BOSCH BS6412-24M 64-1/2-Inch by 1/2-Inch by 24TPI Metal Bandsaw Blade

I was thinking that my old saw was finally wore out. I had purchased a saw blade from the local hardware store, a brand I have not heard of, and it kept coming off the rollers. Turns out they did not weld the joint correctly. I received this one and the old saw is cutting great again.

These carbon steel blades are actually .005 thinner than what my saw was made for, but I have beat the heck out of these, and the keep cutting. They cut wanders a bit because of the difference in thickness, just keep an eye on the cut to keep it from wandering too far. Update: after a year, still on the first blade, I just cut a 2-1/2 x 3-1/4 solid cast iron block, at an angle, and this blade cut through it perfectly! I kept a close watch on the pressure of the cut, and to check for wander, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the end result. Ill never buy an expensive blade again!

Great value for a durable horizontal metal cutting bandsaw blade. Works well with no deflection.

Lets be realistic. Metal cutting band saw blades are consumable items. Anyone that uses one of these types of band saws soon learns to make a habit of keeping a spare on hand at all times because they do eventually get dull and need replacement, or the blade suddenly binds up and snaps. I am not one of these people who has unrealistic expectations of finding some magic saw blade out there that lasts for a decade. Im not going to try to arbitrarily quantify how long these blades last. The type of metal you cut, the alloy of said metal, and the way you have your saw set up (speed, pressure, etc) make too big of a difference for my experiences to relate to yours. I do a very repetitive job with my band saw, and Ive used different blades, so instead Ill talk about how this blade lasts against others for doing the same exact cutting setup. These blades are inexpensive, NOT made in China (typically the packages I get say made in the UK), and last a very respectable amount of time for their price. Bosch is not known to put their name on crappy stuff, and I consider this to be no exception to that rule. This blade was $12 when I purchased it, and though there are other blades out there that are $25 that last longer, they do not last twice as long. Therefore my impression is that the longevity-vs-price is much better than the more expensive blades out there. The point is that if a blade is twice as much but doesnt last twice as long, its a worse value than the cheaper blades. These are the only blades I buy now.

The same bandsaw blade lowes carries. Better than a 20 plus dollar starrett. Sometimes blades just snap, i have had that happen a few times with these, but like a lot of reviewers mention, what you are cutting, your tension settings, your downpressure and a handful of other things might have caused the failure. As for sharpness, they stay sharp. I usually replace these because they snap and not because they go dull. If they go dull, ur machine is NOT cutting straight. An off cut will kill any blade. Too much heat, your tooth offset gets destroyed and thats the end of that blade. Be careful when cutting anything with threads, as the blade will possibly follow the threads instead of cutting straight down. I killed a brand new blade cutting a high strength all thread rod 1-3/8 thick. It tracked on the threads, eventually stopped downfeeding and destroyed the teeth as it sat there doing nothing but rubbing steel.

Works well for mild steel but not great for high carbon material.

Durable if used with cutting oil.

In general (in the past…) I exactly echo what Dave wrote in 2018 as well as most of the other 5* reviews considered most helpful. However- my last 2 orders of blades have had repeated “kink” issues at the weld joint to the point of return for fear of immediate breakage. Blades did not track well, had a tendency to easily pop off drive wheels (kink wrecks smooth proper shape) and when finally running were extremely bumpy and jumpy. As we all know putting a tiny kink in the blade starts the blade death countdown in seconds rather than minutes of run time so I only made a couple of unsatisfactory cuts before pulling the still intact blades. I think the issue is at the factory where one of the pieces of machinery making the weld joint is either out of alignment or is gripping one end too hard. The blades I received had a visible and easily feel-able kink bend right on the joint. I know Bosch can make them better as the initial broken blade I was replacing was a perfectly made Bosch blade. Hopefully someone from the factory reads this and corrects the quality issue. By the by, i bought an 18tpi Olson blade as an experiment and though the $30 cost is prohibitive it is the smoothest, fastest, straightest cutting blade I’ve used in recent memory.

They make good enough cuts in mild steel and the welded seems are flawless. It did dull somewhat quickly, after about 15 cuts of 1/4 x 2 mild steel strap it cuts much slower than before. Notably it hasn’t started to cut crooked like most blades will. overall I’m happy with it for the price. If my bandsaw was liquid cooled it may have been a different story. I would recommend it for someone who has a bandsaw that doesn’t get used very often. I don’t think I would try to use it for a shop application or for a big/important job.

I bought the Bosch band saw blade as a backup because I had already purchased an Imachinist Bi-metal Band Saw Blade. To make a long story short the Imachinist blade was so warped coming out of the box I couldnt keep it tracking. I wasted hours attempting to get this new blade to track. However as soon as Imachinest blade had a load on it it would pop off the wheels. The Machinist blade, made in China, is total junk costing me time and money. I mounted the Bosch blade, made some minor adjustments and it has been cutting for the last couple of days. I usually dont use a blade with less than 14 teeth per inch because they tend to cut slow even though they leave a better cut finish. However after using the Bosch I may just contend with a slower cut as this is about the least expensive blade Amazon sells that seems to work well. As far as the longevity I will have to get back with you on that, but so far it seems to be a good value.