Best hacksaw blades according to redditors

We found 18 Reddit comments discussing the best hacksaw blades. We ranked the 10 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Hacksaw Blades:

u/yacht_boy · 42 pointsr/HomeImprovement

As an old house lover (and fellow old house owner), I'm begging you to please restore those windows! It can be done!

I'm making this response extra long and detailed since this question comes up from time to time. Hopefully it can be a resource for others.

But I say this as a guy who bought a real wreck of a house where the previous owner had let everything go. We needed to fix all 45 openings at once as part of a major rehab, and after 6 weeks of effort, about $3000 of experimentation (including taking a week off work and hiring two people to help me), I finally gave up and put in vinyl windows. It completely broke my heart, and my house is uglier because of it. But sometimes, an old window is just too far gone to save. But in that process I learned a lot and I'd like to share a few things.

  1. Old windows were designed to be maintained. That's why after almost 150 years your windows are still in pretty good shape. Modern vinyl windows are designed to be disposable. Once the seals break, they start to stick in their channels, etc., your only option is to put them in a landfill.

  2. Properly maintained old windows with properly installed weather stripping and properly installed/maintained storm windows are every bit as energy efficient as modern vinyl windows. This article goes into detail and has a huge list of references including links to primary research on the topic for the people who don't believe me.

  3. If you are at all handy, you can figure out how to maintain your old windows.

  4. If you live in a place where old houses are common, there may well be a local shop that specializes in this kind of thing. Here in Boston, we have two great resources. The nonprofit Boston Building Resources does classes on window restoration and sells all the stuff you'll need. And Olde Bostonian will do it all for you if you have the cash. This isn't Home Depot level stuff, so look for specialists.

  5. Old windows are a big source of lead paint dust, especially from the two sashes (the two actual window parts that move up and down) rubbing in the frames. If you have kids or are planning on having them, removing the lead paint from the windows is the biggest lead paint improvement you can make in your home. Even if you aren't planning on having kids, work safely. Grownups can get lead poisoning, too. Or, like us, you might have an unplanned pregnancy. Or you might have friends who have kids. Or want to sell it to a nice family someday. Get a lead-safe respirator (not cheap dust masks), do as little dry sanding as possible, and take the windows to a spot outside of your house (garage, shed, outside on a nice day) to do work on them so you don't spread lead dust all over your house. If you can set up a little containment zone with some plastic sheeting on the ground, that's good practice. EPA would have you go nuts with plastic and tyvek suits and so on. That may be overkill, but common sense tells you to minimize spreading lead dust around your house and keep it out of your body. Also, if it's possible to pull off the old trim and the old window sills and replace that with new trim while you've got the sashes out, that will get rid of another huge source of lead paint. If not, consider repainting those pieces with encapsulating paint after you put it all back together.

  6. The biggest lesson I learned is DON'T DO THEM ALL AT ONCE! We had to because we needed to renovate the whole house. But it sounds like you don't have to. Pick a room where you can live without a window for a little while, like the attic or a rarely used guest bedroom. Pull ONE window apart and figure out how it works. Repair and replace that one window. Then do a second window in that room, and so on. As you get better at it, you might move up to pulling all of the windows in a single room out at the same time.

  7. Steam is your friend. Buy a steamer. The size and type depend on how much work you will be doing. I tried a couple and found this one to be the most ideal. Steam will soften up paint and putty so that you can easily scrape it right off.

  8. You'll want some good specialty tools. I really like these scrapers. One. Two. Three. I also found this set of small prybars (especially the very smallest one) to be invaluable in getting old windows apart.

  9. If you're going to be doing a bunch of windows, set yourself up with a really comfortable work zone including a big flat work surface (plywood over sawhorses) and a place to put all your scrapers, glazing tools, etc. Hopefully you have a garage or shed where you can leave stuff for a while.

