Buying a high quality grinder with a high quality belt will save you A LOT of time and frustration, especially if you are a power user that will use your belt grinder on a regular basis.

Factors To Consider When Buying A Belt Grinder

Grinders come in all shapes and sizes, what factors are worth focusing on?

Grinder Size

The first thing you will want to consider is the size of your grinder. 2″x72″ grinders are the industry standard for knife making, and the majority of belt grinders made are this size. These grinders will have more accessories, attachments, and wheel attachments than other sizes.

Compared to shorter belts, the long 72″ belt will reduce wear and tear and will disperse heat build up across a longer surface. This will keep your stock cooler and will make your belts last longer. This is important if you are trying to preserve any heat treatment that has been applied to a material.

At 2″ across it has more working area for larger pieces of work.

It is for these reasons that the 2″x 72″ grinders are industry standard.

However nothing is free, these grinders – and the belts that they use – tend to be more expensive. As I mentioned earlier, if you are planning on making more than a couple knives, you will get your money’s worth paying up for a better grinder. Small grinders with weak motors are a pain in the butt to use.

If you are on a budget, I wouldn’t buy anything smaller than a 2″x48″ belt grinder. These tend to be a few hundred dollars cheaper, and are a good starting point if you are not sure if you want to make the investment in a good grinder. Although many people have started on smaller grinders than a 2″x48″ belt grinder, I wouldn’t recommend it, as you will just replace your weak small one after 3 knives anyways as they are not very good for the task.

Another belt to watch out for and avoid is the 4″x36″ belt grinders. These are generally made for woodworking and are not well suited to knife making. They tend to have weak motors that will slow down when grinding steel.

How Much Horsepower Does My Belt Grinder Need For Knife Making?

As you would expect, more horse power is better. Stronger motors allow you to run at higher speeds and allows you to run coarser paper. A common rule of thumb is to have 1hp for every 1″ of belt. This means for knife making on a 2″x72″ grinder you will want a motor that has around 2hp. That being said, I wouldn’t take this rule of thumb too seriously, as I know a lot of talented knife makers that use a 1hp or 1.5hp motor on their 2″x72″grinder, and they make phenomenal knives.

How Much Belt Speed Does My Belt Grinder Need For Knife Making?

Steel oriented grinders will want a higher belt speed than wood oriented grinders. You will want a belt speed somewhere in the range of 4,100 surface feet per minute and 7,000 surface feet per minute. You can calculate the sfpm with the following formula: sfpm = (pi * drive-wheel-diameter) * motor-rpm / 12

Variable Speed

Not all belt grinders allow you to change the speed of your grinder while working. You can make due without a variable speed grinder if it’s powerful enough, but having a grinder that can go faster for stock removal and can slow down for detail work is useful.

A Sturdy Frame To Minimize Chatter

When you push a piece of steel against the cutting surface of your belt, the steel will have a tendency to vibrate or wiggle around while it’s in contact with the cutting surface. Chatter makes delicate or accurate work (like bevels on a knife) more difficult to accomplish. Heavy duty frames can help cut down on chatter. Heavy frames will also last longer. Now when you hear heavy in the machine world, you should think expensive. Belt Sanders are no different. I won’t focus on the frame as much when I recommend a belt grinder later on in the article for this reason(sturdy frames are expensive), but it’s still worth keeping this in the back of your mind.

3 Basic Types Of Belt Grinding Contact Surfaces For Knife Making

There are basically 3 common types of contact surfaces for knife grinding, they are:

1. Platen
2. Contact Wheel
3. Slack Belt

A platen is a flat piece of steel that is placed behind the belt and acts as a force of resistance as you push in while grinding. Platens are one of the most common contact surfaces in use in knife making as they are used for flat bevels.

A contact wheel allows you to cut circular cuts such as a hollow ground (concave) cut. Hollow ground edges are incredibly sharp, but they lose durability as a price for their sharpness. The radius of the contact wheel will directly affect the radius of your concave cuts.

Slackbelts are when you place your stock into contact with the belt without any structure supporting the belt.These allow you to make soft convex cuts – which are the inverse to the type of cuts the contact wheel makes.

