What To Do With Old Circular Saw Blades

668 Views 18 Replies 17 Participants Last post by rgilbo, 3 d ago

minuteman62-64

Discussion Starter · 7 d ago

I've accumulated about 10 old circular saw blades over the years - mainly because I've never thrown any out. Time for a little house cleaning. I'll keep a couple for dirty/questionable lumber cuts. What about the rest? Any uses for old saw blades? I know if I were in blacksmithing mode there's some good carbon steel there - but no time for that anymore. Are they recyclable? My wife nixed the idea of using them as coasters.

Do you guys just toss them?

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

SomeDudeOnline

· #2 · 7 d ago

I think I saw someone on here suggest grinding the teeth off then gluing sandpaper to them to turn your tablesaw into a disc grinder. I haven't done it and don't know if it's actually a good idea but it may be worth investigating for you.

woodnthings

· #3 · 7 d ago

Depending on the quality, HSS or carbide tipped? they may be able to be sharpened.
WD Quinn sharpening service AKA triplechip who is a member here, can do that at a reasonable cost.

Saw Sharpening | Quinn Saw | Cold Saw & Carbide-Tipped

Maintain the life and value of your blade with Quinn Saw's sharpening services. Send in a cold saw blade or carbide-tipped saw blade today.

quinnsaw.com

I have thrown away HSS blades from 40 years ago with no guilt. I can't bring myself to pitch a carbide tipped one, however.
I have a local sharpening service about 25 minutes from home near a great restaurant so I can make the trip a worthwhile one.
They are The Cutting Edge, in Dryden MI. Nice folks with a shop dog that barks a lot, but won't bite. DAMHIKT,

John Smith_inFL

· #4 · 7 d ago

2

the ones without carbide teeth (the older the better) are worth making some tools with.

Brown Wood Circle Font Symmetry

Wood Tool Household hardware Natural material Metal

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Reactions: 2

Tony B

· #5 · 7 d ago

Grinding the teeth off then gluing sandpaper to them to turn your tablesaw into a disc grinder would be an aweful thin disk and it's steel too. I personally would not do it on a table saw unless you could spin real slow. Most table saws are not variable and 4,000 to 4500 RPM is very fast.
I make my 12" sanding disks out of 3/4" plywood to mount on my lathe and set it for 2500 RPM or less, depending on the grit and that is fast enough.

Reactions: 1

calabrese55

· #6 · 7 d ago

turn your old saw blades into lathe parting tools ........................Bob's is your uncle

www.instructables.com

Lathe Parting Tool From Old Circular Saw Blade

Lathe Parting Tool From Old Circular Saw Blade: I'm just getting into doing some wood turning with my Shopsmith, and inherited a few random chisels from one of my mentors. Among the set was a really wide parting tool that is just not working for some of the items that I would like to make - most …

www.instructables.com

calabrese55

Steve Neul

· #7 · 7 d ago

minuteman62-64 said:
I've accumulated about 10 old circular saw blades over the years - mainly because I've never thrown any out. Time for a little house cleaning. I'll keep a couple for dirty/questionable lumber cuts. What about the rest? Any uses for old saw blades? I know if I were in blacksmithing mode there's some good carbon steel there - but no time for that anymore. Are they recyclable? My wife nixed the idea of using them as coasters.

Do you guys just toss them?

Put them on the saw backwards and they work pretty good for cutting sheetmetal. I use a lot of them cutting the R-Panel tin for my shop.

Reactions: 2

DrRobert

· #8 · 7 d ago

7 1/4” blades I throw them away. Can’t see how they are worth sharpening.

The 5 1/2, 6 and 6 1/2 inch blades some of mine require are upwards of $20 each. There are DIY sharpening machines that employ a 4” side grinder.

Kerrys

· #9 · 7 d ago

Back in my framing days we used to exchange old dull blades for resharpened blades at the lumber yard. Don’t know if anyone still does this.