  10. And last but not least...don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. These windows are 150 years old. You can go insane building steam stripping boxes and trying to make the paint perfect and trying to get everything functioning the way it did the day the house was built. But you don't have to. Just get them to the point where they open and close, the glass is not broken or rattling, and they are reasonably weatherstripped. Let the exterior storms do more of the work on energy efficiency. I would definitely NOT recommend putting each sash into a steam box and stripping all of the glazing and paint and starting from scratch. That way lies madness.

    OK, on to your questions.

  • Here's a great video about disassembling a window. I found all sorts of amazing things done to the windows in my house that made them hard to disassemble. Generally speaking, first cut the paint between the sash and the frame with a utility knife and see if that works. If not, look for nails and screws that might be holding the window sash in place. Often these are painted over and are hard to find.

  • It seems you might have single sash windows. That's unusual for an 1870s house but not completely unheard of. I had some of those in my house. After you've taken all the trim off and removed the lower sash, you will be able to pull the top sash out. There will be something holding it in place. Figure out what that thing is and remove it. As for the lower sashes, previous owners might have gotten frustrated with broken sash cords and covered up the pocket holes. When you disassemble the window you will hopefully be able to figure out what they did and undo it.

  • There are plenty of good guides on how to weatherize old windows. The DOE has a great page on the topic with links to detailed instructions on a variety of methods. The video series linked below is also good.

    General resources and tools I found useful:

  • The Save America's Windows forum, organized by topic, is a gem (if not always easy to find what you're looking for).

  • This 4-part window rehab workshop youtube video series is pretty good.

  • Book 1: Save America's Windows: Caring for older and historic wood windows.

  • Book 2: The Window Sash Bible: a A Guide to Maintaining and Restoring Old Wood Windows
u/Arthurgang · 12 pointsr/whatisthisthing

Looks like an attachment to a scraping tool like this (http://www.amazon.com/Bahco-Premium-Ergonomic-Carbide-Scraper/dp/B000288LOW/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_img_y) You can get different shaped blades for different jobs

u/Skulder · 5 pointsr/EngineeringPorn

A dollar and 70 pr blade isn't really enough to make that something to worry about.

u/anonanon1313 · 3 pointsr/DIY

I just went through this on one room we were refinishing. We needed to completely strip door and window molding (2 of each), 2 doors, and floor molding.

I've used chemical stripers before, but it's been a few years and I wondered if there were any new miracle products, but after reading 100's of reviews I concluded there aren't.

I've used belt, disc and palm sanders a lot (have several boats) and wasn't looking forward to that at all. I've also used heat strippers of various sorts, and that's no picnic, either.

As others have pointed out, in some cases it may be better to just replace the trim. Our house is 80 years old, with plaster on lath walls and I feared that would risk getting down to complete demo to studs given the amount of plaster damage trim removal would incur.

What I finally wound up using mostly was carbide scrapers. I was no stranger to scrapers, but had never used the fancy carbide ones. It still was a long, tedious job, and scrapers require some muscle and a finish sanding, but as bad as it was, it still beat the alternatives by quite a bit.

Scrapers we used:

Bahco 625 Premium Ergonomic Carbide Scraper, 1", with Plastic Holder
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000288LOW/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

Bahco 665 Premium Ergonomic Carbide Scraper, 2-1/2"
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000288LP6/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

Bahco Replacement 625-DROP Carbide Scraper Blade
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001P0PJA/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

u/scott-42 · 3 pointsr/homelab

For under $20, a simple hacksaw with a high pitch blade will work. Or for more get a metal cutting blade for your reciprocating saw.

u/Fweebers · 3 pointsr/Justrolledintotheshop

I have 3 of those, they come in varying widths. Cool story: my wife brought one home for me from work (elderly care facility) and said one of her residents heard I worked on cars and he wanted me to have it. I had one already of a different width and loved it. I asked her why the resident had one. "Oh, he owns the company that makes them." Sure as shit they are made by Innovative Tools International in Cedar Rapids, Iowa!

They are the best thing in the world for steel surfaces but you can shave aluminum with them pretty easy so I use razor blades in holders for that.