What Is The Best Belt Grinder For Knife Making?

So by now you are probably going to expect me to recommend a variable speed 2″x72″ grinder with a 2hp motor and the appropriate spm, right? Well, not quite. The problem is that no such grinder exists that sells for under $1,000 dollars that is reliably made. I have seen a few models that try to fill that role, but the reviews I have seen make them seem too unreliable for me to feel comfortable recommending them.

I also don’t feel comfortable making a $1k+ grinder my primary recommendation, as I know that is out of the budget range for most people. And OF COURSE a thousand dollar machine will run better than a cheaper model – at least it better!

So I’m going to compromise.

My pick for the “best” belt grinder is the Grizzly G1015 Belt Sander. This grinder is well known in the knife making community and is referenced all across various knife making and metalworking forums.This model has been in production for a long time and there are no surprises with it at this point.

It’s one of the best belt grinders in that price range between $400-$900.

The machine itself (not the belt) is 30.5″ x 16.25″ x 15″. It has a maximum rotational speed of 1725 RPM and has a belt speed of 3600 FPM. It has an auxiliary arbor that accepts buffing wheels, sanding drums, or flap wheels. The belt has a quick-release mechanism making for quick belt changes. It has a belt arm that can be full tilted. It has a cast-iron body which makes it hard and heavy, but brittle; So don’t go smacking it. It is made with a ball bearing construction. It weighs a manageable 60 pounds.

Now that I”m done with the sales pitch, I want to stress that it’s not perfect. This model doesn’t have variable speed and has well documented tracking issues that can be fixed – there are a million different hacks for doing this, just google it. It also has less horsepower than is ideal. It’s also notoriously fast. It has a small work rest which many people modify to make it bigger. Finally, this belt sander has a two wheel design. Two wheel grinders generally have less configuration options than grinders with 3 or more wheels. It’s also – as far as I know – not possible to change out the contact wheel to a wheel of a different radius, which can be helpful for certain types of cuts where you may want to change the radius of your cuts to make them steeper or flatter.

It may seem like that is a big list of cons, but I”m really leaving no stone unturned here in an effort to be thorough. The biggest obstacle for you is not some mythical design where everything is perfect, the biggest obstacle is price. The more you pay, the fewer obstacles you (should) have. For its price range,the Grizzly G1015 is one of the best grinders/sanders out there.

There are cheaper options, but I really think they are a waste of time and money as you will replace them much faster than you now think you will. There are more expensive options, but I don’t personally own them and will save my review for the 1k+ grinders for when I own one myself.

Once you have a good solid grinder, you will want to put good belts on them. I will go over the different types of belts below:

4 types of abrasive belts:

1. aluminum oxide
2. zirconium
3. silicon carbide
4. ceramic belts

These are the MOST COMMON types of belts, but it’s not an exhaustive list.

Aluminum oxide belts are cheap but dull quickly. Aluminum oxide – also called AO – belts are good for higher grit finishing when knife making. They do not make good low grit belts, especially when you need to do a lot of stock removal.

Zircuonium can handle steel better than aluminum oxide belts, but they wear out faster than ceramic belts.

silicon carbide is a specialty abrasive and is often used for finish work on materials such as wood,resins,epoxy, and other heat sensitive applications. It is also used for materials such as marble, garnet, glass, and other hard materials.

Ceramic is fantastic for hardened steel as these belts like high speed and pressure. I use almost exclusively ceramic for my lower grit belts.

There are also belts that have their abrasive materials glued onto the belt in little piles that can continue to cut effectively as the abrasive material is grinded off. These belts are said to have structured abrasives. Structured abrasives are often made of AO or aluminum oxide, but this is not always the case. Belts made out of structured AO will last longer than unstructured AO.

I don’t have much personal experience with structured abrasives – I’ll get around to testing them eventually, I swear! My understanding is that they are not great for big rough cuts, but they can be very effective for high grit finishing operations.

Belt Backing Material

Most belts will have a cloth backing, but you can find other materials as well. Some of these alternatives include cork and soft plastic mesh. I have only ever used belts that have abrasives glued to cloth belts, so I can’t comment on the effectiveness of these other types.