Rwhpi

· #10 · 6 d ago

Steve Neul said:
Put them on the saw backwards and they work pretty good for cutting sheetmetal. I use a lot of them cutting the R-Panel tin for my shop.

I've done the same thing with a plywood cutting blade. However, if using any "carbide-tipped" blade, you have to be very careful. If any of the tip-welds are loosened by the metal --and a tip flys off, it can act like shrapnel from a grenade.

wood worm

· #11 · 6 d ago

minuteman62-64 said:
I've accumulated about 10 old circular saw blades over the years - mainly because I've never thrown any out. Time for a little house cleaning. I'll keep a couple for dirty/questionable lumber cuts. What about the rest? Any uses for old saw blades? I know if I were in blacksmithing mode there's some good carbon steel there - but no time for that anymore. Are they recyclable? My wife nixed the idea of using them as coasters.

Do you guys just toss them?

i have a plasma cutter i turn them into garden ornaments

Reactions: 1

Steve Neul

· #12 · 6 d ago

Rwhpi said:
I've done the same thing with a plywood cutting blade. However, if using any "carbide-tipped" blade, you have to be very careful. If any of the tip-welds are loosened by the metal --and a tip flys off, it can act like shrapnel from a grenade.

Every blade I've ever used all the tips were gone by the time I got done with the blade. I suspect the saw's guard prevented any from hitting me.

allpurpose

· #13 · 6 d ago

Sharpen them up good and play Frisbee with a neighbors really annoying yappy dog.. No! Don't do that..I'm only kidding..maybe..lol

Reactions: 1

Derek Cohen

· #14 · 6 d ago

Steel for knives.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Drumone

· #15 · 5 d ago

Maybe I'm one of the few environmentalists on this forum, but I say recycle the metal! If you can't do the following with a blade: 1. sharpen the blade, 2. do something with it that doesn't require hours of creative thinking, or 3. use if for anything helpful without a lot of extra work, just recycle it. If you have a scrap metal yard nearby you might be able to make a few pennies. Otherwise, drop it off with your local recycling location that has a dumpster for metal. A lot of places offer that option now.

Reactions: 2

allpurpose

· #16 · 4 d ago

If you don't mind using a cutoff wheel and living with tiny shards of metal flying all over the place and miniature little burns in your skin the sky is the limit. Wear eye protection though. I heard the ugly rumor that chunks of metal in your eye doesn't do much for your eyesight.. I wouldn't know about this though. I've worn glasses for a long time. LOL

Pagan Wizard

· #17 · 4 d ago

Aside from the very popular use for old blades, making knives, there are a few other options. You could use them to make clocks, the arbor hole is dead center on the blade, PERFECT for making a clock. If you want to bring your workshop into your home decor, you could set them on top of a table, counter, or bar, and cover them in epoxy. There are countless options out there for you, the limit is your imagination. There is one more very obvious option for you, have the blades sharpened and put them back to work. Sharpening your blades is almost always less expensive than replacing them.

Horseapple Man

· #18 · 3 d ago

I used one as a big giant fender washer.

I have the 4x8 harbor freight trailer & I have my plywood bolted down using eye bolts.

Well my plywood is kind of rotted and I didn't think a regular 3/8" x 1-1/2 fender washer would be good enough to use that front center eye bolt with a cable ratchet to drag a 2 ft tall, 3 ft diameter chunk of tree trunk onto it.

So I put a saw blade on it, a 1/2" flat washer and then a 3/8" fender, 3/8" flat & a 5/16" flat washer in a stack. (a 5/16" flat washer will fit on a 3/8" bolt)

After the 80 trillion ton chunk of log was on the trailer, I was too lazy to remove the saw blade so I just stepped on the half that was sticking forward, overhanging the front.

When I approached 90° with the bend, the blade snapped.

(So if you have a project that involves bending a circular saw blade, heat it up first.)

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rgilbo

· #19 · 3 d ago

I make clocks from mine. About a dozen to date, as Xmas gifts.
But thanks to the previous posts I'll certainly be trying to fabricate some parting tools.

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