There is an 80/20 rule in the band saw world. 80% of machines are built with the teeth pointing one direction, while 20% are built with the teeth pointing the other. We weld all of our blades to comply with the 80%. Thankfully, there is a simple solution. If your teeth are pointing in the wrong direction, place your hands at 9 and 3 (think of a clock).

While pinching the blade between your fingers and thumbs, rotate your hands so that the blade will flip itself “inside out”. The teeth should now be pointing in the right direction.

• Carbon steel blades are usually the best choice for sawing wood, plastic, aluminum, and similar easy-to-cut materials.

• Bi-Metal blades have the best balance of heat resistance, wear resistance, and chip resistance to productively saw most steels and other metals.

• Tungsten Carbide blades provide superior heat and wear resistance for sawing extremely tough metals or very abrasive metals and non-metals.

The answer to this question depends on (A) What type of metal you plan to cut and (B) How often/how much you plan to cut.

Carbon Steel blades can be used to cut the following: mild steels, aluminum, copper, brass, bronze, and other non ferrous metals. If you only plan to use your machine every now and again, or only have a few pieces to cut, a carbon steel blade will work just fine.

If you use your machine often and plan to cut a lot of material, we suggest using a bi-metal blade. The best way to describe a carbon steel blade is it is an economical band saw blade used for general purpose cutting.

They are used for general purpose cutting of a variety of easy to cut materials including:
• mild steels
• copper
• wood
• plastic
• cork
• brass
• furniture
• resawing
• bronze
• zinc
• fiberglass
• non ferrous metal

Carbon Flexback Blades – These bandsaw blades are made from a solid piece of carbon steel with a flexible back. Their teeth are heat treated to retain their sharp edge.

Carbon blades are a low cost alternative on easy to cut material. Carbon blades have an excellent fatigue factor to give long saw blade life on bandsaws running at high speed, cutting non-ferrous metal, and wood. Its flexible backer is also suitable for absorbing contour cutting stresses.

• To Achieve A Smoother, More Refined Cut Choose A Blade That Has More TPI

• The More TPI, The Finer The Cut Will Be; The Fewer Teeth Per Inch, The Rougher The Cut Will Be

• High TPI Configurations Should Be Used On Thinner Materials And May Require A Reduced Material Feed Rate

• Low TPI Configurations Should Be Used On Thicker Materials And May Require A Higher Feed Rate

There are many types of band saws that can use flexback saw blades including Jet, Wilton, Kalamazoo, Tannewitz, Doall, Grizzly, Harborfreight, Powermatic, Wears, 14″ bandsaws, Hyd-Mech and many others. Any light to medium duty vertical bandsaw or horizontal bandsaw typically run carbon bandsaw blades.

Most hobbyists and craftsmen with a bench top bandsaw or a 2 or 3 wheel bandsaw prefer the many benefits of using these types of bandsaw blades.

• When Cutting Curves, The Width Of The Blade Will Determine The Smallest Radius That May Be Cut

• Wide Blades Are Most Often Used For Resawing Or Straight Line Cuts

• Smaller Width Blades Are Used For Smaller Radius Cut