A carbon steel bandsaw blade is made from high carbon steel. It can cut all types of woods, especially ideal for soft woods i.e. pine, polar, fir and spruce. It is also suitable for cutting plastics, aluminum, metals, and mild steel.
For best results, cut mild steel at speeds under 200 fpm (feet per minute), with liquid coolant running along the back of the blade.
Woodcutting - Woodcutting bandsaws use Carbon Tool Steel, Bimetal, Carbide impregnated or Carbide Tipped bandsaw blades.
NOTE: The owner's manual of some woodcutting bandsaw may stipulate that it can cut metal, but woodcutting bandsaws can only cut non-ferrous metals, such as aluminum, brass, copper, etc. Cutting steel could damage your saw, due to the fact that blade speed on most woodcutting bandsaws (average 800 to 3500 fpm) is not slow enough (40 to 200 fpm) for cutting ferrous metals (i.e. steel). Trying to cut steel at woodcutting speeds will ruin the blade due to extreme heat produced.
Metalcutting - Small to large, horizontal or vertical, metalcutting bandsaws use Carbon Tool Steel, Bimetal or Carbide Tipped bandsaw blades.
If you are sawing in a production setting, your saw is in good repair and adjusted correctly, and want the longest life blade available, then you should use Bimetal or Carbide Tipped bandsaw blades. Carbon Steel blades are generally more economical to operate, in the long run, because Bimetal or Carbide Tipped bandsaw blades can outlast carbon blades by up to 10 times if used properly. Also, they are capable of cutting harder materials, such as stainless. steel.
