TIL my band saw blade tension was way off for months

Been running my shop for 6 years and always thought a little wobble was normal on the AWM saw I bought used. Last week I finally had a blade snap during a pork shoulder break down and nearly took out my hand. How do you guys check tension without relying on the built in gauge that seems to lie to you?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel_walker1d agoMost Upvoted

And the built in gauges are basically worthless once the blade gets some wear on them. I just pluck mine like a guitar string now, low D is about right for a 1/2 inch blade.

jamesm481d ago

Yeah @daniel_walker that's actually brilliant, never thought to tune my circular saw like a guitar before. Makes me wonder if I'm way overthinking all those little markings and numbers. Now I feel kinda dumb for cleaning my blades just so I could read the gauge lines.