Edit to add:

I also have one of these http://www.amazon.com/Bahco-Premium-Ergonomic-Carbide-Scraper/dp/B000288LOW

They are great for oil pan corners where it's impossible to get any other scraper.

u/Painting_Agency · 2 pointsr/minipainting

Be careful with this though. The wedge action of clippers when used between the mini's feet will spread the legs a bit, which could cause damage or be difficult to correct, depending on the sculpt.

My go to method is to clip around the edges with clippers, removing as much material as possible without deforming the base. Then I saw an X between the feet with a razor saw and then clip away the rest. Then remove material from around the feet with a file and X-Acto knife.

If you want to get REALLY fancy, you can use a Dremel tool and high-speed cutter bit. But you have to be careful...

u/eosha · 2 pointsr/BuyItForLife

I have many. The best is a Morse branded one made of heavy-duty aluminum. It's nuke proof. Also, top quality blades are worth it if you learn how to use them correctly.

It's the wrong tool for cutting PVC.

u/chrispy108 · 2 pointsr/DIYUK

I was a DIY noob before I bought my house a few years ago. I'd helped my Dad do stuff as a kid but not loads. My Fein was the first thing I bought after a drill, and I've used it loads.

​

I'd go for a multitool for those jobs. It works fine for cutting pipe, and with one of the longer blades it's great for cutting straight lines, as the blade stays in the cut:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Starlock-Segment-Blade-Multi-Tools/dp/B002IJM4O6/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1537611298&sr=8-15&keywords=starlock+blades

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Starlock-Plunge-Blade-Multi-Tools/dp/B0053PV9BG/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1537611472&sr=8-9&keywords=bosch+starlock

It's great for cutting things around the house, as you can trim things where they are.

With a narrower blade it'll also do curves really nicely. I've got some curved shelves in my kitchen I did with my Fein.

u/ParkieDude · 1 pointr/woodworking

Looking good!

Trim looks good.

Few tips from a "metal worker, who attempts to make things out of wood" tranlation, when I have corner gaps I just us a bigger weld bead or saw dust and glue:

Big Box.
Glue in stages. Ya, it will take a few days.
Day One: trial fit everything (you have that down!)
Day One: Glue the two center upright parts with small horizontal part. Top is fitted dry to confirm everything is square.
Day Two: Now the top piece.
Day Three: Now the end pieces.

Did you use wire nails (headless 22g) or the salt trick on the beveled ends? I love gluing up rabbets, but with vaneer panels you need those 45 degree cuts.

Trim Pieces, a small gap is visible. Make a tiny miter box for just small trim and use a a small hand saw

Still on my wish list (new table saw with this blade).
http://www.rockler.com/rockler-miter-fold-dado-set

Keep on building.

u/SweetPWNTang · 1 pointr/Bowyer

Last photo says .4" (I'm assuming diameter), which is a bit big.

Might want to try a chainsaw file. I picked up a set at Harbor Freight that have worked fairly well for a few sets of nocks. Like this. Should note they seem duller now and I keep a brass brush to clean it out, and one broke at the handle from pushing too hard, but that is typical Harbor Freight. There should be something higher quality on Amazon.

I've also seen some use a hacksaw with a rod saw blade like this one, but I haven't used that method myself.

u/aenorton · 1 pointr/DIY

you can also use a blade like this with a hand hacksaw.

u/Jackson3125 · 1 pointr/BuyItForLife

> I have many. The best is a Morse branded one made of heavy-duty aluminum. It's nuke proof. Also, top quality blades are worth it if you learn how to use them correctly. It's the wrong tool for cutting PVC.

Thanks, I'll definitely check Morse out.

Any suggestions or commentary on blades or usage?

As to being the proper tool, I borrowed a PVC cutter from my brother & it was damn near impossible on this PVC. He does irrigation work, so this one is well used & probably meant for thinner walled PVC.

u/amalfushi · 1 pointr/boardgames

Just a couple small hand saws (a pull saw and another small saw). I used a random drill bit and some redneck engineering to help me with some pilot holes where needed.