Silver Soldering Bandsaw Blades

[Cactus Farmer]

Since I have a collection of band saws,(vertical wood, vertical metal and horizontal metal), I want to start building my own blades from raw blade stock and wondered if anyone is doing this exercise. I'm thinking a block to hold the blades for grinding the lap joint and to align them for the solder and annealing/normalizing. High temp or lower temp ,all of course,will be silver. I have several melting temps for assembling broken parts( for patterns) and jewelery. Proper flux and cleanlieness is of course a must. Anyother tricks Ineed to know before trying this adventure?

 

[f350ca]

I've been making them for my 20 inch wood bandsaw. Been running them till they're dull and haven't had one break yet, more than I can say for some of the premade ones. Need to find a roll of 3/4 bimetal for the horizontal saw.
Made this simple jig up to hold them while soldering. As for grinding the bevel, its just been by eye on the bench grinder with a fine wheel.
Can't remember what the solder Im using is, bought a good quantity some years back. A propane plumbers torch is all I use. I use the water soluble white flux. Just buff the welds flush with a die grinder and they're ready to go.

 

[John Hasler]

Since I have a collection of band saws,(vertical wood, vertical metal and horizontal metal), I want to start building my own blades from raw blade stock and wondered if anyone is doing this exercise. I'm thinking a block to hold the blades for grinding the lap joint and to align them for the solder and annealing/normalizing. High temp or lower temp ,all of course,will be silver. I have several melting temps for assembling broken parts( for patterns) and jewelery. Proper flux and cleanlieness is of course a must. Anyother tricks Ineed to know before trying this adventure?

I use BAg-1.

 

[Waterlooboy2hp]

Since I have a collection of band saws,(vertical wood, vertical metal and horizontal metal), I want to start building my own blades from raw blade stock and wondered if anyone is doing this exercise. I'm thinking a block to hold the blades for grinding the lap joint and to align them for the solder and annealing/normalizing. High temp or lower temp ,all of course,will be silver. I have several melting temps for assembling broken parts( for patterns) and jewelery. Proper flux and cleanlieness is of course a must. Anyother tricks Ineed to know before trying this adventure?

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Here is what I have used for about 44 years. A 72 year old Tool & Die maker, that I worked with at the time, made one for himself, and one for me. I am now 72. Made up a new blade just yesterday. I also just eyeball the bevel on my bench grinder. L:ast silver solder I bought, was ordered through Home Depot, for store pick-up. They don`t have enough sense to stock something like that. Came with a bottle of the white flux, as a kit. I also never had a blade break at the joint. No need to anneal anything when using silver solder. I always hoped to find one of the old blade welders, that was built into a band saw, but have never found one. --- John

 

[george wilson]

When I taught school shop at one school back in the 60's,we had no budget to buy pre welded blades. I was dealing with high school boys,too.

So,I rigged up a WOODEN blade holding jig. The heat was kept away from the wood! The blades were first hand filed to longish scarf joints. I have always been able to file accurately,so got nice,gap free fits. Then,I'd put a bit of silver solder into the gap with flux,and heat the joint till the solder melted. Then,I'd quickly squeeze the joint together with pliers,re heat to remove the brittleness of chilling the steel,but not hot enough to re melt the solder. Just hot enough to impart a spring temper back into the joint,and file the joint flush.

I never had one of these blades fail at the solder joint,even under use by boys. They did better than welded blades. But,you do have to know how to do it right.

 

[SE18]

I have a very cheap Delta bandsaw from big box store used for wood and soft metal width is only 1/2" max and if the wood is too thick, it tends to break the 59.5" loop so I have a collection of broken but useable blades. I've tried to spot weld them and they came apart pretty quickly. Probably my lap joint was bad. Never thought to silver solder though. I probably need to buy a more decent bandsaw.

I didn't know people make their own blades.

George, no wonder you are so knowledgeable, didn't know you taught shop

 

[John Hasler]

I have a very cheap Delta bandsaw from big box store used for wood and soft metal width is only 1/2" max and if the wood is too thick, it tends to break the 59.5" loop so I have a collection of broken but useable blades. I've tried to spot weld them and they came apart pretty quickly. Probably my lap joint was bad. Never thought to silver solder though. I probably need to buy a more decent bandsaw.

I didn't know people make their own blades.

George, no wonder you are so knowledgeable, didn't know you taught shop

They are normally made by resistance welding, but it's a butt weld. Fancy bandsaws have the welder and fixture built in.

 

[TTD]

I've never done it myself so I really can't offer any tips/advice, but Tom Griffin (aka: Tom's Techniques) has a good video showing the process he uses.

 

[george wilson]

Teaching shop has nothing to do with the skills I have!!

 

[Mac1]

My version, made from 1 1/2 angle iron