stay far away from cheap blades

[jd_1138]

When I bought my power tools 2 years ago, I went on ebay and paid $15 for a couple of assortment packs of blades -- reciprocating, jigsaw, multi-tool. They seemed to work on wood (not well though). The jigsaw blades snapped in 2 (brittle) before I even got to use them.

Yesterday I went to take down an old rusty basketball hoop at an elderly friend's house, and the blades marked "metal" would barely rub the rust off the bolts. Even though they were in my nearly new Makita corded recip saw. The only cutting they did was to themselves as they chewed themselves up. So I wasted a trip over there and got out my extension cord/tools, dug out their ladder from their garage/climbed a ladder, etc. for nothing.

So today I stopped at the local hardware store and bought a 2 pack of Do-It Best metal reciprocating blades for $4. They went through the bolts easily. I cut the bolt off in about 20 seconds and the old rusty hoop came crashing down. I dragged it out to the street. Now I guess I have to dig up the concrete footer where the pole is, and then push it over and drag it out to the street with the truck.

Stay away from cheap consumables/blades. Ugh. If the Do-It Best store branded ones were 20x better than the Chinese crappy ones, the Makita/DeWalt/Milwaukee ones must be really nice.

 

[General Geoff]

Some cheap consumables are perfectly fine. Others you can't skimp on. Super cheap HF grinder cut-off wheels work almost as well as premium branded ones.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I never, ever cheap out on consumables. Especially the ones that spin thousands of RPMs. Learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago.

 

[lazer50]

Do it best does have decent quality blades.buying cheap chinese cutting grinding sawing etc.blades or wheels is asking for more work wasted money and possible injury.

 

[ishiboo]

I never, ever cheap out on consumables. Especially the ones that spin thousands of RPMs. Learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago.

Agreed. I've found that the better blades are almost always worth the cost, especially with the aggressive pricing/2-for-1/etc. deals going on with the Diablo stuff right now.

I was using my 10" Pro-Tech saw once with the blade it came with, and when I looked probably about half of the carbides had flown off the teeth. Another reason I wear safety glasses!

 

[DHCrocks]

Bosch seems to have the best blades IMO. cost a little more but then they tend to last the longer and have cleaner cuts.

 

[sberry]

The Do-it blades are good too. I havnt used them all but did some metal for recip saw worked well. I agree about the grinding also, the cheap ones work almost as well and till you get to really heavy work its hard to tell the difference.

 

[Pipe]

Lawson has good cutting accessories. Also I like my mini oxy/acetyline torch for on the go jobs.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

When I bought my power tools 2 years ago, I went on ebay and paid $15 for a couple of assortment packs of blades -- reciprocating, jigsaw, multi-tool. They seemed to work on wood (not well though). The jigsaw blades snapped in 2 (brittle) before I even got to use them.

Yesterday I went to take down an old rusty basketball hoop at an elderly friend's house, and the blades marked "metal" would barely rub the rust off the bolts. Even though they were in my nearly new Makita corded recip saw. The only cutting they did was to themselves as they chewed themselves up. So I wasted a trip over there and got out my extension cord/tools, dug out their ladder from their garage/climbed a ladder, etc. for nothing.

So today I stopped at the local hardware store and bought a 2 pack of Do-It Best metal reciprocating blades for $4. They went through the bolts easily. I cut the bolt off in about 20 seconds and the old rusty hoop came crashing down. I dragged it out to the street. Now I guess I have to dig up the concrete footer where the pole is, and then push it over and drag it out to the street with the truck.

Stay away from cheap consumables/blades. Ugh. If the Do-It Best store branded ones were 20x better than the Chinese crappy ones, the Makita/DeWalt/Milwaukee ones must be really nice.

JD; there are two classes to most of this stuff that I seem to never forget: The Best and The Worst. Do-It Best is a popular hardware chain; and would be a readily available source for many GJ Members located in smaller towns. It is good to know that a trip there would be worthwhile.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Yep. You get what you pay for with blades and such.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Lenox

 

[pstemari]

Lenox

I was going to say. For any sort of metal cutting Lenox rules.

For woodworking I tend to use Freud.

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[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I love my Diablo blades. They're priced fairly well.

 

[Murphy4570]

Lenox is best for sawzall blades IMO. Used them by the dozen a day at an old job of mine.

 

[jumbojak]

Stay the heck away from Ace branded hacksaw blades. The don't even carry a decent blade so really... stay away from Ace for your hacksaw needs!

 

[sberry]

They have other **** proprietary too, the utility knife is not the same as a Stanley.

 

[Zeke]

I thought this was going to be about exploding blades.

Whatever you buy, use the guard.

 

[CJM8515]

Ill echo Zeke. Be damn careful using cut off discs or grinding wheels from cheap places like HF or whatever. Seen more than a few fly apart and cause injury.

 

[sberry]

How many?

 

[General Geoff]

i thought this was going to be about exploding blades.

Whatever you buy, use the guard.

^^this^^

 

[Farmall 1066]

Love Diablo thick metal blades for my Recip saws!

