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Spent a whole shift fighting a bad bandsaw blade, only to realize it was on backwards
Man, I was at the shop in Austin last Tuesday and this big primal of beef comes in, right? I'm trying to break it down on the bandsaw and it's just fighting me every step. The blade kept drifting, cuts were jagged, took me like 45 minutes to get through one rack of ribs. I was cussing at the machine, thinking the tension was off or the guides were shot. Finally my apprentice walks over, looks at it for two seconds, and points out I had the teeth facing the wrong direction. Had to be on there for at least two weeks from the last guy who used it. Felt like a total idiot but dang that cut like butter after I flipped it. Anyone else ever do something that dumb that just ate up your whole day?
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hart.cora1mo ago
My shop in San Antonio had the same thing happen with our Hobart bandsaw last month, the threads on the knob were actually reversed so you'd think you were loosening but you were just cranking it tighter. I've learned to always check the blade orientation by looking at the teeth from the side before even turning it on, saves so much headache. Also mark the blade direction with a sharpie on the wheel housing so the next guy sees it clear as day. Honestly once you get muscle memory for that check you'll never waste another hour on backwards blades.
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