Grit Edge bandsaw Blades?

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I have used grit-edge saber/scroll/skills saw blades but never used one on the bandsaw. I occasionally want to cut hardened steel and very tough things like G-10. I am thinking of trying a tungsten carbide grit edge blade from Toolcenter . Anyone used these before on steel and stuff and what kind of life do they get. As in any good blade I assume a break-in period and the right pressure is a must.

I have two large 1" thick slabs of the old ghost/jade green G-10 insulating panels that I plan on cutting up into blocks and scales. We are talking hundreds of cuts.
The grit-edge blades aren't cheap, but a cutting job like this might eat up my Lenox Die-Master blade.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

[navman]

we used remgrit blades on hardened steel to open safes, I would imagine it should work well on G10. Not sure though. I am definitely interested as I am tired of profiling S110V using the drill and file method!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Thanks, Navman.
I used a Remgrit 7" circular saw blade in a skill saw for cutting sheet steel and rebar up. I had once planned on putting a 12" Remgrit blade in the chop saw for cutting stock and bar to length. But currently I have an almost endless supply of 12" abrasive cut-off blades from Ron Fraziers place so I may never need to get the Remgrit 12" blade. My friend with a small machine shop uses one to cut unhardened round and bar stock up to 3".

I may give it a try.
I don't think the blade will have any wear issues with the G-10, and should be fine for cutting hardened steel later on. What I don't know is how the grit will hold up to shearing off on hardened steel. I was going to get a Lenox tungsten carbide grit blade.

I had three of these slabs of G-10. They are 1" thick and about 16"X48". I was cleaning up the smith area of stuff I don't need/want anymore and came across the other two sheets last week. My recollection is that when I cut the first one up years ago it pretty much killed a carbide tipped bandsaw blade.

I'll probably roll the bandsaw outside and set up a special suction nozzle at the underside of the table to take away the powdered fiberglass and resin at the source. Respirator will be on all the time.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Why choose abrasive bandsaw for g-10?

It's not my expertise by any means, but I would guess the most cost efficient way to cut it would be with thin kerf plywood blades on a table saw. Much cheaper to use carbide tablesaw blades over specialty bandsaw

 

[MJB206]

Why choose abrasive bandsaw for g-10?

It's not my expertise by any means, but I would guess the most cost efficient way to cut it would be with thin kerf plywood blades on a table saw. Much cheaper to use carbide tablesaw blades over specialty bandsaw

I've also read folks have used a tile saw as well. I"m yet to try it myself.

 

[CasePeanut]

I've also read folks have used a tile saw as well. I"m yet to try it myself.

I agree, I keep hearing about the tilesaw with a diamond blade for G-10 as well on knife maker podcasts. Haven't tried one myself, but I see them pretty cheap at Harbor Freight.

 

[navman]

I used a tile wet saw for G10/Carbon fiber to cut down on dust. It did that, but ended up with fiber sludge instead.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Cutting a few scales or blocks can be done on a tile saw. Cutting hundreds will take weeks. A table saw would be an environmental nightmare spreading fiberglass dust all over the place. Again, a few pieces will be somewhat controllable, but hundreds will make many pounds of dust.

 

[MJB206]

Cutting a few scales or blocks can be done on a tile saw. Cutting hundreds will take weeks. A table saw would be an environmental nightmare spreading fiberglass dust all over the place. Again, a few pieces will be somewhat controllable, but hundreds will make many pounds of dust.

Honest question - what’s going to make the bandsaw that much faster?

 

[RedCrow]

I break down all my micarta and g10 handle materials with a wet tile saw. Cutting 1 inch thick material takes about 20-30 seconds per cut on a 12 x 12 inch sheet. So even if you have hundreds of cuts, it shouldn't take more than a few hours to break it down into blocks. From that point, I have no idea how long it might take to rip the blocks into scales, because I have done very little of that. Ive cut many many sheets of g10 into scales and am not even close to using up the diamond blade that came on the saw. Cutting that much at once, you would definitely have to clean the sludge several times, but its much better in the water tray than in your lungs.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Wow, I can't imagine cutting 1" thick G-10 at half an inch per second! My band saw probably doesn't cut 1" maple that fast.
Maybe your tile saw is a lot bigger and more powerful than mine. Mine has a 7" diamond blade.
I might have to get te wet sw out and experiment to see how this G-10 cuts on a wet saw. In my experience cutting thick things on a tile saw is pretty slow.

An issue with a tile saw would be handling these large and heavy slabs. I could build a large plywood table with the saw recessed in the center to be able to move the slab across the blade easily and straight. Cutting each slab into three square sections would make it easier. One plus would be I could set it over a large bin and catch all the G-10 sludge.

 

[Fixall]

I’ve been cutting a LOT of Westinghouse blue glass Micarta lately. I’ve found the best way to do it is to use a table saw with a 5” diamond mesh tile saw with a 1.2mm kerf. This allows me to cut and rip VERY high value material up to 1.5” thick with minimal loss. I use this same setup for cutting G3/G10/G11 and high value ivorite.

For glass recipes and rag phenolics over 1.5” thick I use a 10” wet tile saw with a micro-segmented diamond blade. Cuts go pretty fast.