Use For Used Band Saw Blades?

[ScottR]

I changed out a bandsaw blade this weekend. I folded the old blade in half and then that in half again crimping the ends as I went so it wouldn't spring open. I kept at it till I had a little bundle about 8" long, the plan being to wire tie it closed before tossing it out. At that point it looked and felt like a sharp little rasp. I have a couple of slabs of live oak in the garage and tested it out on the endgrain of one and holy cow! That thing cut better than any rasp I own. I need to come up with a way to mount it in a handle. Actually I should wait till I change out a half inch blade as this quarter inch one doesn't leave much to work with in terms of attaching to a block.

So, has anyone else done this and if so how did you attach the blade to the block? I'm thinking that cutting the blade into 8" lengths and gluing them into a block that has grooves cut in a series of narrow "W" patterns, maybe with the teeth in alternating directions.

SR

[boundsteelblues]

Sounds like my Japanese rasp.

[stereordinary]

Sounds like my Japanese rasp too, but I like the DIY idea of it. I'd definitely be interested to see where this idea goes. I feel bad when I throw out bandsaw blades. They always still feel a little sharp, even if they are crap at cutting on the saw itself. Seems like I should be able to get some use out of them, but I can never think of anything.

[ScottR]

I'm going to make the attempt to mount the quarter inch blade and test it....we'll see.

SR

[RestorationAD]

I'm going to make the attempt to mount the quarter inch blade and test it....we'll see.

SR

I did it... it sucked. Went out and bought a Shinto rasp... The blades I use have too few tpi to be used as rasps.

[ScottR]

I'm going to make the attempt to mount the quarter inch blade and test it....we'll see.

SR

I did it... it sucked. Went out and bought a Shinto rasp... The blades I use have too few tpi to be used as rasps.

I think the one I've got is 8 or 10--not in a position to check right now. It may well suck too...but I'm between projects anyway. How did you attach them?

SR

[RestorationAD]

I'm going to make the attempt to mount the quarter inch blade and test it....we'll see.

SR

I did it... it sucked. Went out and bought a Shinto rasp... The blades I use have too few tpi to be used as rasps.

I think the one I've got is 8 or 10--not in a position to check right now. It may well suck too...but I'm between projects anyway. How did you attach them?

SR

I tried duck tape that blew.... the problem is getting the spacing between the blades.

I tried drilling holes in them to use an 8-32 screw... drilling hardened blade steel not a good idea without proper equipment.

After I drilled all the holes I put washers between them... then they looked better but it flexed when I used it so I should have drilled holes every 2 inches and put an 8-32 with washers spacing the blades. The Shinto rasp is under 30 dollars... what is your time worth?

[ScottR]

The Shinto rasp is under 30 dollars... what is your time worth?

The answer to that is pretty sad really, when you divide the dollars by hours....

In this case though, its not about time or dollars. Its just about having an idea, and trying it out to see if it works. Hell, I hardly ever use rasps anyway. I use chisels and palm gouges where most would use a rasp.

On the other hand those Shinto rasps are pretty sweet. I'm pretty sure I'll have one before long....for those times I do use them .

SR

[copperhead]

The Shinto rasp is under 30 dollars... what is your time worth?

The answer to that is pretty sad really, when you divide the dollars by hours....

In this case though, its not about time or dollars. Its just about having an idea, and trying it out to see if it works. Hell, I hardly ever use rasps anyway. I use chisels and palm gouges where most would use a rasp.

On the other hand those Shinto rasps are pretty sweet. I'm pretty sure I'll have one before long....for those times I do use them .

SR

when you get it done post some pics thats a great ideal

[Woodenspoke]

I use my used bandsaw blades to poke holes in my garbage bags so the sawdust comes out when i pick it up..

[ScottR]

I use my used bandsaw blades to poke holes in my garbage bags so the sawdust comes out when i pick it up..

Me too.

That's what I was trying to avoid when I started folding this one up....

The trial piece is pretty much done and actually works very well. I'll get some pics up in a day or so.

SR

[ScottR]

Here we go.

