rthibeau Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 I have some 10' x 1" bandsaw blades from a metal shop. The vendor describes them as "spring steel back with high speed steel ground teeth". Is this anything like L6 which I keep seeing referred to in saw mill bandsaw blades? Either way, does anyone have experience using metal cutting bandsaw blades in knives? I can get all I would ever need for free so I'm wondering the best use for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryder Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 not too sure about your question, but i new a guy who made some nice filet knives from BIG sawzall type blades. he was using stock removal method and turned out some nice blades. wish i knew what type blades they were, if anyone knows... anyway i think the L-6 is mostly the wood cutting type bandsaw mills. thanks, Stryder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbillysmith Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 RT, yes. As far as I know, ALL bandsaw blades are made from L-6. Now, sawz-all blades are a different story. Bandsaw blades make very good knives, ESPECIALLY fillet knives. As a matter of fact, I just got a bandsaw blade today that broke in shop class! It's only 3/8 wide though. But, it's 7ft long and it was free, so I'm not complaning. ALL is a big statement for such a large world of metal makers.. we disagree, in fact I have some made of 2 other metals myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 I use 'bi-metal' blades on my metal cutting bandsaw. I've heard they have a good cutting edge and a lower carbon spine. Maybe somebody knows more about these. By the time you grind the teeth off, you may not have much good steel left. I haven't used any for laminate welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 All band saw blades are NOT made from L6. Here at work we have blades up to 2.5" wide and 1/16" thick for cutting large steel ingots and billets. These blades are usually carbide tipped. The backs are a high carbon chrome/moly alloy with very little Nickel. L6 has Nickel as the major alloying element and a variable carbon content depending on the application. Often found in large blades for sawmill applications, these blades were not tipped (in the past) so the blade needed both edge holding abiltiy and toughness. Patrick N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work With Nature Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 I went to the local lumber mill and got 1 inch wide about 12 foot long band-saw blades. All I know about them they rust really fast, well it is monsoon here at the moment, but way faster than leaf spring and other stuff. Any ideas as to what they may be. They spark high carbon everywhere. I am wondering if there might be nickel in there as I am playing around with layered steel. Not much to go by I know. Also got given some planner blades from an electric table planner also any ideas. Cheers David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Mystery metals require experimentation to find out what works. Unless you can contact the original manufacturer to get the exact specs it is all guesswork. Planer blades can be HSS-High Speed Steel, and are not really forge-able, or heat treatable in a home setting. They can be used for stock removal projects, but HSS is very brittle when fully heat treated. HSS is used for lathe bits too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Bandsaw blade: try etching it and see if it etches bright or dark---I'm betting bright; but I'm not familiar with the bandsaw blades in use out where you are at. Like he said the planer blades may not be much use a a blade steel---but you may want to look up a tool called a "sen" a sort of drawknife type thing for steel used by Japanese swordmakers...The planer blades might make good sens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work With Nature Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 BIGGUNDOCTOR, ThomasPowers, Thanks guys for the great tips and ideas. So no forge welding the two together then for "damascus" Will give an etch a go to see if it has the nickel, I think Walter Sorrels made a video on how to make a sen. Will have a look. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 I like to use bandsaw blades (BSB) and the metal strapping used to hold stuff together for shipping---it comes in different widths, thicknesses and alloys. I'm always happy when I find a bunch that will snap when heated and quenched in water---higher carbon content makes for a better blade! Anyway as BSB tends to not weld to itself easily the pallet strapping makes a nice layer in between and the resultant billet etches nicely. Also when you start with 25 layers the layer count goes up fast! It is a bit trickier to weld the thin layers without burning them---one trick is to arc weld only the handle end and wire the other end , that way as you heat the billet the layers on the outside don't bow out from heating up faster. (or if they do bow it's easy to tap them closed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zul kaplak Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 I've been using band saw blade from saw mill for my damascus knife. I stack with O1 or leaf spring. Its content nickel and 0.75 carbon i've been told. I believe that it is made from 15n20 or L6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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