Band Saw Blade Cracks

[paulgrandy]

I've been using a Starrett 1/2 BiMetal 14/18V band saw blade for years. It finally snapped. No big deal, but when I went to bend it in sections so I could put it in the garbage it would snap instead of just folding over. Does this sound right. I'm not going to try it on a new one since it might do the same thing. I'm thinking that maybe over time these get brittle. Right, or wrong?

[agrip]

Bandsaw blades do have a fatigue life.
This shows up on smaller wheels more quickly.

Cutting small radii and torquing the blade between close set guides will get it too.

They usually wear out before life out.
Moral of that story is don't let a bandsaw run without cutting something, particularly with fast fpm.

I used to run some carbide grit edge remingtons, and they would always fatigue between the segments.

Ag

[Bruce Griffing]

As stated above, bandsaw blades usually fail due to fatigue cracks that arise due to travel over the wheel. Smaller wheels aggrivate the problem. These cracks often originate at the back edge of the blade. One way to reduce this effect is round off the back edges of the blade. This can be accomplished easily by running the saw and applying a stone to the back edges until the back of the blade is rounded. This will also reduce the tendency of the blade to hang up in curved cuts. I do it on both my wood cutting and metal cutting saws. It is much more of a problem for wood cutting saws because of the increased speed and the consequent increase in number of cycles over the wheel.

[paulgrandy]

Thanks guys. Interesting. I got a couple coming from MSC now. I'll have to put a hone "lightly" to that back edge.