Belt Backing Types

In addition to the type of backing material your belt has, there is also a letter designation on the backside of your belt. Heavier belts with less flexibility are towards the end of the alphabet such as the letter Y. Softer more flexible belts have a letter designation closer to the beginning of the alphabet such J. J is a very common backing, although I will recommend a Y backing later on in this article. Some belts are given additional treatment, which will often be labeled in addition to the letter. For example : x-flex or j-flex.

What Grit Belt Should I use for Knife Making?

I would use a ceramic 36 grit or 40 grit for your first initial cuts. These belts remove material very quickly and the ceramic variety last longer than zirconium or aluminum oxide. I think it’s worthwhile to use ceramic belts up to 120 grit or so. Above 120 grit you can make a good argument for switching materials, as ceramics do not work as well at higher grits – ceramics also tend to come on stiffer belt cloths, which is not always ideal for finishing work. Above 120 it makes sense to switch to zirconium belts, as they still last longer than aluminum oxide belts and they work well with higher grits. Zirconium can also be placed on more flexible belts than ceramics can. That being said, some knife makers just like the feel of AO belts better than zirconium, and will use AO for their high grit finishing work. You should try both and develop your own opinion if your budget allows.

Lower grit belts tend to see more vigorous use, but higher grit belts tend to gunk up faster than lower grit belts.

It might seem like I have presented a lot of different options for belts – and I have – but we are only scratching the surface. A quick look at wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrasive will show that abrasives can become a never ending rabbit hole of options. I will present in clear terms what I recommend to new knife makers later on in this article.

How Long Can I Expect A Belt For my Belt Grinder To Last?

A cheap aluminum oxide 60 grit belt will make maybe 2-3 knives for you before it begins to crap out. A high quality 40 grit ceramic belt may make anywhere from 10-15+ knives before it becomes ineffective. But these are just rough numbers to give you an estimate…

In reality, it can vary wildly. If you are doing heavy stock removal to make your knives you will go through more belts per knife. If you forge your general knife outline first, and are just using your grinder to make the bevels and to remove scratches, they may last longer. If you are an experienced belt sander user, you will spend less time at the grinder and it will last longer. Longer belts will last longer than shorter belts, the flexibility of the backing material will affect it’s longevity as well.

In short, it’s hard to estimate, and the only real way to answer this question is to get into your shop and make a bunch of knives.

You will have to get used to the idea that belts wear out. Ineffective belts cause a number of problems. A worn out belt causes longer grinding times, and it causes your stock to run hotter while grinding. This heat can have an unwanted effect on the strength/hardness of the material you are working on and will destroy any heat treatments you may have applied. In short, don’t drag your feet when it comes to throwing out old belts.

You need to view belts the same way you view your steel stock, they are a fundamental material cost for knife making, and you will go through a lot of them.

When you grind, three things are happening that degrade your belt:

1. The abrasives on your belt become rounded off and less sharp
2. Abrasive fall off altogether
3. Steel and wood debris builds up in between the grains, this is called loading. Wood and plastic do more loading than steel.

Starting grits for knife making

You can save money by buying in bulk, 10 packs are common. You can buy singles, but you will pay more per belt, and you will be running to the store to buy more just as you are getting past your beginner-wtf-am-I-doing stage of learning to make knives.

Low budget starter pack:

10 60 ceramic belts,
5 120 AO belts,
5 220 AO belts,
5 320-400 AO Belts

If you have more money, the following list will work even better

10 40 ceramic belts
10 60 ceramic belts
5 120 AO belts
5 220 AO belts
10 320-400 AO belts

I would buy belts with different flexibilities for your higher grit belts. It may also be worthwhile grabbing a 120 grit zirconium belt to give you an opportunity to work with different materials.

Good finishing requires that you develop your “touch”, and different belt backing will provide a different “touch”. I know that’s vague, but I hope it makes sense.

There is nothing magic about the quantities above, it’s just an attempt to give you a shopping list with specific quantities. Many of the belts I recommend below are only sold in packs of 3 or 6, so don’t take the above suggestion as gospel.

