Hacksaw blades for hard metals

[stef99]

Hi, I often cut hard metals, including steel and some brass, yet I never really found a decent hack-saw blade.

What would you recommend? I'm after decent junior and large hacksaw blades, should i go with bacho for both? (my bacho socket set is excellent, so i'm thinking they maybe good for blades also?)

 

[Burnerman]

Eclipse blue blades for me.....High Speed Steel (HSS), flexible or rigid, and the longer the better so long as they fit the frame.
John

 

[Dave54]

I'd agree with John. Eclipse. I used to use (Bahco)Sandvik years ago, they were what was supplied and they were fine then, I'd still assume they are, but I haven't tried them recently.
Junior blades seem to be much softer whichever brand you get. They need changing often.
Incidentally with tools like hacksaws and files, it's better to keep one for soft metals like brass or ally and one for steel. The teeth get jammed up less on the softer metal that way. Or at least they seem to. At least they keep a better edge longer.

 

[stef99]

cool! that's a lot of info!

I searched ebay.. would these be the type of blades you mention?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Eclips...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item20ddbaecf7

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eclipse-7...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item2c889eabd2

 

[Dave54]

They'll be fine.
Depends what you're mostly cutting, but for general use on various thicknesses I prefer a 24 tpi. The same retailer has them there. Easier if your're cutting thinner stuff, but will still cut thicker.
If you cut thicker stuff all the time then obviously you want the 18s.

It's old advice, but if you use the full length of the blade, and saw steadily without applying too much pressure you'll cut with less effort, more quickly (due to not clogging the blade and giving the teeth chance to clear the swarf), the blades will last longer, and you'll get a more accurate cut.

 

[Burnerman]

Sure, those products will be fine .......don't expect a great performance from the junior blades though!
Most good hacksaw frames are adjustable to take the two popular lengths of blade.
John

 

[Burnerman]

I think, Dave, that we are from the era when you could actually buy quality tools, rather than the imported rubbish on offer most of the time today
John

 

[Dave54]

Crossed posts there.
Afraid you're right John about the quality tools. We lost that when we stopped producing stuff here of course.
Having said that a friend gave me a few hacksaw blades from a lot he had aquired a while back. I think they might be "Tiger" brand. Chinese made (again I think). Actually not too bad.

 

[EddieM]

Irwin cobalt, hacksaw blades, they're good at getting through most materials. Have to agree with John (Burnerman) seems to be getting harder to get decent kit these days.

 

[Burnerman]

A bit like the materials, Eddie.....ever tried working the 'dried at the speed of light and similarly grown' softwood rubbish from the likes of Wickes and B&Q?
Hardly makes good firewood
John

 

[Dave54]

Some of it reminds me of balsa, from boyhood days of hacking that about.

 

[stef99]

seems I started quite a discussion here! I wanted to thank you all for the excellent information.. I know what i;m looking for when it comes to hacksaw blades now..
The following discussion hit home on a few things though.. the reason i was asking is because I have been buying the cheap Chinese stuff and i have been snapping them and having ll sorts of problems.. even when i buy the "expensive" ones...

The problem doesn't really stop there though, I have noticed this with many tools, particularly wood chisels also, which now burst when heat treated.. the old ones never used to do that... and as for the wood.. that's a classic! the wood we were producing in the 1920's is 1000 times better then the soft balsa wood today (known as PGT white wood I believe?

It actually bothers me a little really. especially when i know we paid less for the decent stuff years ago!!! I expect the idea was to keep the price the same, but use cheaper materials so the wood sellers increased profits, and then over time they raised the prices.. lol.. i have come to think of it as "wood fraud" ahahaha term?

 

[EddieM]

A bit like the materials, Eddie.....ever tried working the 'dried at the speed of light and similarly grown' softwood rubbish from the likes of Wickes and B&Q?
Hardly makes good firewood
John

Tell me about it! Could be worse though, could be from homebase, now their wood is beyond belief, both quality and pricewise. Fortunately we have a few good timber merchants round here, but even then you have to be picky!

Re. Chinese tools / materials, don't touch them with a barge pole, invariably rubbish!

 

[foxhole]

http://www.tradetoolshop.com/miscel...MrtwqRgw4vlzTOUns9zjJMXmUftKWPhPJ8aAuXX8P8HAQ

 

[Dave54]

http://www.tradetoolshop.com/miscellaneous-w-b-trefolex-cutting-compound-500ml-tin.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=Cj0KEQjwsJyfBRC729Oy5Pf26ekBEiQAYtd9QdVtw0_HyMrtwqRgw4vlzTOUns9zjJMXmUftKWPhPJ8aAuXX8P8HAQ

Excellent stuff foxhole if a bit messy. I've got an ancient tin on the shelf here. Never used it much for general hacksawing though. I use it for hand thread cutting, drilling bigger holes etc. mostly. It certainly helps, and is a great help if you had a lot of heavy hacksaw cutting to do.
We used to use it when cutting 3/4" nichrome bar (by hand) to make up furnace element connections. That stuff is hard going.
That was 40 years ago though. I reckon if I had that much heavy cutting to do on a regular basis now I'd be looking at a powered option!