there about 5ft into a 16 ft 4x4.....

[Wolfer]

Back when I was logging the mill I was hauling to sawed thru a momma skunk and her brood. That cleared the mill right quick!

[JWT]

I had a portable mill come in and cut up four 100yr old ash trees (thanks to the emerald ash borer), one hickory tree, and a cherry tree at my house. All went well except for one of the ash logs. Had to have been 100 hardened finish nails in it.

[MaryB]

I just had a catalpa(bean pod) tree cut down. Was going to have it cut into boards but to much rot down the center where the lightning track went(it has been hit 4 times while I have lived here). As they were cutting it into small enough pieces to fit in the tractor bucket to lift into the dump truck one of the guys called me over all excited. He kept repeating look I found a gun! Thinking he really had something decent. I took a look and it was an old 50's cap gun, kid must have stashed it in the crotch where a tree house used to be. Tree grew around it and entombed it until he hit it with his chainsaw. He hit lots of nails from said tree house too... ate 2 chains cutting that thing up.

[fast ronnie]

No doubt they can be welded, but not really expensive enough to warrant it, besides , I didn't inspect it but am sure some teeth is damaged too. lol

I am not sure why this one broke, It wasn't dull, I didn't hit anything, and it wasn't getting hot, so I'm thinking it was just it's time.
So far I have been lucky and not hit any stops or clamps either. I know it's coming at some point though. lol

Just was wondering if it broke at the weld. Bandsaw blades have a tendency to break at the weld if not properly annealed. I'm surprised your blades are that cheap. The cheapest one on my vertical is $50. Of course, I'm sawing steel in a machine shop, but I've found a good grade of Lennox bi-metal will outlast the carbon blades 10 to 1. I've never broken a lennox welded blade, but sure have broke some I've welded.

[starmac]

Blades direct from woodmizer runs 370 a box, and there is 15 to a box. There are some cheaper places to get blades, and some more expensive, but from all info I have gathered board ft wise the woodmizers are a pretty good deal. You can get some bimetal blades for these too, but again from the info I've gained these are about as good as it gets as far as cost per board foot, plus my sharpener and setter is set up for them.

[Goatwhiskers]

Correct way to fix a band saw blade is to file a taper on the ends, then silver solder it back together. Secret is to keep the taper CLEAN! Prolly easier to just chunk it and replace. GW