Saw blades made from the highest quality of steel. The steel used in the making depends on the usage of the saw. The hardness of the blade has to be right to cut things like trunks or concrete. The flexibility of the blade also comes in to play a vital role in life, but hardness is the key deciding factor that makes the blade cut through things.

To understand everything better, we need to identify the types of steel that can be used in the making of the blade and the procedure of making a circular blade from the steel. Following are the types of steel.

Steel Types

Different types of steel can be used in the making of circular saw blades. It all depends on the function and type of blades.

  1. High carbon steel (1075Cr1) is used in the making of tungsten carbide tipped saws.
  2. High carbon and the addition of vanadium (80CrV2) are used to make hard, large and crack resistant blades.
  3. Chrome Vanadium is used for the making of friction saw blades.
  4. A variety of steel types can be used for making the hot saws depending on the usage and the material it has to cut.
  5. Four hundred twenty stainless steel grades are used for making blades for cutting food.
  6. 440B stainless steel is preferred for household activities.
  7. Dim05 HSS is used for making the HSS saws.

Procedure For Making Blades

There are different techniques and methods used in the making of a saw blade. It is a 6-step long method that makes steel sheets or rolls into final circular blades. Following are the steps of converting raw steel to a blade everyone loves,

1. Cutting The Steel

When the steel reaches the factory or where the blades are made, it is in the form of sheets or a roll. The first step of making the blades is to cut the steel sheets. Well, cutting steel is itself an art as you cannot cut them using everyday tools. However, thanks to modern technology, a laser machine is used to cut blades beautifully on its exact size. The machine uses a CO2 laser of high intensity. The physical appearance of the blades has to be designed in CAD, a program, which the machine uses to cut the blades.

2. Hardening

After you have cut the blades into a specific shape, the second step is to heat the blades to make them a step closer to being ready. The raw steel has properties and aesthetics distributed unevenly on the surface. A heat process makes the steel harder and more stable against force. The steel blades are heated around 860-degree C to 1100-degree C depending on the type of steel you are using to make the circular blade.

The process includes four steps. In the 1 step, you heat the steel to the maximum depending on the type of steel and desired blade. The second step is when you cool down the blade rapidly after being red hot. It is done to make the hard enough. The third step comes in now where you reduce the hardness to increase the life of the blade. You will put the blades in packs and heat them slowly around 350-degree C to 560-degree C depending on the material. Step 4 includes in cooling down the blades slowly.

3. Straightening The Blade

The blades have to be straight to cut in a straight line. This step of the method is performed to make sure that the blades do not ruin your stuff being cut. Thanks to modern technology, blades are straightened automatically using machines like PSR 1,200. However, the traditional way was the use of a sledgehammer during the hardening process. The hammer was used to straighten the surface when the steel was red hot.

4. Polish

Once the blade’s surface is straightened, then comes the polishing part in the play. The surface of the blade is then polished and ground to make sure that the thickness is evenly spread around the surface of the blade. This step was used to be performed manually but needed a pretty professional eye to judge. However, the issues are resolved thanks to modern technology.

5. Coating

Mostly, this step is known as tipping, but we are naming it as a coating for a better understanding. The steel is prone to oxidation being a metal. To avoid the oxidation of the surface, a computer is used to induce the tungsten carbide to the tips of the blade. It is done by a machine to induce evenly. The step makes sure that the induction is done evenly on the surface.

6. Sharpening

Once you have performed the steps mentioned above, the last step comes in the play before you deliver the product. The blades need to be pretty sharp to cut things down for long life. The tips are ground using an automatic machine to make them sharp enough even to cut a falling feather.

Final Thought

Above is the process performed in making a blade from steel? The circular blades are hardened during the making process at step 2. It involves a traditional of heating and then rapidly cooling the metal to make it hard. But the blades, along with hardness, need to be flexible enough to sustain.

Grinding and polishing the surface is performed to make sure every inch of the blade’s surface acquires the same characteristics. However, if you have a blade that has been in your store for a way too long, don’t worry as the circular blade can be restored and hardened again.