 

[rharman]

Agreed. I've found that the better blades are almost always worth the cost, especially with the aggressive pricing/2-for-1/etc. deals going on with the Diablo stuff right now.

I was using my 10" Pro-Tech saw once with the blade it came with, and when I looked probably about half of the carbides had flown off the teeth. Another reason I wear safety glasses!

Where have you seen 2-for-1 on Diablo? That would be a deal!

 

[FigureItOut]

If the Do-It Best store branded ones were 20x better than the Chinese crappy ones, the Makita/DeWalt/Milwaukee ones must be really nice.

You'd think, and for the most part this is correct, with the exception of Dewalt. Every consumable, blade, disk etc. that I've had by Dewalt has been utter garbage. Lenox, Bosch, Diablo and whatever brands my LWS carries are all good choices.

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[OccupantRJ]

You'd think, and for the most part this is correct, with the exception of Dewalt. Every consumable, blade, disk etc. that I've had by Dewalt has been utter garbage. Lenox, Bosch, Diablo and whatever brands my LWS carries are all good choices.

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My experience has been the exact opposite.

 

[FigureItOut]

My experience has been the exact opposite.

Really? Do you mean that the brands I mentioned as being good choices haven't worked out for you, or just that Dewalt has worked well for you?

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[southalabama]

I go with Lennox, milwaukee, dewalt, Freud and Diablo. Buy them on promotions at the big box stores.

 

[NoGarageAtHome]

I just took a chance on harbor freight. I bought the ten pack that carries 5 cutoff wheels, 2 grinding wheels and 3 different grit flap disk for about $8 with a coupon and I've been happy with them and would buy them again. I use a full face shield over safety glasses whenever possible .... even the best wheels will go flying if they catch on something or you misuse them or get a bad batch. Just gotta remember to hold the grinder tight and let the blade do the work

Cheap consumables = quality PPE

 

[OccupantRJ]

Really? Do you mean that the brands I mentioned as being good choices haven't worked out for you, or just that Dewalt has worked well for you?

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DeWalt has worked well for me.

 

[FigureItOut]

DeWalt has worked well for me.

I'll admit I have a negative bias towards them, but I didn't like their blades even when I had a bunch of their tools. You never know, with different sourcing and different production runs, what you're going to get with the big companies anyway.

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[1badbird]

for recip i use lennox and for grinding/cutting discs i use sait.

 

[Sh40674]

jigsaw blades i always use bosch.. very impressed with them (the cost difference between brands is minimal with jigsaw blades). grinder discs i use menards brand, along with sawzall blades (unless i need something premium i use bosch)

 

[Finky198]

With our Hilti wsr1400 recip saw the only 4 brands that have survived are Lenox, Diablo, Starret, and Hilti... I have broken, bent, and destroyed every other brand I have tried...

there was a chart posted a few days ago talking about recip saw blades.
Here ya go

 

[Zeke]

How many?

Just go to you tube and see for yourself. One is enough.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

I bought a skill blade called the ugly from Walmart, made in Switzerland. needed to cut some exhaust pipe, works great and it was cheap.

 

[jd_1138]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I will pick up an assortment pack of Lenox blades for the recip saw. They also make jig saw blades I see. Someone else said Bosch jog saw blades are good. Who makes the best circular saw blades and the best multi-tool/oscillating blades?

BTW, I couldn't find the little allen key for my Makita recip saw, so I luckily had a 1/4" bit driver handle in my tool box and an assortment of driver bits, so I used that to change out the blades on the recip saw. Worked well. I will keep it in my recip saw case. It's a red handled comfort grip Harbor Freight Pittsburgh Pro handle that had come with a 30 piece set.

 

[Zeke]

Bosch jig saw blades are excellent and they make a damn good multi-tool blade in wood and metal varieties. AFA circular saw blades go, I like the Freud that has been mentioned. DeWalt and Makita sell very good ones. I stay away from Odlam. They don't seem as nice.

 

[lazer50]

If you buy cut-off wheel or grinding discs buy quality brands as well.when used properly the brands i use are Norton or s a i t dont fly apart.other name brands im sure work well too those are what are available locally for me.of course always wear safety glasses and shield.

 

[juiced10]

Just go to you tube and see for yourself. One is enough.

So I searched YouTube for cut off wheel fails. Almost all manufacturers are covered there with fails. So what do you use?

 

[WhiffySpark]

I like the 3m cut off wheels

 

[dutchgray]

If you buy cut-off wheel or grinding discs buy quality brands as well.when used properly the brands i use are Norton or s a i t dont fly apart.other name brands im sure work well too those are what are available locally for me.of course always wear safety glasses and shield.

All abrasive wheels are prone to flying apart, not because there is anything wrong with them but because they have been damaged from improper handling.
The cheap ones are worse and you do occasionally get bad ones, but anybody who buys the cheapest they can find deserves to get a rubbish disc.
This is what guards are for.
I have witnessed a 12" disc fly apart and wouldn't want that to happen to me.