I cut quarter inch 7TPI blade into roughly 4.75" pieces with tin snips. I cut grooves into a piece of scrap bubinga with .....the bandsaw. Got a pretty good fit. The grooves are about 2mm apart and about 3mm deep--roughly. I glued them in with medium CA. I eyeballed everything. This was just a test to see if it would work. I decided to orient all the teeth in the same direction and use a pull cut. I decided to put a handle on it for leverage. The I chewed up this piece of jatoba in the amount of time it took Joe Bonamassa to sing Who Killed John Henry. It worked pretty dang good. It is already the most aggressive rasp I own...but I do not own any Japanese rasps so have no basis for comparison there.It did clog every so often, but was very easy to clean out with a stiff scrub brush. Better attention to detail--things like uniformity of groove depth and spacing would likely yield improved results,but all in all I'd call the experiment a success.

SR

[dean 2]

Very cool, like the way you mounted the blades.

[Quarter]

Very interesting, I wonder how it would work if it was a bit skinnier and longer, maybe around 8".

Edited August 24, 2010 by Quarter

[ScottR]

Very interesting, I wonder how it would work if it was a bit skinnier and longer, maybe around 8".

Probably better. If I were doing it again, and I probably will the next time I wear out a blade, I would likely go narrower and longer. I'm not sure an 8" stroke would get used much, but narrower would allow it to be used in smaller areas. I don't think this would ever replace a quality set of rasps, but it is something useful to make out of a used bandsaw blade.

SR

[RestorationAD]

Very interesting, I wonder how it would work if it was a bit skinnier and longer, maybe around 8".

Probably better. If I were doing it again, and I probably will the next time I wear out a blade, I would likely go narrower and longer. I'm not sure an 8" stroke would get used much, but narrower would allow it to be used in smaller areas. I don't think this would ever replace a quality set of rasps, but it is something useful to make out of a used bandsaw blade.

SR

I would go 11" or 12" with the really heavy teeth... You could go shorter as you increased the number of teeth.

How about a curved surface? Maybe one with a 1 1/4" radius and one with a larger 4" radius. That would allow you to use them for belly carves and shaping heals and other inside curves.

[ScottR]

Very interesting, I wonder how it would work if it was a bit skinnier and longer, maybe around 8".

Probably better. If I were doing it again, and I probably will the next time I wear out a blade, I would likely go narrower and longer. I'm not sure an 8" stroke would get used much, but narrower would allow it to be used in smaller areas. I don't think this would ever replace a quality set of rasps, but it is something useful to make out of a used bandsaw blade.

SR

I would go 11" or 12" with the really heavy teeth... You could go shorter as you increased the number of teeth.

How about a curved surface? Maybe one with a 1 1/4" radius and one with a larger 4" radius. That would allow you to use them for belly carves and shaping heals and other inside curves.

Those are good ideas, especially the curves. With the lower PTI counts it would probably help to put the blades closer together and stagger the points better than I did here to help close the gaps between the cutting surfaces.

SR

[cherokee6]

You can always take a piece of blade and grind it to the shape you want, mount it the way you have it, or take to pieces of wood and sandwich the blade between them , leave them long enough for handles and use as a you would a spokeshave. This will cut a groove for purfling or other inlay work.

[westhemann]

Man I would hate to step on that in the middle of a midnight sleepwalk through the toolshed.

[D E S]

Welder would work perfect. The weld a handle on it the add the wood handle after.

[Helldunkel]

Well here is my way of using an old band saw blade

14 years ago, this big band saw blade broke while I was trying to cut a piece of wood, so we had this idea to grind the blade to to make it conform to this old european walnut palm plane a friend of mine built using the Irvine Sloane book...

Here is the blade which still cuts, just very rusty

And the old european walnut palm plane my friend built...

[NotYou]

You can get creative with it and put it on a guitar. Then put on some monster platform boots and go glam!

[ScottR]

Over Christmas I was back at my parent's house and had a chance to get a couple shots of my first band saw blade re-use. I wish I could say they came from a saw I owned as these were huge blades, but the reality is a friend gave me some pieces of the blade for this specific reason: to make knives. Here is one I made for my Dad.

SR

[Bargle]

Over Christmas I was back at my parent's house and had a chance to get a couple shots of my first band saw blade re-use. I wish I could say they came from a saw I owned as these were huge blades, but the reality is a friend gave me some pieces of the blade for this specific reason: to make knives. Here is one I made for my Dad.

SR

Very cool. The stand really displays it nicely. Don't have to pull it out of a drawer to show someone. Good job.

[cherokee6]

Beautiful! Was the bs blade that color or was it blued? (mine are always blued) Did you get the stainless effect just by polishing? I guess the bluing is only on the surface?

What size was that blade- 2"? Must have been from a pretty big commercial saw! (mine are a weenie 3/4"!)