Best Belts For Grinding Knives

I’m currently really liking norton brand ceramic abrasives, and I will recommend a number of them below. For higher grits I try and recommend products that have a good value/price ratio, however subjective that may be.

Best ceramic 36 grit belt for knives

These 36 grit ceramic belts will chew threw steel faster than you can believe.

Best ceramic 80 grit belt for knives

These are high quality 80 grit ceramic belts, they will still chew through steel but will give you a more refined grind than the 36 grit belts.

Best Ceramic 120 grit belt for knives

I still use ceramics at 120 grit, but a number of knife makers I know begin to switch to zirconium or AO belts at this grit. The choice is ultimately up to you.

Best Aluminum oxide 220 grit belt for knives

As I alluded to earlier, grits above 220 I switch to AO.

Best Aluminum oxide 320 grit belt for knives

Same brand as before, they make good high grit AO belts.

Best Aluminum oxide 400 grit belt for knives

There 400 grit is just as good as their 320 and 220 grit belts.

Best high grit finishing belts for knives

These are also made by the Red Label Abrasive Store. They are great for putting that final shine on your knives.

How To Use A Belt Grinder For Knife Making

Outline the contour of the knife on your piece of stock with a marker or sharpie.
Start with lower grit belts for stock removal. Switch to higher grit belts for surface refinement. A Common mistake beginners make is moving to a higher grit belt too quickly. Really try to eliminate all scratches and scuffs on the surface of your knife before moving up to a higher grit belt. This will save you time and money, and will make better looking knives as a result.

Biomechanically, you should use 2 hands and keep your arms close to your body. This helps you have a flat grind. You don’t want the stock to start “wobbling” in front and behind of the belt surface. This creates bad curvatures in the knife blade. Don’t let your fingers get close to the belt, this will rip you to the bone. Be wary of heat on your knife and on your fingers, even with a fresh belt. Cool your stock in cold water if it gets too hot.

Safety When Using A Belt Grinder

For the love of god please wear your safety glasses. While grinding, little bits of steel will be flying all over the place. If these tiny pieces of steel land in your eye, they begin rusting immediately and will cause serious health issues with your eyesight should you not get prompt treatment. A face shield is not a bad idea. You will want a pair of steel toed boots w/ a metatarsal guard. Grinders can throw a blade at your feet with surprising speed – ouch!

Please wear a respirator while you grind. I’m not enough of an expert to recommend the optimal setup, but I wear a 3m p100 filter while grinding. Both the steel shavings from your knife stock and the tiny abrasives are absolutely terrible for your lungs. Silicosis has been killing people for thousands of years, please take it seriously and wear a respirator while grinding.

What Is The Difference Between A Belt Grinder and A Belt Sander?

There is no centralized source of truth for these terms. Manufacturers of these machines will often refer to them as sanders. People in the abrasives industry will often refer to grinders as machines that use wheels, rather than belts. Knife makers will refer to these tools as belt grinders – I have heard some knife makers say that belt sanders refer to tools designed for woodworking. Who’s right? What terminology should you use? Hell if I know, I just know knife makers generally call these machines belt grinders.

Belt Grinder Accessories

In addition to the belt grinder and the belt itself, there are a number of tools designed to prolong the life of your belts and to improve your grinds. These tools are not necessary to make high quality knives, but it’s worth knowing about them

grinding belt eraser

These erasers are cheap and help you clean up the debris that builds up on your belt through use.

grease stick for belt grinders

I have never used these, but they are supposed to reduce heat build up while working. Most knife supply store sell them and they may be looking into if you are having issues with heat.

misters for belt grinders

There are a number of tools that will spray a gentle mist over your belt work surface in an effort to keep your stock cool. I don’t think these are necessary for beginners, but again, it’s worth mentioning that they exist should you run into heat problems further down the line.

Grinding Jig For Knife Making

If you find yourself making bevel cuts of a certain degree over and over again, it may be worthwhile to either make or buy a jig to help you make those cuts consistently across many production runs. I won’t go into detail on this, as it’s a topic onto itself, but it’s worth noting that these exist as they can make grinding tricky bevels much easier.

