Explaining Bandsaw Blade Performance

A Simmons CNC blade cuts through polyurethane foam.
In our previous video blog, we defined blade life and discussed the importance of knowing your blade’s cost per cut. However, while blade life is an extremely important factor to consider when purchasing a blade, it’s not the only one you should consider. Usually, pricing is the first thing blade users care about. In other
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Explaining Blade Life & Cost Per Cut

A Simmons C-Tooth bandsaw blade at rest in front of a large block of foam.
If you purchase blades from a manufacturer like Simmons or a bandsaw OEM, you’ve probably heard the term “blade life” at least a dozen times before. Put simply, blade life can be equated to the amount of work completed by a blade before it loses its effectiveness. While it’s typically determined on a case-by-case basis,
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How to Quickly Uncoil & Unwrap Butcher Blades

A Simmons Butcher bandsaw blade wrapped in orange paper on a stainless steel table.
If you’re not someone who handles butcher blades on a daily basis, uncoiling and unwrapping them can become a bit of a hassle. Since Simmons strives to eliminate our customers’ hassles wherever possible, we decided to put together this video on how to quickly uncoil and unwrap your butcher blades. Press the play button below
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Grinding Wheel Best Practices – How to Perform a Ring Test

A Simmons grinding wheel runs at high speed while sparks fly in the background.
If you’re working with bandknife or bandsaw blades, chances are you’ll eventually need to use a grinding wheel. However, before you mount a new grinding wheel, you should always perform a ring test to make sure it is in fully intact. We know you probably wish you could just start grinding away but performing a
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3 Reasons to Order Replacement Blades for OEM Machines from a Blade Manufacturer

A Simmons Butcher bandsaw blade is slowly uncoiled and fed into a machine.
Does your business cut bone-in or boneless meats using food processing machinery from OEMs like Butcher Boy, Grasselli, Grote, or Hobart? Or are you fabricating foam sheets using peeling and splitting machines from OEMs like Baumer, Edge-Sweets, or Fecken-Kirfel? If so, it’s likely tempting to simply order replacement blades for those machines from the same
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4 Common Foam Types & How to Cut Them

A collage of four of the most commonly used foam types in foam fabrication.
Simmons has manufactured bandknife and bandsaw blades for foam cutting operations for more than 75 years. In that time, we’ve learned about all different types of foam and, more importantly, which blade or edge type cuts them best for their intended purpose. Now, we’d like to share what we’ve learned with you. Flexible Polyurethane Foam
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3 Reasons Why Metal Cutting Bandsaw Blades Break

Even the most “normal” cutting operations put an immense amount of pressure on the bandsaw blade that’s doing the cutting. Metal cutting operations take that pressure to the next level. That’s why tougher, more durable metal cutting bandsaw blades like bi-metal and carbide blades are typically used to cut through metal or steel applications. However,
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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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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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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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