Used blades

[wombatie]

Steve Good was talking about disposing of used blades the other day, I was wondering what you did with yours? 

Marg

[jollyred]

Into the recycle bin.

Tom

[John B]

I use some to unblock glue bottles and then into the bin.

[BadBob]

I put all small metal pieces into a large plastic jug. Not just blades. If it's metal and fits through the top, it goes in the jug. Scroll saw blades, nails, screws, staples, and anything else that is small and could wind up cutting you or puncturing a tire.

Little bits of metal have a nasty habit of winding up in places you would rather not have them like a tire or the bottom of your foot.

 

[Gonzo]

I have a small magnet glued to my scroll saw stand. When the blades get dull I put them on the magnet. I will reuse the blades when I need to rough cut something, such as cutting a 12" long board down to 4" long. By then the blade is usually shot, and I throw it in the garbage. I too, will use them to clean out the glue bottle. One other thing that I do is, I'll use them as hangers when putting a finish on the compound bird houses. 

[Rolf]

Gonzo you bend them and they don't break? 

2 hours ago, BadBob said:

I put all small metal pieces into a large plastic jug. Not just blades. If it's metal and fits through the top, it goes in the jug. Scroll saw blades, nails, screws, staples, and anything else that is small and could wind up cutting you or puncturing a tire.

Little bits of metal have a nasty habit of winding up in places you would rather not have them like a tire or the bottom of your foot.

 

Bad Bob what a great idea!!!

[Dave13]

Another hobby I have is blacksmithing. Not often enough to be good at it really. I have a handful of blades from my grandfather that I thought I could forge weld them into something. Of course I've never tried to forge weld before so that's an all new adventure too!

[lawson56]

I keep mine to clean the vane lines I cut.And to push out the small pieces.I always have a few on hand.

[Newsawontheblock]

Shop vac

[fredfret]

I re use for rough cutting, and dabbing glue then I put them in an empty sealable container then the metal recycling. 

[kmmcrafts]

I've read where some folks will glue sandpaper strips to them and use as sanders.. I've never done it but just a thought.. I know some like to sand some of the inner cutouts..  

[Iguanadon]

I keep some of mine and take them to events to show to customers... I have a photo of my saw on a banner and then I can show them the blade.  It's good for a few ooh's and aah's about how thin it is.

[Newsawontheblock]

2 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I've read where some folks will glue sandpaper strips to them and use as sanders.. I've never done it but just a thought.. I know some like to sand some of the inner cutouts..  

I did that a couple times, it works pretty well.

[Puzzleguy]

I typically pack them in a plastic folger's coffee can -about every 3-4 years

when their packed i take them to the transfer station and toss the can in the metal

bin - i asked and they don't mind them in the plastic container -because of the sharpness of the blades

didn't want any one handling them to get hurt. a few years back a friend use to ask me for my old blades

but when he realized all the cutting i do and that i totally wear them out ( ill admit I'm cheap )

he didn't want them .

Edited June 4, 2020 by Puzzleguy

[kmmcrafts]

33 minutes ago, Puzzleguy said:

I typically pack them in a plastic folger's coffee can -about every 3-4 years

when their packed i take them to the transfer station and toss the can in the metal

bin - i asked and they don't mind them in the plastic container -because of the sharpness of the blades

didn't want any one handling them to get hurt. a few years back a friend use to ask me for my old blades

but when he realized all the cutting i do and that i totally wear them out ( ill admit I'm cheap )

he didn't want them .

Not cheap as me unless you're turning them upside down and using the sharp teeth on the other end... .. I don't care on some projects if they have reverse teeth or not so I sometimes flip them upside down and cut with the sharper side for a while, LOL

Edited June 4, 2020 by kmmcrafts

[new2woodwrk]

I also use them for finishing touches as well as use them for poking cut pieces out

[BadBob]

16 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I've read where some folks will glue sandpaper strips to them and use as sanders.. I've never done it but just a thought.. I know some like to sand some of the inner cutouts..  

I have done that. It works well, but the surface will have a slight curve.

[John B]

On 6/5/2020 at 6:07 AM, Puzzleguy said:

I typically pack them in a plastic folger's coffee can -about every 3-4 years

when their packed i take them to the transfer station and toss the can in the metal

bin - i asked and they don't mind them in the plastic container -because of the sharpness of the blades

didn't want any one handling them to get hurt. a few years back a friend use to ask me for my old blades

but when he realized all the cutting i do and that i totally wear them out ( ill admit I'm cheap )

he didn't want them .

