I have just been given 36' of 8" bandsaw blade. This is a big machine to see in person. The plan is to use the metal for some pattern welding. I am wanting to know if there is a standard type of steel for these blades? I do not know who manufactured it. Thanks

Short answer, depends on the bandsaw blade.

The Junkyard Steels chart says L6.

But it really depends upon what the manufacturer used - and during what years.

Mikey

My friend got a bunch that was L6.. REALLY hard stuff..
Makes great armor:)

15N20 would be my guess, as long as we're guessing.

All the big band saw blades that i have heard of people having tested came back as
15n20.

Bob

Hey Banjoe,
why don't you go into your User CP (top left of the screen) and let us know where you are.

That sounds like a really nice score. congrats

Another thing to keep in mind is that many saw blades are now bi-metal blades. They have a different metal alloy for the teeth than they do for the rest of the blade. That way they can put special carbide alloys for the cutting teeth, while using different metal alloy for its "toughness" properties for the rest of the blade.

Sometimes it is just the cutting tips of the teeth, sometimes it runs into the blade a bit. Just something to watch out for.

Mikey

Mike is correct. It is super easy to tell the difference between the two kinds of blade with a spark test. It is a little more difficult to tell the difference between a nickel steel like 15N20 or L6 and a higher carbon chrome moly alloy. The chrome moly alloy will have more pronounced chromium sparklers along the shank and will have slightly lower carbon due to the increased hardenablilty that the alloying ingredients provide. You can also distinguish nickel blocks from moly spears.

Fortunately, bandsaw blades seem to fall into two categories. High nickel (L6 or 15N20) or chrome moly spring backed with HSS teeth. The latter will spark straight red till you burn through the teeth, then med carbon alloy the rest of the way. Fat blades, like your 8", are often the former type, but one cannot say for sure without a spark test.

Someone told me if you have a lot, it is worth dropping $60 for a real analysis. I have a full set of known coupons, as well as sample blades, so this helps the spark testing a lot. I read an interesting paper from Japan about recruiting people off the street to do spark testing. If they were trained with coupons to distinguish two types of steel, they could be trained quickly and accurately, and could be counted on to beat pattern recognition on a computer-based expert system. Nobody can beat optical emission spectroscopy, though, so if you have a lot, and it is important, spring for that test.

done forget 15n20 is basically 1075 with 2% nickel. And L-6 is nickel chrome and moly, so sparks don't always help much there..

Wow thanks for all the replies! My guess is this is an older blade. Where would I send it to be tested? I also just bought 3 -52" sawmill blades. I hope these will be nice for throwing knives. Any guesses on what these are made of ?

Hi banjoe,
For what it's worth, I've worked with 36'6" X11" and 30'6" X 8" bandsaw blades five days a week for the past seven and a half years. My duties as a saw filer are to level (get the lumps out of a blade) tension, correct any problems with the back length and tire line of the saw blades. I also am responsible for buying new bandsaw blades. If it's not 15n20 I don't want it within a hundred miles of my filing room. Every salesman who comes into my shop only has one steel to offer- Uddeholme 15n20 wood cutting bandsaw blade steel. L6 is generally reserved for the large circular saw blades like the ones you say you've picked up, but circular saws are outside my realm as a bandsaw filer so I won't say for certain what you have there.
Hope that doesn't sound arrogant but those are my credentials.
Look at the bandsaw blade you have. Somewhere there should be a brand on it that says who made the steel. I would almost bet it is made by Uddeholme. If so, it would be 15n20. But still, it wouldn't be a bad investment to have it tested.

Thanks Ecart I will check it out today. I wouldn't call that arrogant more like a qualified answer. If you have been around these that much it is safe to say you know your blades! That's the kind of knowhow I appreciate. -Banjoe

As for the 52inchers, check for a name and ID #. Sometimes you can speak with someone from Simonds who isn't a jerk and find out the chemical profile.
The last 2 I got were 1080 plus 2% Ni.
These are great for making any kind of knives plus give a great contrast in pw billets. Pretty tough stuff it is. I also use it in everything I send to the sandbox. JMo bruce/birdog

You're welcome. :cool: Bruce, don't know why I didn't think of doing that with the circular blades. Makes perfect sense. If you can find the maker, or even the seller, they should tell you what kind of steel it is. The trick with the seller though is that he COULD just tell you what he thinks you want to hear. I've run into this with sawblades that just did NOT hold up under normal everyday use.

The last 2 I got were 1080 plus 2% Ni.

that is with in the range of what is 15N20

I found two different names. there is about 100-130 feet of blade. Some is 11" most is around 8" and 20 feet of 4". The names on the big stuff are "The Simonds Saw" and "? York Saw" Both are old. I found a date etched in the simonds 3/23/89.

Those would be the names of the companies that turned the steel into blades. I don't know anything about York, but Simonds Saw uses Uddeholme these days. But you said the blades are old. What they were using then, I can't say for certain. It would definitely benefit you to have it tested.