I bought a couple of expensive hacksaw blades recently and they have been really disappointing. I figure that I bought the wrong grade so I am interested to know what hacksaw blades people recommend for general metal work / kit car building stuff?
Haven't brought any hacksaw blades for best part of 15years. Got paid for a couple of jobs with 2 boxes of Sandvick? blades . Seem to last very well . Suspect cutting technique sometimes shortens blade life ?
Coarse blades for speed, get a decent quality blade and use all the blade with not too much pressure. Kids tend to use the middle and go fast which rips the teeth off so they stick. Put a spot of oil on the cut line and don't make it smoke.
You can get all hard which are quite brittle and tend to snap and shatter quite easily.
Bimetal are the ones I prefer, you can practically tie knots in these.
I use 24tpi for most jobs with a few 18tpi for thicker stuff and aluminium.
Prefered makes are Eclipse and Sandvik.
John
You need to get at least 2 teeth on the work at any time, preferably 3. So, for thin work 32tpi is ideal. However if you're sawing soft material
you'll need coarser teeth (24tpi) as otherwise they'll just clog up with swarf.
All-hard blades cut the best, but need a very good hacksaw frame and good technique as otherwise they'll just snap. Bi-metal are the best
compromise.
With a good technique a blade should last months - a good stance, pressure on the push-stroke and ease off on the return, about 1 stroke per second
(ooer!) and maybe some lubricant (ooer again!) should do you well.
David
A good quality hacksaw helps as well.I've used a Sandvik one for decades and cut everything from 2mm aluminium right up to 6" channel.
Bi-meatlic as stated allows flexibility and hard point teeth. Always have 2 teeth in 'cut' and do not pushdown on the blade much... this
will cause a curved cut and riskblade breakage.
Steve
I used thompson bi-metal ones 24tpi to cut all my chassis tube and some 3mm plate, went through about 10 doing the entire chassis i probably dont
have the best technique but at £1.25 each i couldnt really care making them last 
Screwfix do a great aerosol cutting oil, make cutting so easy and the blades last for ages. Stop corrosion as well.
quote:
Originally posted by Gav
I used thompson bi-metal ones 24tpi to cut all my chassis tube