That would depress me, seeing the amount of money I'd spent on blades

[Oges]

Same as Steve I usually just stick them inside a used coke can

[kmmcrafts]

9 hours ago, John B said:

That would depress me, seeing the amount of money I'd spent on blades

Yeah that's the truth for sure.. I can't remember when I ordered blades.. I ordered I believe 2 gross from Denny and 3 gross from DnD.. I want to say it was around March.. I have 1.5 gross left.. I've gotta get a order in soon or I'll run out again..  I've been trying to build up my inventory and should have around 550 - 600 items to offer soon..

[Rolf]

I would not attempt to glue sandpaper to a 2/0 Olson blade My time and projects are more precious than a worn blade, so if in doubt I toss it.  I won't risk trashing some delicate fretwork by pushing a dull blade.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Rolf

[Puzzleguy]

On 6/5/2020 at 11:00 PM, John B said:

That would depress me, seeing the amount of money I'd spent on blades

Not necessarily -when you look at it as

all those blades feed me and my family

I basically put them in a can so nobody runs across them and gets hurt.

 

 

[crupiea]

I keep using them until they break.  If i just change one I put it back into the tube with the new ones.

When they break I have a little trash jug next to my saw i put them in.  

[CharleyL]

I use a tall prescription bottle for my blade trash can. When it's full it will hold about 4-5 gross of blades. I never re-use blades, mostly because I don't break blades very often, and when I remove them from the saw they are dull enough that I don't want to use them again. When full, the cap gets applied and the whole full capped bottle gets put in the trash. My drug store gives me the bottles free for asking.

I have a labeled bottle for each blade size and type that I use. I even keep the brands separate.  I bought some round sticky backed labels that perfectly fit the caps and I write the blade size and type, and also the brand on each bottle cap label. The bottle keeps them free of rust and the label on the bottle cap makes it easy to find the blade that I want. I made some blade storage boxes to keep these bottles in. The smaller box goes with me when I demonstrate at shows, or teach classes. It contains all of my scroll sawing tools, markers, drill bits, finger nail sanding sticks, scissors, etc. plus space for 12 bottles of blades. Before heading out I decide which blades I will most likely be using, and swap out the bottles with those in my larger blade storage box, if necessary.  The larger box contains the blades that I don't use as often. It has space for 36 more bottles of blades. I rarely take this larger box with me when working away from my shop. 

I keep my blades in their bundled form and only un-bundle a dozen at a time, keeping the loose blades in the same bottle with the bundles of the same type and size and removing them one at a time when needed. It's easy to see how many bundles are left this way, so I know when it's time to re-order more. The label that comes with the new blades get's saved and placed inside the bottle along with the blades, so if I manage to loose track of which bottle a certain cap belongs on, I can easily look at the label inside and match the labeled cap to it. When it's time to re-order, I use the label from inside the bottle to assure that I'm buying more of the exact same blade.

Trying to cut a pattern accurately with a dull blade isn't a smart thing to do. At an average cost of less than $0.25 a blade, I would rather not risk the quality of my project by trying to squeeze out the last possible bit of cutting from a blade when it could so easily damage the project. A dull blade can burn the wood, require you to need to apply too much feed pressure that will warp the blade and lead to difficulty following the lines, etc. I would rather waste the possible remaining life of a cheap blade than to chance wasting my project quality because of it. My only exception to this is when switching to a spiral blade to clean out tiny areas of the pattern. I have a rare earth magnet button epoxied to the side of the upper arm of my saw, so I can store either the spiral blade or the blade in use on this magnet, if I am switching back and forth frequently. When the project is completely cut, both the blade being used and the spiral blade get trashed, no matter how little I have used either one. I've decided that it's better to do this than to try to keep partially used blades, and I certainly don't want to return them to the bottles of new blades. If you strive for quality cutting like I do, this is the only way to achieve it. Mixing used and new blades cannot produce high quality work. Unless they begin to offer a diamond tipped blade, I will continue to throw away partially used blades because their low cost doesn't justify the frustrations of keeping track of them. 

Charley

 

 

[WayneMahler]

Some get used for cleaning out cuts and poking out small pieces that get stuck. Some are used for pin point glue application if something small breaks. Eventually they all end up in a plastic pop bottle or can for recycling.