The Importance of Blade Tension

The bevel of a Simmons Scallop bandknife blade is highlighted by the background light.
While it may not seem important at first, the extent to which you tension your bandknife or bandsaw blades can literally make or break your finished product. That’s why it’s imperative to properly apply blade tension before you run it on a bandsaw and look out for signs of under or over tensioning while it’s
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Behind the Culture of Simmons Knife & Saw

Simmons' employees pose for a photo in front of a backdrop.
Simmons Knife & Saw is a family-owned company and has been that way for more than 75 years. Throughout that time, we’ve grown exponentially and expanded into new or emerging markets, all while consistently meeting the needs of our customers. Looking back, it’s clear that our continued success can only be attributed to our employees.
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Choosing the Right Bandsaw Blade

An assortment of Simmons' bandknife and bandsaw blades.
Imagine finding the perfect bandsaw blade. One that’s capable of cutting through all types of material at a faster rate than any other blade on the market. Sounds nice, right? Unfortunately for everyone, it doesn’t exist…yet. So, until our engineers design this blade (we’re sure it’s only a matter of time), the best we can
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A Closer Look at Simmons Knife & Saw

A Simmons employee coils and ties up a bandknife blade.
If you’ve gone looking for cutting solutions within the last 75 years, chances are you’ve heard of Simmons Knife & Saw. Maybe you’ve even ordered blades from us in the past. However, you probably don’t really know who we are, what we’re passionate about, or what’s next for us. We’d like to fix that starting
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Identifying Causes of Blade Failure

A piece of a Scallop bandknife blade is inspected for flaws using advanced machinery.
In our previous blog post, we covered the definition of blade life and how to determine it over time. Naturally, it makes sense to next discuss what happens when bandsaw blades reach the end of their lives. There are two different categories of blade failure: normal and premature blade failure. Let’s dive into each one
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How to Determine Blade Life

Layers of Wide Knife Edge bandknife blades hang on Simmons' production floor.
Blade life is measured in terms of the amount of work completed by a blade before that blade loses its effectiveness. That being said, blade life is typically determined on a case-by-case basis. Blade users should take four different factors into account when determining a blade’s useful life.    Amount This one is fairly obvious.
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Simmons Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Simmons' employees pose for a picture at 75th-anniversary celebration.
Simmons Knife & Saw is proud to officially announce that this year marks our 75th anniversary as a bandknife and bandsaw blade manufacturer. Founded in 1946, Simmons got its start producing bread slicing blades and consumer cutlery. However, by 1953, Simmons’ leadership has discerned a market shift toward welded Scallop bands for large-scale bread slicing
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Food Processing Blades: An Overview

Simmons' most popular food processing bandsaw blades curve and catch the light in front of a dark background.
The food processing industry is one of the largest in the world. It can be broken into hundreds of sub-industries, some of which are massive in their own right. Simmons’ decades of experience in the industry have provided us with the knowledge to determine which food processing blades work best for each application, and now
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4 Ways Simmons’ ISO Certification Benefits Our Customers

According to the International Standard Organization’s (ISO) website, “the [ISO 9001:2015] standard is based on a number of quality management principles, including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach, and continual improvement.” In many ways, these principles have helped to inform and shape Simmons’ own tenets of Quality
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The Dos and Don’ts of Grinding Wheels

When used correctly, the right grinding wheel can make a world of difference in your cutting operations. However, the performance of your grinding wheel is still largely dependent upon the care given to it during handling, installation, and, of course, use. DO: Closely inspect all grinding wheels before mounting to ensure they haven’t been damaged
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