The post The Best Belt Sander / Grinder For Knife Making – Don’t Buy Cheap Crap! appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

** What is The Difference Between Vice and Vise?

There are some differences between the various english speaking countries as to how these tools should be spelled. In my humble opinion, a vice is an immoral or undesirable practice. A vise is a gripping or grasping tool. It’s not a hill I”m willing to die on, but I thought I should explain why I included both spellings in this article as people search for both versions of the word.

What Are The Different Parts Of A Vise?

There are two Jaws on a vise: one is fixed and the other moves parallel along a screw via a replaceable nut.

Most vises are named according to the width of the jaw, not the opening length.

Most default jaws come with a serrated edge of hardened steel to improve grip and to improve the durability of the jaws. You can buy jaws that are smooth, and you can buy jaws that are soft if your work requires it.

If you need a soft touch for a one off job, you can buy grips that fit over the face of the jaw edge. These are made of a softer material such as aluminum, wood, copper or plastic. Soft vice jaw grips can help prevent you from damaging or imprinting your stock with the serrated edge. The soft grips are sometimes called cheeks.

Fun fact, old jaw grips made prior to the 60’s were often made of lead. This practice was discontinued due to the toxic nature of the material.

What Makes A Good Vise?

If you know what size stock you will be working with, it’s important to note things such as jaw length,opening length, and throat length. You want to make sure you have a vice big enough for the work you are doing

You must also think of things such as clamp strength, and the vises ability to withstand impact damage. A lot of cheaper vises will break if you are too rough on them. Repairing broken vises takes time, and replacing them takes money. So it’s worthwhile in my opinion to avoid the cheapest vises on the market as you will pay later down the road in other ways.

Another factor is whether or not you should get a swivel vice – see more below.

Are Swivel Vises Worth It?

In my opinion swivel vises are easier to break if you are rough with them. So while swivel vises are very convenient for daily use, I wouldn’t buy a cheap one if you are going the swivel route as swivel vises are (relatively) easy to break.

Put simply: fixed vices are more solid.

3 Best Bench Vises For Sale

Budget option: yost 905-AS 5”

This is a pretty sturdy vise if you are looking for a cheaper option. It can break if you abuse it, but it should hold up for most small home workshop jobs. It comes in a number of jaw sizes including 4”, 5”, 6” 8”, 10”. All jaw sizes are made with hardened steel. It has a pipe capacity of ½” to 1-½” with grooved pipe jaws for better grip. It has a 360-degree swivel base and has a 60,000 PSI structural cast steel body.The jaws are replaceable and the 5” version weighs 24 pounds.

I like this vise over other budget options as it has the 60,000 PSI cast steel body. A lot of cheaper vises will have a structural body made of 30,000 PSI cast iron and this stuff is straight junk.

Best Middle Tier Bench Vise

This vise is more expensive than the previous version, but it is quite a bit more robust as well. According to the store page, the 5” vise has a casting clamp force of 12,300 lbs and a Torque rating of 290Ft-Lb.

It is made from high strength 130,000 PSI Austempered Ductile Iron castings – aka, the good stuff. The 5” vise has 6” throat depth and pipe capacity of 3.25”. It has a 360-degree swivel base and contains a .75”D acme thread for it’s primary spindle. It has replaceable hardened steel serrated top jaws and pipe jaws.

Overall this is a great vise for people who are expecting to put their vise to heavy use, but are not expecting to use their vise for a high volume industrial/commercial operation.

Best Heavy Duty Bench Vise

For the Best Heavy Duty Bench Vise I would recommend the Yost ADI-8 model. It is similar to the model above, but it is much larger and sturdier with a larger clamping force. It is made of the same high quality materials as the ADI 5.

You can of course go and buy a vise that costs several thousand dollars. These vises were made to be beat up on. But I’m not going to review any of them, as I’m sure 99% of the people reading this are not interested in those vises.

Best All Purpose Bench Vise: Yost 750-DI

This vise has a rotating jaw which sits on top of a swivel base. The vise head rotates 360 degrees with respect to the vertical, and locks every 30 degrees making for 12 different locking points. It has a jaw opening of 5” and a throat depth of 4”. It has a pipe capacity of .125”D x 3.5”D and has special jaws just for pipe.
This makes it a great all around vise as it can handle a wide variety of situations you may encounter in the shop.

