Does your arm hurt when you even think about cutting steel with a hacksaw? Mine used to hurt too. But I learned a few things about how to use hacksaws, and it made a huge difference. Today you can learn some hints too. Your arm will thank you!
What’s the problem with hacksaws?
I used to have a lot of complaints about using a hacksaw. It took forever to cut anything. Sometimes the blade grabbed, and demanded a lot of strength just to get it moving. Other times the blade would clog up and refuse to cut. Let’s take a look at these problems.
Blades are the key
It turns out hacksaw blades get dull pretty fast. That ought to be obvious, given that you’re cutting metal, but it took a while to make the connection. Blades tend to become dull in the middle before they get dull at the ends. So you can test the condition of the blade by feeling the teeth at the ends and the teeth in the center of the blade. If the center feels a lot duller than the ends, replace it.
But don’t buy crappy ones to save money. Many companies sell good hacksaw blades, and they don’t cost much more than the cheap ones. Look for “bi-metal” blades. They have hardened teeth and last much longer than “carbon steel” blades.
I keep spares around so I’m never stuck using a dull blade.
Blade pitch and why it matters
Sharp-eyed readers will note that there are four stacks of blades in the above photo. Each stack is a different blade pitch. That is, they have different numbers of teeth per inch (TPI) of blade length. I keep blades in 14, 18, 24 and 32 TPI. I choose a blade for a particular job based on a couple factors.
First, how thick is the material? A coarse blade in thin material will grab and refuse to move. If you overpower its resistance, you’ll leave a terrible finish, and you’ll have trouble cutting a straight line. But a fine blade will take a lot more strokes to cut through the material. A good compromise is to use a high enough pitch that at least three teeth are engaged with the work. So if the material is 1/8″ thick, then you want to use at least a 24 TPI blade.
Second, how soft is the material? Soft materials cut faster, which is nice, but that means that the spaces between the saw teeth fill up with metal bits faster too. If the spaces become completely full the blade stops cutting. The solution is to use a coarser blade, so there’s more space between the teeth.
So you really need to match the saw blade to the job.
Multiple Hacksaws
If you have one hacksaw frame and you try to match the blade to the job you’re going to be changing blades an awful lot. I probably would end up just using whatever was already in the frame most of the time. But there’s an easy workaround: buy more hacksaw frames!
I keep three in my shop, each loaded with a different pitch blade. Hacksaw frames aren’t real expensive. I found a nice one at Travers Tools (no affiliation, just a customer) for about 20 bucks. You could probably find them even cheaper from a thrift store or pawnshop. Hacksaws don’t wear out, so there’s nothing wrong with getting a used one.
Cutting metal is still hard work, but with a good sharp blade and the right pitch it’s not terrible. I hope these hints took some of the pain out of it for you. Thanks for reading!
Sherrey
Not my thing really, but Chuck agrees with everything!(he’s heard that supposedly you can clean out the teeth of the saw by dragging it through a hard bar of soap backwards, not sure if that’s true, though).