Is there a difference between metal cutting bandsaws and woodworking bandsaws? I am in possession of two of the vertical kind, not the chopping kind. So one gets used all the time and the other one gathers dust (I guess in woodworking the more you use something the more dust it gathers, but you know what i mean). I would like to put a metal cutting blade on one, but not if it will destroy the saw in short order. Will it handle it? It is a 9" craftsman hobbyist grade saw. Thanks.
Pretty sure they run at different speeds.
Generally wood saws will run faster than those for metal, but fitting a metal blade to your wood saw will work, you may have to replace blades more frequently. You may have trouble finding dedicated metal cutting blades for a wood saw (length and depth).
Blade speed is the biggest difference. You can add a jackshaft with a couple of shieves to slow it way down and get good results.
My 20 inch bandsaw at work has a two speed input to a variable gearbox that will run the blade from 50fpm to 1800fpm. I leave it at 50fpm with a 3/4" wide blade and that works great for steel up to one inch thick.
Excellent thread - I’ve been wanting to know the answer to this question for sooo long... but of course never bothered to ask/check.
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