Ok so I had my band saw blade snap on me today during a cut. I'm out of backups so I decided to braze it up and see if I could get back to the cut list.
It actually worked like a champ, saved me 25 bucks today. Im kinda p.oed thinking how many I've thrown away in the past.

So now I'm thinking I've got this 7 x 12 h/v Wilton and I've been paying someone else to weld up the blades for me. I'm guessing the blades come in a roll and you just cut off 96" and braze em up...am I right.

How many of you do this is it worth while and do the rolls come in varying leangths. How much per foot do ya think .

Thanks Marc

Run it for a while before buying a bulk box. The ones i have braized havent lasted long enough to be worth the effort.
Ken

I understand that blades are electrically welded for commercial sale. At least the few blades I have bought have been electrically welded.

Phil

Brazing was common at one time, well maybe not brazing exactly, but silver soldering (sometimes called silver brazing). Usually the joint is scarfed about 1/2 an inch. Did you just butt joint it or scarf it? In fact, blacksmiths often did it. You scarf the ends, put it in a jig to hold everything straight, put a piece of silver shim in the joint and squeeze it with a red-hot flat jaw tong made for the job. The tongs usually had pretty massive jaws to hold a lot of heat and met parallel on the blade.

Edited November 20, 200916 yr by nakedanvil

The ones I buy nowadays are electron beam welded.

Did the blade snap at the weld? I grumbled a little bit to my industrial supplier that my blades usually broke before they wore out. He asked me if the breaks were at the weld I checked and most were at the weld or within 1/2" of the weld. He asked me to return them and he would get them re welded. A week later I got a box with 5 new blades in it. Luckily I had thrown my blades in the scrap barrel rather than the garbage.

Well I spoke too soon. The blade has broken on me again already I brazed it up again to finish my cut list. It seems to be just a temporary fix if your in a jam. Would be nice I priced some coils at a 100' and figured cost could be around $10 bucks a piece pretty good savings maybe that cheap HF band saw blade welder would be a good purchase. A weld would prolly hold up better than brass.
Marc

Did you just butt joint it or scarf it?

Nakedanvil It was a butt joint and brass brazing. Maybe this is why I had failure in the joint. I can see how an overlaping joint would be much better. I did not have a clean straight fracture in the blade and I didn't want to effect it's leangth so I butted and brazed. Now is silver soldering a stronger bond and more durable for the abuse of a saw blade than brass.
Thanks Marc

Silver solder is much stronger than brass, but, I usualy wear the teeth off my blades. What kind of blades are you using? Bandsaw blades is one place in particular where it is cheaper to spend more. I have used Starret PowerBand Matrix II blades for many years, but I am also hearing good things about Lenox Diemaster Blades.

Neither will hold up with a butt joint.

Here is a great place to buy blades. Country Saw and Knife ...Bob

We normally braze our woodworking bandsaw blades ourselves, since the closest shop is quite far away. Results is variable, but I've found that normally the blade doesn't break on a brazed joint, but of to one side. My record for a silver solder jointed blade is seven days of continous production work. All joints must be scarfed.

Save yourself the hassle Marc, and just buy from the makers of quality blades at 30% off regular retail. They are available at www.sawblade.com. They cut the length of the blades in accordance with the size of your saw and ship within 24 hours generally.