It is made with 65,000 PSI Ductile Iron and has a casting clamp force of 13,400 lbs and a torque rating of 316 Ft-Lb. It has a .75”D main screw made out of Q235 steel and a .51”D x 9.5” handle.

This is a flexible vise made of high quality materials.

However, all this optionality isn’t free. In my mind, the ability to rotate the vise at two points has a cost in that it introduces more points of failure. I wouldn’t not beat the crap out of this vise, as I imagine those rotation points will come at the cost of the ability to absorb shock blows. A vise without all these rotating capabilities will have fewer parts that can break.

But don’t let that scare you away, the fast majority of people should not have issues with this vise, and the flexibility offered by rotating jaws and the swivel base is worth it.

19 Different Types Of Vises

There are a number of different types of vises. Some of these vises are just small variations of a general theme, and others are radically different and only used in niche cases.

1. Hand Vise
2. Compound Slide Vises
3. Cross Vises
4. Off-Center Vises
5. Angle Vises
6. Sine Vises
7. Rotary Vise
8. Suction Vise
9. Diemakers Vise
10. Saw Vise
11. Pin Vise
12. Jewellers vises
13. Fly Tying Vise
14. Leg Vises
15. Trailer Hitch Vise
16. Shaker Broom Vise
17. Rigging Vise
18. Chain Vises
19. Yoke Vises

Some vises are sold as having “quick release valves.” These vises employ a split nut that allows you to disengage the vise with a half turn of the handle, greatly speeding up some production processes.

When Was The First Vise Produced?

According to this source, the first parallel vise was made in 1750. According to the same source, the first cast iron vise was made in 1830. Prior to that, many craftsmen used a variety of wedges and primitive clamps to hold work in place.

What Are Bench Vises Used For?

Bench vises are used to hold a piece of stock in place while additional work is done to said stock. Examples of such work include filing, grinding, sawing, chipping, and glueing.

What Material Is A Bench Vise Made Out Of?

Most bench vises are made out of cast steel or cast iron. High quality vises are made out of ductile iron.

Where On Your Bench Should You Install Your Bench Vise

It’s best to install your bench vise on the corner of your work table with the stable jaw jutting out over the edge of the table. This prevents your table from blocking your workpiece when the jaws are vertical, and allows maximum freedom of placement of your stock around the vise.

How To Use A Bench Vise

A bench vise is an easy to use tool. Simply turn the handle / tommy bar and this will open or close the jaws by turning a nut around an internal threaded screw. Be wary of hitting the handle to further tighten the jaws and be wary of using a cheater bar to further tighten a vise as this will break the vast majority of cheap vises.

How to Calculate The Mechanical Advantage Of A Vice Screw

To calculate the mechanical advantage of a vise screw, you simply take the circumference of a circle (2* π *r) and divide by the screw pitch length to get your mechanical advantage.

Example: Lets say you have a 6 inch handle turning a screw with a pitch of 1/4in. Multiply (2 * π * 6) and divide it by .25 and you get around 150! Of course some of this is lost to friction.

The post 3 Best Bench Vises For Sale – Don’t Buy Cheap Crap! appeared first on Gallivanting Craftsman.

It’s much cheaper for me to buy mild steel in lengths of 6 feet or more, as such, being able to cut this down to a more manageable length is a requirement for my daily work. While it’s a relatively simple tool, it’s still worthwhile to do a bit of research and buy the best hacksaw possible.

What To Consider When Buying A Hacksaw

Hacksaws are simple tools. You only have to worry about the blade and the frame.

Best Hacksaw Frame

More than anything else, you will want a hacksaw with a rigid frame that will hold the blade in place without it warping or tilting during the cut. A poor frame will cause crooked cuts and will also lengthen the cut time. It may be tempting to buy a cheap aluminum frame, but I would recommend a frame made out of a lightweight steel.

Which brings me to my next topic: how heavy should the frame be? Most people recommend a light frame, and for a general purpose tool this is the correct response. A light frame is better for situations when you have to cut something from a bad angle or with poor ergonomics.

