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Old 02-12-2017, 11:24 AM
belfastrab belfastrab is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 10
Metal Bandsaw vs Angle Grinder

Hi Guys

I make a couple of knives a month as a hobby and give them away to friends and family I just enjoy the making process so not someone who is making knives daily or even weekly.

I have until now just used an angle grinder to roughly cut out my knife blanks from ground flat bar and then grind to the line on the bench belt grinder and that is working out ok. However I have been wanting to pull the trigger as it were on one of these portable metal cutting bandsaws for a few months but trying to justify the cost for doing the same job as my angle grinder.

I see that a lot of North Americans have the cheap and cheerful Harbor Freight models and they look like they work well once a table has been fabricated for them and if I could get one as cheap as those in the UK I would already have one but the problem is there is only three manufacturers that sell these types of bandsaws in the UK and they are Dewalt, Makita and Milwaukee all great brands but also fairly expensive for what I see as a luxury. So pretty much they are all working our at around $300 US... it's not that I can't afford one but on the same hand don't like wasting money just for the sake of it.

So the way I see it is that it will be much easier, cleaner and faster to use a bandsaw for cutting blanks plus it looks like you can get a lot closer to the line that what an angle grinder allows so less grinding on the belt grinder but do you think that the speed and easier operation is worth $300?

I am primarily a wood worker and knives has been my first time playing with metal as a material and I do enjoy working with it and trying to teach myself brazing as the moment so I can see a lot more projects going down the metal route in addition to the knives but again any project I can envision can be quickly cut out with an angle grinder... so apart from what is already mentioned and the thrill of buying a new tool (and hiding it from the wife) is there any benefits over a metal cutting bandsaw as opposed to the much cheaper angle grinder for the light user?

Don't get me wrong I want the tool but there is a list of other tools I want too so just trying to prioritize.

Thanks for any words of wisdom / experience on the matter.

Cheers

Rab
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