But there are situations where a heavy frame is better. In fact, for cutting mild steel bars I prefer a heavier frame, as it is possible for me to use the weight of the frame to cut faster. If you use good cutting technique – more on that later – a heavy frame becomes your friend rather than your enemy. If you use a bad cutting technique, a heavy frame will make you tired and sore.

If you are in doubt, buy a lightweight one. A heavy frame is only useful in situations where you have complete control over your workspace – this is not always possible, especially on construction sites.

Best Hacksaw Blade

Don’t buy a high quality frame and then put cheap blades on it. If you are a blacksmith like me, you will be cutting STEEL so you are going to want good blades. Good blades cut faster and straighter. You will get your money’s worth by saving yourself time and frustration.

Most good blades made today are made bimetal blades. This just means they use two different types of metals for the blades. Most blades today use high speed steel for the teeth; the teeth are then electron beam welded onto a softer but stronger spine. Constructing the blades this way allows you to have the durability of the high speed steel without brittleness.

Side note: when they first started making hack saw blades with high speed steel, they originally tried having the entire blade be made out of this material. These blades were too brittle for most work and often fractured mid cut.

Best TPI For A Hacksaw

TPI stands for teeth per inch. Hacksaw blades are most commonly found in the following sizes:

1. 14 TPI
2. 18 TPI
3. 24 TPI
4. 32 TPI

The lower the number the fewer the teeth. The fewer the teeth, the coarser the cut. Fewer teeth also means bigger teeth, which means more material gets removed with each cut. For cutting really thin material you will want a higher tpi, as low tpi blades will get “caught” during the cut. Really thick material will want a lower TPI.

I use 14 for my shop, as I mostly cut thick steel bars, but you may want a higher TPI blade. I wish I could provide exact numbers for other materials, but I see A LOT of conflicting info on this topic, and I don’t want to give misinformation.

So What Is The Best Hacksaw?

I use a hacksaw made by bahco – a swedish company – that is specifically made for professionals. If you want a cheap $20 hacksaw for a one off project I completely understand, but I use my hacksaw all the time and I didn’t have the patience for a cheaper model. This thing is STURDY, and it holds the blade straight under high tension. I can consistently make clean accurate cuts with this blade. It is a more expensive option, but it was worth every penny for the headache it has saved me.

It also has a single touch spring loaded blade release mechanism which allows for much faster blade changes.This has saved me time on two fronts. First, it makes changing the blades a breeze – you don’t have to mess with some obnoxious screw for 5 minutes with this hacksaw. Secondly, because changing blades is so quick, I spend less time cutting with dull blades as I no longer procrastinate changing blades – it’s that easy now.

One thing to note: if you buy this hacksaw, it comes with a 24 tpi blade. I swap them out with the lower tpi blade shown below:

Best 14 TPI Hacksaw Blade

There isn’t too much to say here. They come in packs of 10 bimetal blades. They work well and I change them when they get dull.

How To Use A Hacksaw

You don’t want to cut with just your arm strength as your arms are weak compared to the muscles in your chest and back. So instead of focusing on extending and contracting your arms, you should instead keep your arms fairly loose and start each cutting movement with a big powerful movement by slightly turning your body as opposed to starting the movement by bending/extending your arm. It’s hard to describe with words, but if you do this correctly you should cut through most stock without much effort. I will try and upload a gif of the proper technique sometime in the future.

There is also the issue of how close you should stand to the blade/cut. When using a hacksaw you are trying to balance two opposing forces:

1. You are stronger with your arms closer to your body
2. You don’t want the cutting blade too close to your body

This really should be common sense, but I have seen some wacky cutting techniques before where people are cutting with their arms extended straight out. And I have seen others cut with the blade so close to their belly that it damn near gave me a heart attack watching them work.

Conclusion

Hacksaws are great tools. They are more versatile than cold saws and other cutting equipment, and they are very cheap compared to the alternatives. They are one of the first tools a beginning metal worker should buy, and they still provide value to experience builders. All in all they are a worthy tool to have in your shop!

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